The DON Acquisition Workforce Training and Education Program provides a structure for acquisition workforce members to meet Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) training, education and experience standards.
The goal of the DON training program is to provide acquisition workforce members with courses needed to function effectively in their jobs, to achieve workforce certification objectives, to meet continuous learning requirements and to advance in their primary or subsidiary career field.
Training Program Information
Defense Acquisition University (DAU)
DAU Grading Policy
Transcript Information for Defense Systems Management College(DSMC)/(DAU) Courses
Course Fulfillment Program
Continuous Learning
Distance Learning
If you have any questions on matters not covered here contact your local Training Point of Contact.
Obtaining Training for Certification
This section addresses the most frequently asked questions related to taking training courses for acquisition workforce certification.
What Are My Training Requirements?
When And Where Are The Courses Available?
How And When Should I Register?
How do I register for a hybrid course?
What Happens After I Submit My Registration Request?
What Should I Do If I Can't Attend The Class I'm Scheduled For?
Can I Take A Course That Is Not Required For Certification?
How Will My Travel And Per Diem Be Funded?
Are There Any Alternatives To Attending Mandatory Training Courses?
What are my training requirements?
As a member of the acquisition workforce, you are required to prepare a career development plan, in coordination with your supervisor. This plan should identify both long and short-range career goals, such as membership in the Acquisition Professional Community (APC) or certification in your primary or subsidiary career field. The plan should also outline how you intend to accomplish the educational, training and developmental activities required to achieve your career goals and objectives.
If you do not have a career development plan, you should discuss this with your supervisor and develop one. You can download the Individual Development Plan (PDF File) to assist you in your career development planning.
(PDF files require Adobe Acrobat Reader. Download Acrobat.)
The annual Defense Acquisition University (DAU) on-line catalog will identify the training that is mandatory for certification. Go to the Certification Standards Checklist found in the on-line DAU Catalog. Select your career field and certification level to view your required training courses. For more detail, link to the course descriptions.
When and where are the courses available?
The current course schedule and Navy quotas are available on the Department of the Navy's electronic registration web site, Register-Now. Select "On-Line Registration," enter the fiscal year of interest, and press "schedule" to access DON course offerings. Next, select the course in which you are interested and press "Class Schedule" for the dates, locations, and other information on the course. DAU also maintains a current course schedule and seats available listing on their website. Be aware, however, that the seats you see there may not be available to you due to quota controls resident in the centralized registration system, Department of the Army Training Requirements and Resources System (ATRRS). ATRRS is used by DAU to manage acquisition training for the entire DoD and provides for course scheduling, quota management and tracking, student registration and reporting. Check Register-Now for an up-to-date list of vacant seats within 45 days of course start.
How and when should I register?
Register-Now is the Department of the Navy's system for submitting Acquisition Training Registration Requests. It implements an open registration policy for course registration. With supervisory approval, students may submit requests for acquisition training courses on-line at anytime during the fiscal year, but no later that 90 days prior to the date of the class being requested. We encourage you to submit your requests as soon as you have planned your training schedule for the year. Early submission increases your chances of getting the specific class offering you request. See the Register-Now Description page for more details on on-line registration. Remember, you must have supervisory approval to register.
Students who can't access Register-Now should complete a DON Acquisition Training Registration Request (DACM 2) (PDF File) and forward it to their local training representative for processing.
Regardless of which method you use, there are a couple of things you can do to improve your chances of getting the class offerings you want. First, be sure to fill in all of the blocks on the registration request. Failure to provide all of the required information will delay your registration, increasing the chance that the class you want will be full before your request can be processed. Second, take advantage of the session preference section. By completing this block, you can ensure that you're not scheduled for training at an inconvenient time and also that you are registered for required courses in the correct sequence. Leaving this section blank results in an arbitrary class assignment and increases the likelihood that you'll need to cancel your registration.
How do I register for a hybrid course?
A hybrid course is a DAU course that has both on-line and classroom components. Procedures for registering are provided in DAU Policy Memorandum #9, Registration for Hybrid Courses with Online and Classroom Sections.
What happens after I submit my registration request?
After your request is approved on-line by your command training representative, your application is forwarded to the DON Registrar, who reviews it to be sure that DON policies regarding student prioritization, appropriate use of travel and per diem funding, and student no-shows are enforced. Requests that do not conform to these policies are deleted from consideration for registration. After this screening is completed, the DON Registrar notifies the applicable acquisition organization of any students that have been deleted. If your registration request "passes" the screening process, you are assigned to a particular offering of the course you requested. The DON Registrar makes every effort to assign you to one of your requested offerings; however, geographical considerations and course fill rates are also factors in class assignment decisions.
Once class assignments are made, the DON Registrar enters students in large blocks into ATRRS. After the registration is confirmed in ATRRS, student notification letters are generated. The letter, which includes a copy for the supervisor, is sent to your home address at least 60 days prior to the start of your class. You are responsible for providing the notification letter to your supervisor immediately upon receipt. This gives you and your supervisor adequate time to re-schedule workload to accommodate the training and sufficient lead-time to make travel arrangements. It also allows adequate time to cancel in the event you cannot attend as scheduled.
If you Don't want to wait for your notification letter and have internet access, log-on to Register-Now. You can check the status of your registration request by typing in your Social Security number and pressing "Submit". If you submitted a Priority I request, you can expect action to be completed on your request approximately three weeks from the date you submitted it. If your request is a lower priority, action will be completed approximately 60 days prior to the start date of the class(es) you requested.
What should I do if I can't attend the class I'm scheduled for?
The DON Registrar must receive a request for cancellation in order to officially cancel your reservation in ATRRS and prevent a no-show from being recorded against the DON. Consortium schools cannot register students; they can only record students as inputs, walk-ins, or no-shows. Therefore, even if another student attends in your place, a no-show will be recorded unless your cancellation has been processed by the DON Registrar prior to the class start date. Students who fail to cancel with the DON Registrar prior to the start date of a class will be denied registration in future offerings of mandatory training for two quarters following the no-show occurrence.
To cancel your registration, you must submit a DON Acquisition Training Program Request for Cancellation (PDF File) to the DON Registrar. Telling your supervisor or training representative that you can't go does not constitute a cancellation. Time constraints may prevent cancellation requests received after 10:00 am on the Friday prior to your class start date from being processed. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that cancellations be forwarded to the DON Registrar as soon as the requirement is known. Last-minute cancellations should only be caused by true emergencies.
I would like to take a course that is not required for certification in my current career field and level. Can I do this?
You may apply to take courses not required for certification, but your request will be assigned a lower priority than a course required for certification. If all requests with a higher priority are satisfied, you could be registered to take the course. DON quotas are filled in accordance with the following priority order:
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I
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a. Course is mandatory for employee's designated career field and current certification level.
b. Course will provide prerequisite knowledge for employee's current certification level.
c. Course is required to meet warrant requirements
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II
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a. Course is mandatory for employee's designated career field and next higher certification level.
b. Course is designated as assignment-specific and is required for employee's position.
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III
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a. Course is listed as desired for employee's designated career field/current certification level.
b. Course is requested for a subsidiary career field
c. Course is required to satisfy Continuous Learning requirements
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IV
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a. Course is requested for a non-acquisition workforce member.
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I have to travel to attend training. How will my travel and per diem be funded?
Acquisition workforce members, including APC members and military personnel with orders to acquisition positions, who are registered for mandatory acquisition courses are eligible for centralized funding. In addition, drilling military reservists in units designated by the DACM as acquisition workforce test units are eligible for funding. No other personnel are authorized to utilize the centralized funding account for training.
Upon enrollment by the DON Registrar, eligible students should complete the DON Travel Request/Authorization Sheet found in Register-Now. Through Register-Now the DON Registrar will return the approved travel authorization, including a line of accounting, to the student for use for travel associated with a particular course. Please note that the line of accounting may not be used for any other purpose, including another course, and it may not be transferred to any other individual. Upon receipt of the travel authorization, travel orders/advances should be processed in accordance with local procedures and current regulations. Your line of accounting will be available on-line within 10 workdays.
After your course is completed, you are required to submit a travel claim following local procedures. Once you receive a settlement travel voucher summary from your local travel office, you are required to settle your travel claim with the DON Registrar. The documentation required for settlement includes:
- TDY orders (DD Form 1610 or equivalent) or local travel claim (SF-1164 or equivalent);
- Airline, bus, or train ticket showing cost of fare (if commercial transportation used);
- Settled travel voucher summary sheet(s), which show a breakdown of expenditures, DOV or COV voucher number, date of payment, and check number.
Please note that copies of your settled claim must be received by the DON Registrar within 30 days after the last day of class. If a copy of the settled claim is not received within 30 days of the class end date, both you and your supervisor are sent notices reminding you to send a copy of the settled claim to the DON Registrar. If a copy of the claim is not received within 60 days of the class end date, you will not be authorized further use of centralized funds for mandatory acquisition training until the claim is settled.
Are there any alternatives to attending mandatory training courses?
Yes. Several academic courses offered by private and public colleges and universities have been certified as equivalent to mandatory acquisition courses provided by the Defense Acquisition University. Additionally, selected courses at various DoD schools have been certified as equivalent. See the DAU Catalog.
Another alternative is to take an equivalency exam. At present, just one is available. ACQ 201 equivalency exams are offered at the DSMC Regional Centers. Equivalency examinations consist of two parts and are conducted over a two-day period. On the morning of Day 1, the course director fields questions from the examinees. In the afternoon, examinees complete Part I of the examination, consisting of 100 multiple-choice questions. At the end of Day 1, the course director posts test scores; those examinees receiving a score of 70 or greater may return on the second day for Part II. Part II, which begins on the morning of Day 2, consists of the student choosing 10 of the 12 essay-type questions. The responses to Part II are collected and mailed to the DSMC main campus at Fort Belvoir. The essay portion is graded and those people who achieve a score of at least 70 percent are awarded a diploma. Each of the Defense System Management College (DSMC) Regional Centers has limited number of textbooks that can be used for study and preparation prior to the scheduled examination dates. If you're interested in taking the ACQ 201 equivalency examination, please contact your local training representative.
Training Points of Contact
Local training representatives have been appointed to assist you with your questions about acquisition training. A list of these training representatives and how they can be reached (phone, fax, and e-mail address) is provided on the Register-Now website. For your convenience we have provided a list of DON principal training points of contact.
Associated Files:
DAU Policy Memorandum #11, DAU Grading Policy
