Changes include adding job-related credentials for technical expertise. Image: ESB Professional/Shutterstock.com
OMB has revised the process for training federal acquisition professionals, the “Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting (FAC-C)” system, in what it called the first major update since 2014.
“This FAC-C modernization reflects a new model of lifelong learning that reimagines how the federal government develops the workforce,” says a memo from the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. “It shifts us from a talent management system based on early career classroom training, to one that reflects best practices in modern learning, training agility, and continuous professional growth.”
“The new program is also designed to attract more people into the contracting workforce from a variety of sources – colleges, industry, internal candidates from other functions, and state and local governments,” it says.
Changes include moving from a multi-level certification system to a single level to streamline early career learning; incorporating virtual instructor-led learning; adding job-related credentials for technical expertise which can be adapted to reflect future developments; “pivoting from a centralized training framework to one in which supervisors, agencies and frontline contracting professionals have more control over their learning”; and more.
The new requirements take effect February 1, it says, after which new hires will follow new requirements to be certified as “FAC-C (Professional).” Those currently certified as Levels I, II or II will automatically gain that certification.
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