Understanding Industry: Business Acumen for the Acquisition Workforce
This course is for the acquisition workforce who want to understand how industry actually thinks, so they can build requirements, competitions, and incentives that get better results.
Government and industry too often talk past each other. The agency issues a requirement; the contractor reads it and decides whether the work is worth bidding, what profit it can earn, and how much risk it is willing to carry. This course shows the government side how a company actually makes those calls — and how to use that knowledge to shape acquisitions industry wants to win.
Taught entirely from the industry perspective, the course covers the business acumen behind a contractor's decisions, beginning with the macro industry landscape and how a company is organized to compete. From there it works through the financial picture — private-sector financials, indirect costs and rates, cost and financial planning, and how a company manages its numbers to stay healthy and profitable — and the strategic picture: how companies build business strategy, develop and capture new work through the business-development and proposal process, manage their suppliers and supply chain, and decide where they are and aren't competitive. The course closes on the levers that move a deal: how industry approaches partnering, what motivates and incentivizes a company, and the negotiating strategies a contractor brings to the table. Throughout, participants learn how to turn that insight into requirements and strategies that resonate with industry, sharpen competition, and deliver the best value to the taxpayer. The course covers the kind of business-acumen material addressed in DAU's Understanding Industry offerings (courses such as ACQ 315 and WSM 016), taught entirely as a Phoenix Canyon course.
This course is taught by Melinda Milheim, who has worked federal contracting from all three sides of the table — as a federal contractor, as a consultant, and on the government side as part of the federal acquisition workforce. She draws on her law degree (JD) and MBA studies, along with government work spanning a contract portfolio exceeding $7.7 billion, to show participants how industry really operates. An award-winning DAU/WarU (DAWIA and FAI) instructor, she has taught more than 1,000 federal acquisition workforce students across 20-plus agencies.
Best for: members of the federal acquisition workforce — contracting officers, contract specialists, program and project managers, and the requiring-activity and technical staff who shape acquisition strategy — at both defense and civilian agencies.
Format: Available as a three-day course, delivered in person or virtually. Phoenix Canyon, a DAU/WarU Recognized Equivalent Provider, issues every attendee a certificate of completion documenting the number of training hours as well as CEUs and CLPs earned, which eligible attendees may apply toward Continuous Learning or Professional Development requirements, at their organization's discretion. Please check with your organization to confirm eligibility.
You might also consider
Mind Games & Money Moves: The Psychology of Negotiation — putting your read on industry to work at the table, where understanding how the other side thinks turns into better deals.
Source Selection Under the RFO FAR — The Complete Process (4-Day) — how the government evaluates offers and makes the best-value award, where your understanding of industry shapes who wins.
Pricing is set per engagement. Contact Phoenix Canyon to request a quote.
This course is for the acquisition workforce who want to understand how industry actually thinks, so they can build requirements, competitions, and incentives that get better results.
Government and industry too often talk past each other. The agency issues a requirement; the contractor reads it and decides whether the work is worth bidding, what profit it can earn, and how much risk it is willing to carry. This course shows the government side how a company actually makes those calls — and how to use that knowledge to shape acquisitions industry wants to win.
Taught entirely from the industry perspective, the course covers the business acumen behind a contractor's decisions, beginning with the macro industry landscape and how a company is organized to compete. From there it works through the financial picture — private-sector financials, indirect costs and rates, cost and financial planning, and how a company manages its numbers to stay healthy and profitable — and the strategic picture: how companies build business strategy, develop and capture new work through the business-development and proposal process, manage their suppliers and supply chain, and decide where they are and aren't competitive. The course closes on the levers that move a deal: how industry approaches partnering, what motivates and incentivizes a company, and the negotiating strategies a contractor brings to the table. Throughout, participants learn how to turn that insight into requirements and strategies that resonate with industry, sharpen competition, and deliver the best value to the taxpayer. The course covers the kind of business-acumen material addressed in DAU's Understanding Industry offerings (courses such as ACQ 315 and WSM 016), taught entirely as a Phoenix Canyon course.
This course is taught by Melinda Milheim, who has worked federal contracting from all three sides of the table — as a federal contractor, as a consultant, and on the government side as part of the federal acquisition workforce. She draws on her law degree (JD) and MBA studies, along with government work spanning a contract portfolio exceeding $7.7 billion, to show participants how industry really operates. An award-winning DAU/WarU (DAWIA and FAI) instructor, she has taught more than 1,000 federal acquisition workforce students across 20-plus agencies.
Best for: members of the federal acquisition workforce — contracting officers, contract specialists, program and project managers, and the requiring-activity and technical staff who shape acquisition strategy — at both defense and civilian agencies.
Format: Available as a three-day course, delivered in person or virtually. Phoenix Canyon, a DAU/WarU Recognized Equivalent Provider, issues every attendee a certificate of completion documenting the number of training hours as well as CEUs and CLPs earned, which eligible attendees may apply toward Continuous Learning or Professional Development requirements, at their organization's discretion. Please check with your organization to confirm eligibility.
You might also consider
Mind Games & Money Moves: The Psychology of Negotiation — putting your read on industry to work at the table, where understanding how the other side thinks turns into better deals.
Source Selection Under the RFO FAR — The Complete Process (4-Day) — how the government evaluates offers and makes the best-value award, where your understanding of industry shapes who wins.
Pricing is set per engagement. Contact Phoenix Canyon to request a quote.