The Defense Innovation Unit and the Defense Acquisition University have come up with a 12-month program to train civilian and military contracting officers on the Commercial Solutions Opening process as part of efforts to speed up the delivery of technologies to warfighters.
The Immersive Commercial Acquisition Program is expected to launch in October and offer participants an opportunity to attend virtual classes on other transaction authorities via DAU’s Defense Acquisition Credential Program.
“To give our warfighters the best and most current technology available, DoD must embrace and leverage an acquisition process that maximizes competition and enables the Department to operate at commercial speeds,” said Michael Brown, director of DIU and a 2022 Wash100 Award winner.
“To do this, we need to train our acquisitions talent from across the Services on how to effectively transition technologies from the commercial sector into the DoD,” Brown added.
DIU and DAU will conduct a competitive selection process to name up to six contracting officers that will participate in the program. Those who will complete the training program will serve as a link between DIU and service branches on future projects.
ICAP may expand to other procurement-related fields, including program management, legal and finance.