Facing an aging workforce, the question of how to train the next generation of acquisition professionals is a challenge that federal leaders and industry managers have yet to solve. The need for training is great, but budgets and time are often limited. Senior government procurement executives and practitioners say agencies have cut training dollars even …
Continue reading “Acquisition Workforce Training – Rethink Your Approach”
With Labor Day weekend over, it’s full steam ahead for government agencies and those who support them. For some, telework will be part of the mix as teams manage the fiscal year-end rush. Recently I started supporting a federal agency where telework is encouraged and systems are in place to enable one or more days …
Continue reading “How to Make Telework Succeed for Your Team”
As project leads and managers, we have all experienced a staffing vacancy on a project due to staff changes or project expansion. To fill our void, we post job descriptions on career pages and numerous “Job Boards” in an effort to reach a wide swath of people and generate a large pool of resumes to …
Continue reading “Why Key Word Searches May Not Identify the Best Job Candidate”
It’s the problem that won’t seem to go away: for decades, government agencies, academics and industry associations have identified a lack of expertise and training among acquisition personnel as a key challenge for the acquisition workforce. Frank Kendall, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, acknowledged the problem, adding a new goal to …
Continue reading “Is It Time to Professionalize Contract Management?”
We took a pause from our normal hectic workday schedules to gather here at our headquarters for a potluck Thanksgiving lunch. It was nice to slow down, enjoy a meal together and talk about peoples’ families, holiday plans and traditions. It is the people, after all, who make our company and any company succeed. We …
The latest in our Health and Wellness series of yoga classes for employees started last week and I began thinking how some of the fundamentals we’ve been learning in yoga can be applied to managing during an unexpected or challenging situation, such as the government shutdown. The implications of the shutdown have been far-reaching – …
Continue reading “Breathe! How a Holistic Approach Helped Us Survive the Government Shutdown”
I retired in March after 30 years as a US Naval Officer. It was the end of a rewarding career that included travel, challenging work and camaraderie, but I knew that it was also the beginning of a new post-military chapter. While I was excited about the possibilities and confident in my skills honed in …
Continue reading “My Military to Private Sector Transition – Seven Lessons Learned”
Picture the acquisition process flow as a wheel. Around the wheel are the pre-award and award process, contract management and finally the contract close-out. Because Contracting Officer’s Representatives (CORs) may be involved in all aspects of the acquisition cycle, they operate as the linchpin that holds it all together. What would happen if you pulled …
Continue reading “Do CORs Matter in Your Agency? Why They Should”
A few months ago I wrote about the National Contract Management Association’s (NCMA’s) new Industry Certification in Contract Management (ICCM) in a blog titled “New Certifications Could Help Ease Acquisition Shortfall.” The ICCM is the only available direct equivalent to Defense Acquisition Improvement Act (DAWIA) and Federal Acquisition Certification-Contracting (FAC-C) certifications. Based on the tremendous …
Continue reading “Certification Update – the Latest on NCMA’s ICCM”
When the pressure is on to perform at a higher level due to limited resources and tight time constraints, your team’s morale is likely suffering. As a manager, you are probably also feeling overwhelmed. Many of us have experienced wanting to be proactive but struggling to find time to focus on the less tangible aspects …
Continue reading “How Investing in Your Team Can Pay Off – Even in Tight Times”
