Education & Training
Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA)
The Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA (United States Code Title10, Chapter 87) was signed into law in November 1990. It requires the Secretary of Defense, acting through the Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics), to establish education and training standards, requirements, and courses for the civilian and military acquisition workforce. The requirements are based on the complexities of the job and are listed in the DoD Acquisition Career Management Desk Guide. Civilian and military personnel working in acquisition positions are assigned to one of 14 career fields. Those indicated with an asterisk/boldface type fall within SSE responsibility:
- Auditing
- Business, Cost Estimating, and Financial Management (BCEFM)
- Contracting
- Facilities Engineering (FE)
- Industrial/Contract Property Management (I/CPM)
- Information Technology (IT)
- Life Cycle Logistics (LCL)
- Production, Quality and Manufacturing (PQM)*
- Program Management (PM)
- Purchasing
- Systems Planning, Research, Development and Engineering – Science and Technology Manager(SPRDE/STM)
- Systems Planning, Research, Development and Engineering – Systems Engineering (SPRDE/SE)*
- Systems Planning, Research, Development and Engineering – Program Systems Engineer (SPRDE/PSE)*
- Test and Evaluation (TE)*
Position Category Descriptions and Career Field/Path
Certification Standards
The Position Category
Descriptions (PCD) for each of the fourteen career fields/paths
listed above can be found on the Department
of Defense AT&L Career Management website, hosted by DAU.
The current Education,
Training, and Experience Certification Standards for each career
field/path can be found there as well.