News for the Acquisition Workforce

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On March 7, 2022, the FAR Council published FAR Rule 2021-008, which included substantial and complex changes to the requirements of the Buy American statute. FAI has created a five-minute micro-learning video to help contracting professionals understand the changes that take effect on Oct. 25, 2022. In October 2022, FAI will release a new course, FAC 097: Navigating Buy American and Trade Agreements, that will replace FAC 063: Buy American Statute, which will include the new requirements along with new web-based interactive decision tools to help acquisition workforce members with clause selection and evaluating foreign offers.

On June 16, 2022, the President signed the Supply Chain Security Training Act of 2021 into law, requiring FAI to develop a training program for officials with supply chain risk management responsibilities at Federal agencies. At this time, the one-hour course (FAC 093), Introduction to Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) is available via FAI CSOD. As the world becomes more interconnected and as the U.S. and its allies confront more adverse challenges, SCRM is more critical than ever. Learn more about SCRM and strengthen our nation’s defenses by taking this course!

FAI's fiscal year 2023 FAC-C and FAC-COR training sessions are now available for registration in FAI CSOD. The list of sessions is located on FAI.gov. Seats are first come, first serve; there is no tuition cost to students or their agencies. Do not delay, seats fill quickly!

The Mission Support Leadership Program is designed for GS-12 to GS-14 Federal employees in acquisitions. Federal professionals will become more effective leaders by focusing on the four core tenets of the Partnership’s Public Service Leadership Model—self-awareness, engaging others, leading change and achieving results. By the end of the course, participants are able to make values-based decisions, use their roles to build strong partnerships, identify how to drive positive impact within their organizations and demonstrate enhanced leadership attributes. Accepting applications now.

As a reminder, the FAI.gov Frequently Asked Questions page has a collection of resources for FAI CSOD users. Under the "training and help desk support" tab, you'll find a training video with answers to commonly asked FAI CSOD questions and a variety of task aids with step-by-step directions for performing FAI CSOD functions. While logged in to FAI CSOD, you can visit the Training Guides and Videos link under the “Help” tab to learn more about the roles you are assigned. Additionally, you can contact the Defense Acquisition University help desk for FAI CSOD troubleshooting, error reporting and password problems. Bookmark this page today!

The Acquisition Regulation Comparator (ARC) provides Acquisition.gov users the ability to compare up to three regulations side-by-side. The results are displayed in a column layout, with regulations compared at the part and subpart level and lined up by sections. FAR, GSAR and Department of Defense acquisition regulations are included in the ARC release, and all civilian agency acquisition regulations will be provided soon. Visit the ARC here and view its user guide here.

Government/industry engagement is key to the success of the federal acquisition process. Yet, this indispensable part of a high-functioning procurement system is sometimes unknown or ignored. The article linked below illustrates that when done properly, government/industry engagement leads to better acquisition outcomes. It defines government/industry engagement and explains why it's important. In addition, it explains the role of the acquisition workforce and the rules governing government/industry engagement. The article concludes by discussing success strategies, myths, and truths related to government/industry engagement. Click here to read the full article and learn more.

The White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) wants to hear from a handful of contracting officers and specialists across government! They are looking for meetings to discuss the nature of your work, training and pain points of your job as they look to make improvements in increasing sustainability in federal procurement. The one-time commitment would range from 30 minutes to one hour via a ZoomGov session, with members of the CEQ's Office of the Chief Sustainability Officer and staff from the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. Please visit the Open Opportunities posting for more information.