Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academy (VAAA)

This four-day course will provide you with the technical knowledge and abilities required to orchestrate more complex projects collectively as programs. You will synthesize requirements into viable acquisition strategies and evaluate those strategies as programs evolve. This course will cover technology management processes with the goal of implementing a balanced system design, as well as how to track asset developer technical progress and reporting. At the end of this course, you will have gained viable approaches to product support and supply chain management that increase system readiness, maintain affordability, and reduce the logistics footprint.

This three-day course will provide you with the knowledge and ability to integrate, evaluate, and lead program strategy into a viable approach for program procurement. You will evaluate acquisition planning actions, adjust those plans according to policy and program risk, and orchestrate source selection of a complex program. This course will teach you how exit criteria is developed and defended and how to balance stakeholder expectations. This course will emphasize the acquisition of services that support agency technical and business management requirements. After this course, you will understand how to facilitate a negotiated baseline of performance between the operational users and corresponding commercial and organic support providers.

This three-day course advances the experienced project manager into the business enterprise tasks of leading complex projects and larger, collective programs. You will evaluate for merit and evoke risk management strategies resulting in program-level adjustments to financial plans and cost benefit analyses. Earned value management (EVM) metrics are evaluated, followed by program adjustment decisions based on EVM data. This course will emphasize managing cost and financial risks within the broader context of a Total Life-Cycle Systems Management (TLCSM) approach to program management. You will understand how to present and defend a business case before program stakeholders, manage funds, and other key competencies for project managers.

This two-day course will expand your interpersonal and mentoring skills required in complex programs. You will gain awareness of how modeling responsible and accountable behaviors relates to effective and efficient use of program resources. This course will teach you how to develop stakeholder relationships through critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making. You will gain global awareness of the linkage between organizational vision and objectives through plan execution.