Veterans Affairs (VA) Acquisition Academy (VAAA) Program Management (PM) School Instructional Delivery and Support

The VA Acquisition Academy (VAAA) was created to address the growing acquisition workforce challenge facing the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Federal Government overall. The Academy provides quality course deliveries to students that enables them to convey exceptional service to their customers, the nation’s Veterans and their dependents.

Shoulder 2 Shoulder supports this effort to provide the Federal Acquisition Certification in Program/Project Management (FAC-P/PM) acquisition workforce training program with highly qualified instructor trainers, subject matter expertise, program management, and administrative course support.

Key areas of S2S support include:

  • Provide industry-certified trainers to deliver government-off-the-shelf (GOTS) curriculum for over 40 courses to the VAAA PM School’s acquisition workforce onsite and remotely.
    • FAC-P/PM
    • FAC-COR
    • PM Workshops
    • PM Fellows
    • Life Cycle Cost Estimating
    • Agile in the Federal Government
  • Deliver measurable instructor evaluation metrics
  • Compile, analyze, and report delivery performance
  • Advise the PM School management on delivery, administration, and school activities.
  • Provide meticulous course materials management in support of all PM School classroom deliveries.
  • Source subject matter experts with relevant and significant curriculum knowledge to ensure PM School’s accreditation status.
  • Partner with VAAA contractor partners, Program Management Office (PMO), Office of the Registrar (OOR), Learning Standards Office (LSO), Facilities, and Security.

Veterans Affairs (VA) Acquisition Academy (VAAA) Program Management (PM) Workshops

Due to the loss of institutional knowledge resulting from “baby boomer” retirements, the VA recognizes the acquisition workforce has strained to keep pace with the increased complexities associated with outsourced work in support of the VA mission. A result is many programs are led by non-program managers whose programs would benefit from tailored workshops specific to their program needs and requirements.

S2S Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and Facilitators are developing and delivering tactical workshops that provide direct expert program/project management training and coaching to support the provision and development of program management best practices, processes, standards, and procedures that target the coordination of highly complex project activities such as developing integrated master schedules, risk analysis matrix, and sequencing and managing of program activities.

Key areas of S2S support include:

  • Gap Analyses: SMEs gather and report detailed Acquisition Program Management Framework (APMF) and Facilities Management gap analyses for each critical program/project designated site.
  • Tailored Workshop Development: Based on gap analyses reporting and site needs, SMEs and Facilitator develop individualized PM Workshops for the site such as: Program Planning, Acquisition Preparedness, Monitoring and Controlling, and Diagnostics and Planning.
  • Coaching Workshop Delivery Event: SMEs and Coaching Facilitator deliver customized 3-day workshops to multiple sites. S2S SME instructors are fluent with APMF and FAC-P/PM certification, as well as experts on all relevant program management aspects and techniques for the VA.
  • Continuous Improvement: Individual workshop lessons learned are developed in order to be applied to the next workshop and documented to guide future workshop development and offerings.

VA Learning University (VALU) Support

The Government selected S2S to develop and deliver advanced IT training to support its growing cadre of VA training content developers. The 30-month project is designed to expand the Government’s capacity for developing training by delivering three training courses on their primary training platform – the Kenexa Evolution Learning Content Management System (LCMS). The project blends Classroom and Virtual Instructor-Led techniques to support new and experienced developer personnel and sustain developer proficiency through targeted training for new LCMS releases.

Key areas of S2S support include:

  • LCMS Course Developer Training (Classroom Training for new developers)
  • Advanced Sequencing Training for Course Developers (Virtual Instructor-Led Training for experienced developers)
  • LCMS Delta Training for new software releases (Virtual Instructor-Led Training)