FAI/DAU Invite Vendors to Thursday Meeting at GSA

GSA #10144

March 16, 2005
Contact: Viki Reath (202) 501-1231
viki.reath@gsa.gov

Washington, D.C.—The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) meet tomorrow with training developers, acquisition training services experts and vendors with commercial, off-the-shelf training products related to the development of the acquisition workforce to provide information about the new Partnership in Acquisition Excellence, formed by GSA, DoD, and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP).
 
The meeting in GSA’s auditorium, 1800 F Street NW, 1 to 3 p.m., comes on the heels of Friday’s announcement of the new partnership by GSA, DoD, and OFPP.

The Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI), directed by OFPP and managed by GSA, now will be located at DoD’s Defense Acquisition University Fort Belvoir campus. Registration for Thursday’s training meeting is by email, Jamie.ready@gsa.gov, or phone, (703) 558-4092.
 
"GSA proudly supports the partnership between FAI and DAU," said Emily Murphy, GSA's Chief Acquisition Officer. "This provides a key opportunity to ensure we have the highly skilled acquisition workforce needed to support federal agencies' missions and to meet workforce management challenges across agencies, civilian and military."
 
David H. Safavian, Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, views the new partnership as a major step for the federal government.  “This new partnership will ensure that the right people get the right training at the right time,” Safavian said. “We look forward to working with DoD to ensure that we train our acquisition workforce to be a federal asset, not just an agency asset. In the past, FAI was focused on training civilian agencies’ acquisition workforce, while DAU trained DoD personnel. While those responsibilities will remain, we believe there is enormous potential for cross-training and overall improvement of offerings.” 
 
Michael Wynne, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, said, “This partnership is better than any award we have earned so far, because the hardest thing to earn is the respect of your peers,” Wynne said. “What this unprecedented agreement really does is reflect the power of best practices that DAU has learned from other universities, and what Frank (Frank Anderson, DAU President) and his team have done here at DAU.  This sharing of best practices reflects the best of President Bush's agenda, and we are pleased to be a part of this innovative agreement.”