Procurement Innovations: Inside and Outside the FAR
This course is for the federal acquisition workforce and government contractors who need to understand how these methods change the way their offers are won.
Federal contracting has changed more in the last five years than in the thirty before it. New authorities outside the FAR, new evaluation methods written into the overhauled FAR, and a fast-growing toolkit of innovative techniques have remade how the government buys — and most acquisition professionals were never trained on any of it. This course is that training.
We start with the authorities that live outside the FAR — Other Transactions (OTAs) and Commercial Solutions Openings (CSOs) — what they are, what they're for, and why they move faster than a traditional buy.
Then we move inside the overhauled FAR, where we now find evaluation approaches that weren’t in the previous version (Highest Technically Rated with a Fair and Reasonable Price and Phased Acquisitions), the redefinition of how the government and offerors talk to each other (meaningful exchanges), and the move toward streamlined RFPs and a stronger role for oral presentations and technical demonstrations over bulky written proposals.
From there, we open the OG federal innovation toolkit, walking through the most notable innovations catalogued in the Periodic Table of Acquisition Innovations (PTAI), cover the FAR Companion and Practitioner’s Albums, go through Market Research as a Service (MRAS), and discuss and/or visit some of the best of the government websites that outline innovative acquisition approaches and provide helpful resources for the practitioner.
This course is taught by Melinda Milheim, JD — an award-winning DAU/WarU (DAWIA and FAI) instructor who has taught more than 1,000 federal acquisition workforce students from over 20 agencies, and who worked more than $7.7 billion in federal contracts at the DoD/DoW and HHS, including the RDT&E, engineering, SBIR, and weapon-system work where speed and innovation matter most.
Best for: Federal acquisition professionals — contracting officers, contract specialists, CORs, program and project managers, and the requiring-activity and technical staff who shape requirements — whose teams want to move faster and use the full toolkit. Valuable as well for contractors who want to understand how these methods change the way their offers are solicited, evaluated, awarded, and administered.
Format: Available as a one-day, two-day, or three-day course. The one-day session is a working tour of the changes and innovative tools available; the two- and three-day versions go deeper on the changes, their implications, and how to best use the new tools, with worked examples drawn from real acquisitions. In person or virtual. Eligible federal acquisition workforce attendees earn 8 CLPs per instructional day.
Pricing is set per engagement. Contact Phoenix Canyon to request a quote.
This course is for the federal acquisition workforce and government contractors who need to understand how these methods change the way their offers are won.
Federal contracting has changed more in the last five years than in the thirty before it. New authorities outside the FAR, new evaluation methods written into the overhauled FAR, and a fast-growing toolkit of innovative techniques have remade how the government buys — and most acquisition professionals were never trained on any of it. This course is that training.
We start with the authorities that live outside the FAR — Other Transactions (OTAs) and Commercial Solutions Openings (CSOs) — what they are, what they're for, and why they move faster than a traditional buy.
Then we move inside the overhauled FAR, where we now find evaluation approaches that weren’t in the previous version (Highest Technically Rated with a Fair and Reasonable Price and Phased Acquisitions), the redefinition of how the government and offerors talk to each other (meaningful exchanges), and the move toward streamlined RFPs and a stronger role for oral presentations and technical demonstrations over bulky written proposals.
From there, we open the OG federal innovation toolkit, walking through the most notable innovations catalogued in the Periodic Table of Acquisition Innovations (PTAI), cover the FAR Companion and Practitioner’s Albums, go through Market Research as a Service (MRAS), and discuss and/or visit some of the best of the government websites that outline innovative acquisition approaches and provide helpful resources for the practitioner.
This course is taught by Melinda Milheim, JD — an award-winning DAU/WarU (DAWIA and FAI) instructor who has taught more than 1,000 federal acquisition workforce students from over 20 agencies, and who worked more than $7.7 billion in federal contracts at the DoD/DoW and HHS, including the RDT&E, engineering, SBIR, and weapon-system work where speed and innovation matter most.
Best for: Federal acquisition professionals — contracting officers, contract specialists, CORs, program and project managers, and the requiring-activity and technical staff who shape requirements — whose teams want to move faster and use the full toolkit. Valuable as well for contractors who want to understand how these methods change the way their offers are solicited, evaluated, awarded, and administered.
Format: Available as a one-day, two-day, or three-day course. The one-day session is a working tour of the changes and innovative tools available; the two- and three-day versions go deeper on the changes, their implications, and how to best use the new tools, with worked examples drawn from real acquisitions. In person or virtual. Eligible federal acquisition workforce attendees earn 8 CLPs per instructional day.
Pricing is set per engagement. Contact Phoenix Canyon to request a quote.