DAU knowledge-sharing assets to support the contracting community.

DAU offers a wealth of resources to the acquisition community within the framework of the DAU AT & L Performance Learning Model, described at <www.dau.mil/plm/plm.asp>. The PLM focuses on providing resources and maintaining a 24/7 presence for the workforce through online communities of practice and knowledge systems. Two collaborative resources that promote the 24/7 presence are the AT & L Knowledge Sharing System (AKSS) and the Acquisition Community Connection (ACC).

Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Knowledge Sharing System

The AKSS <https://akss.dau.mil>, formerly referred to as the Defense Acquisition Deskbook, serves as the single entry point for all AT & L resources and information and communicates acquisition improvement initiatives. The site contains links to mandatory and discretionary reference material; glossary and acronyms listings; the popular and legacy Ask A Professor" function and data-base of frequently asked questions and professors' answers; news and publications; education and training; acquisition events; and other related Web sites. The AKSS leverages existing "golden sources" (a term used to refer to the original document owner, for example Washington Headquarters Services or the Hill Air Force Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) site). The AKSS serves as a repository for key policy and guidance information that is not readily available in a single site or location. John Hickok, director of knowledge sharing at DAU, emphasizes that "the vision of the AKSS is to serve as the gateway to the DoD 'enterprise' knowledge residing in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, the Services, agencies, and industry, so that it is accessible and shared to the maximum extent possible." The AKSS includes the Acquisition Community Connection and the Mission Support Contracting Community of Practice.

The Acquisition Community Connection

The ACC <https://acc.dau.mil> is the collaborative arm of the DAU knowledge system that facilitates knowledge sharing and complements the AKSS. The knowledge-sharing cycle has four major steps: (1) knowledge draws members to the community; (2) total knowledge within the community increases; (3) knowledge sharing within the community increases; and (4) knowledge creation is accelerated. The optimum goal is to connect practitioners with know-how across federal organizations and industry. While DAU supports the infrastructure and operation of the knowledge-sharing systems several developments are the results of partnerships and provide a broader scope and increase audience relevancy. The ACC provides access to several career field communities of practice (CoPs) in addition to the Mission Support Contracting Community of Practice described below.

Mission Support Contracting Community of Practice (MSC CoP)

The MSC CoP <https://acc.dau.mil/msc> supports the contracting career field and is most active in establishing partnerships in support of legislative initiatives, emerging community developments, and internal development projects. On several occasions, legislative initiatives required the collection and dissemination of new policy information, training opportunities, and related learning assets with support and availability 24/7 to the contracting professional. This challenge is successfully implemented as shown by the continued expansion of the process and mission areas of the MSC CoP. An entire list of topic areas is available from the MSC CoP home page. The key to success is the involvement and support of interested parties--all Services, agencies, and industry. The key to successful deployment of a mission and process area is when the team comes together and shares ideas, experiences, visions, and plans for the growth and sustainment of the topic area. This provides a broader span of coverage to better serve the CoP's constituents. The Defense Acquisition University solicits your recommendations for the expansion of mission and process area topics as well as enhancement suggestions. If you're interested in sponsoring the development of a particular mission and process area, please contact [e-mail].

Five of the more recent partnership process and mission area development efforts are:

* Hurricane Katrina. As the federal government was still assessing the destruction left behind by hurricane Katrina, DAU's Knowledge Sharing team was already eagerly at work developing a Hurricane Katrina Community of Practice (HK COP) <https://acc.dau.mil/katrina>. The goal was to develop a repository of applicable information and resources to support the acquisition workforce in the relief effort. The topic areas include policy and guidance information, emergency acquisition resources, training materials, and other supporting resources.

* Acquisition Center of Excellence for Services. The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), the General Services Administration (GSA), and DAU partnered in the development of the ACE for Services <https://acc.dau.mil/ace> as required by the Service Acquisition Reform Act. The goal was to provide a central clearinghouse of Service contracting best practices and guidance for both the public and private sectors. This development effort was supported by and included several agency and association team members. All agencies and participating associations were encouraged to share and leverage their specific best practices and lessons learned within the service contracting arena. The visions for ACE are to broaden and sustain the current service categories. This is a great opportunity to share your templates, best practices, and lessons learned, and to leverage the resources of other professionals.

* Contingency Contracting. The contingency contracting community of practice <https://acc.dau.mil/contingency> is increasingly more active and important in supporting the contingency contracting community worldwide. The goal continues to be providing a repository for learning assets, resources, and real-time information. To assist in building this knowledge repository, the community leverages class projects from the CON234 Contingency Contracting course with actual deployment and after-action reports. DAU currently has a multi-Service team restructuring the content and layout to better support the contingency community.

* Proper Use of non-DoD Contracts. The Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy (DPAP), the General Services Administration, and DAU in partnership are currently conducting "Proper Use of Non-DoD Contracts" road shows. To support the effort after the road shows and to provide a resource vault, the CoP <https://acc.dau.mil/usingnondodcontracts> has proved to be an effective resource tool. The CoP includes a link to the DPAP Web site, which provides access to all Service-specific policy information. Also included is the GSA Federal Supply Services Center for Acquisition Excellence Virtual Campus, which provides access to online and classroom training as well as other learning resources to support its customer base.

* Industry Feedback Forum. Industry partners are encouraged to share their ideas and recommendations as well as provide support for the growth and expansion of the MSC CoP through the Industry Forum. The goal is to share experiences and resources between the private and public sectors.

The DAU knowledge-sharing goal is not to ensure that every member of our workforce knows everything. That's clearly impossible. The goal is rather to ensure that all members of the workforce know where to find the knowledge they need to perform better in support of the warfighter.