Happy 2022!  I hope that everyone was able to take some time off during the holidays, and you are refreshed and ready to tackle your Mission Area's procurement needs! 

Program managers and Requisitioners--Although we don't have a final budget for FY 2022 yet, NOW is the time to plan any contract needs you have not already started.  My office published new acquisition planning guidance and templates to support this process (see below).  Contracting Officers—take a moment to contact your customers and (kindly) tell them you are always happy to receive requirements packages early. Planning and time are the keys to success for a better contracting process that is likely to yield better results (e.g., better requirements, more competition, better pricing, etc.). 

The second quarter is also a great time to take required and optional training courses.  This issue highlights many free training options that are available to you.  Although the administrative pause to the continuous learning (CL) requirements for all federal acquisition certifications remains in effect, likely through Spring 2022, you will need to document CL at some point in the future - so why not take some training now?  

Everyone take care of yourselves and each other!  - Tiffany   

The USDA Contracting Desk Book was revised on January 3, 2022, with edits focusing primarily on Part 407, Acquisition Planning.  Updates include written acquisition planning thresholds, approvals and a new section specific to IT acquisition planning.  Desk Book updates were accompanied by new templates for a combined Acquisition Strategy/ Acquisition Plan (AS/AP), a Formal Acquisition Plan and an Abbreviated Acquisition Plan.  The Desk Book also includes a link to the new IT Contract Planning and CIO Approval Standard Operating Procedures, which was developed by a USDA CXO Integrated Project Team (IPT). 

Acquisition Planning training will be available for the USDA acquisition workforce on Tuesday, January 25, 2022, at 1 PM ET on Teams Live.  Registration is not required, and one Continuous Learning Point (CLP) will be awarded to those who attend the full session. 

The Procurement Innovation Effort (PIE) has released the Acquisition Innovation Recipes.

Learn more about acquisition innovation, the framework for techniques, watch videos, and find other resource links in the recipes. 

PIE encourages you to try something new with your next acquisition to save time, seek better outcomes, or both!

USDA public-facing websites will be transitioning to a new format, and with that transition, the currents sites are going to be phased out.  Public information will be moved to the public-facing OCP site: https://www.usda.gov/da/ocp.  Information for internal USDA use is being transitioned to the Acquisition Workforce SharePoint site, which is accessible to anyone in USDA.  The SharePoint site includes policy and guidance, templates, and links to a variety of important acquisition workforce sites.  Please add the new sites to your bookmarks.  

Another new OCP webpage provides information on the USDA Mission Area Policy Group.  The site includes policy points of contact for each Mission Area, as well as points of contact and responsibilities for the OCP Procurement Policy Division (PPD). 

USDA strives to advance equity among those we do business with and to continue to support small business programs and contractors to build back better.  To do that, we need to be proactive and provide specific and thorough information that is clear for small businesses.  Therefore, USDA recently launched a Small Business website for contractors and potential contractors to provide guidance and information: www.usda.gov/smallbiz. Please share this resource widely!

USDA is developing a Single Sign-On solution to integrate U.S. Bank Access Online and WEX Online with USDA e-Authentication (eAuth). This solution will also incorporate the USDA Amazon Business Account.  Implementation will occur in the Spring of 2022.

On April 4, 2022, the federal government will stop using the DUNS number to uniquely identify entities doing business with the federal government. Instead, a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) created in SAM.gov will be used.  Additional information about this change is available on GSA’s UEI webpage.

UEI will be available as a new data field in IAS starting on January 17.  The DUNS field will remain in IAS and should continue to be used until April 3 because it will still be considered the “authoritative identifier” until then.  

FedDataCheck plans to allow users to conduct contractor responsibility assessments by entering a UEI or a DUNS through the end of March 2022.  At that time, the DUNS option will be removed and the tool will exclusively be driven by the UEI.  Optional training for the Fed Data Check transition is available February 8, 15, and 22 from 1:00-1:30 PM ET via this Teams Link.  Note that all 3 sessions will provide the same information.

On December 8, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14057, Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs through Federal Sustainability and the Administration released the accompanying Federal Sustainability Plan. E.O. 14057 directs the Federal Government to use its scale and procurement power to achieve ambitious goals for carbon pollution-free electricity, zero-emission vehicle acquisitions, net-zero emissions from Federal procurement, a net-zero emissions building portfolio, and net-zero emissions from overall Federal operations. These goals also support Secretary Vilsack’s priority to address climate change via climate smart agriculture and forestry.  You an learn more about sustainability through the Sustainability Speaker Series for the Federal Community. 

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) instituted an administrative pause to the continuous learning (CL) requirements for all federal acquisition certifications. The Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI) issued notification that all Federal Acquisition Certification (FAC) CL achievement requirements that were up-to-date as of February 1, 2020, will be temporarily extended and considered current.  That extension is ongoing; certified acquisition workforce (AWF) employees do not need to request the extension. 

The FAI acquisition workforce management system, Cornerstone OnDemand (CSOD) is being updated to include a process to request CL points, with implementation targeted for Spring 2022.  Guidance will be published when the CL process resumes.

Certification holders should still pursue CL through all available methods, such as the training opportunities identified below.  It is important that AWF employees work with their Mission Area Acquisition Career Manager Designee (ACMD) to identify acceptable acquisition related CL events.  If you have specific questions about a course or CL opportunity, direct it to your Mission Area ACMD.

USDA recently created an Acquisition Workforce Stream for sharing webinars and recorded learning content. Stream channels include SPE Talks, COR Learning Content, USDA Briefings and Trainings and others.  Content will be added regularly and currently includes the last three SPE Talks webinars (SPE channel), a presentation on IT Acquisition Planning Changes (briefings channel) and a quick tutorial on contents of a requirements package (COR channel).  NOTE: Due to the on-demand nature of the channels, Continuous Learning Points cannot be offered for watching Stream content.   

USDA Acquisition Workforce Training Opportunities

Ever wonder what training is available in other Mission Areas? Does your agency have training that you’d like to make available to all of USDA?  OCP created a website for all Mission Areas to share available training, here.  Recent additions to this site include:

• “VAO Training Opportunities Curated for USDA” which provides a compact list of advisories, eModules and webinars hosted by the Virtual Acquisition Office (VAO) with an opportunity to earn over 50 continuous learning points (on-demand)
• Two offerings from the GW Law Government Procurement Law Program: Buy American and the New U.S. Infrastructure Legislation and Combating Fraud in Government Procurement (webinars, require registration)
• January 25, 2022 USDA Acquisition Planning training, 1 PM ET (webinar, no registration required)
• February 3, 2022 SPE Talks, 1 PM ET (webinar, no registration required)

Please bookmark the OCP training site and check it regularly for additional training opportunities. 

We received a few requests from prior editions of the newsletter to provide a list of acronyms we use in the newsletter.  The acquisition community has so many, and we know this can be confusing for someone new to acquisition or new to USDA!  Therefore, we have started a list of acquisition acronyms and posted it to our new public-facing Acquisition Workforce SharePoint page.  We will continue to add to this list as we publish more newsletters.  

Please let us know what you think of this newsletter - what is helpful to you?  Did you learn anything?  What would you like to see in future issues?  

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