From time to time I participate in conferences, seminars, and/or other training opportunities. It looks like I’ll be doing so again, at two venues. For your information:

August 24 – 26 – I will be participating in the American Conference Institute’s 11th Annual Advanced Forum on DCAA & DCMA Cost, Pricing, Compliance & Audits. Link for the Conference is here. I have two pieces of the multi-day conference.

First, on August 24th I will be leading a 3-hour workshop on Contractor Purchasing System Reviews (CPSRs). My co-instructors will be Mark Hijar (who has scads of experience with CPSRs) and Luis Avila (a Director from KPMG’s Government Contractor Services team). We’ll start with the basics and move into more advance areas, such as counterfeit electronic parts, cyber security, and the interplay between commercial items and inter-organizational transfers. I’ve seen the preliminary slide deck and it should be a valuable learning experience—if I do say so myself.

Second, on August 26th I will be participating in a panel discussing commercial item determinations. Led by Brent Calhoon of Baker Tilly, the other panelist will be Ryan Connell, of DOD’s Commercial Item Group (CIG). The three of us have spoken and decided we will be presenting a “Myth-Busting” panel primarily directed at prime contractors who have to assess the commerciality of their subcontractors. Together, we came up with more than 20 myths to be busted, and we are currently working to whittle the number down to ten. (After all, we only have one hour.) I’m excited to speak along side these two experienced, knowledgeable gentlemen.

Then in September, I’ll be co-instructing with “Don Acquisition” at a virtual class entitled “The FAR/DFARS Subcontract Flow-Down Course.” I love co-instructing with Don because he’s got years of experience and knowledge. He’s a former Professor at Defense Acquisition University (DAU), a former Contracting Officer, and has instructed numerous “FAR Boot Camps®.” I learn so much just watching him teach! Don’s teaching style is informed by his FAR Boot Camp® experience—i.e., minimal PowerPoint slides and maximum hands-on experiential learning. I touched on (some of) what I learned the last time I co-instructed with Don in this article.

Course objectives include:

• Given a federal contract, determine which FAR and DFARS clauses were erroneously omitted or included

• Given a federal contract, determine which FAR and DFARS clauses must be included in (i.e. flowed down to) a given subcontract

• Given a federal contract, determine which FAR and DFARS clauses should be included in (i.e. flowed down to) a given subcontract to minimize the prime contractor’s risk

• Given a set of flow down clauses from a prime contractor or higher-tier subcontractor, determine which clauses were included erroneously (subcontractor push-back)

If those objectives sound like something you might be interested in learning, the link to Don’s course is right here.

Anyway, that’s what’s happening in the upcoming training department. If you or your team would like customer-designed training, don’t hesitate to let Apogee Consulting – or Don Acquisition – know.