ACE for Services

The Acquisition Center of Excellence (ACE) for Services was established as required by the Service Acquisition Reform Act (SARA), Section 1431(b). The goals are to facilitate knowledge sharing across the acquisition community and to serve as the central clearinghouse for service acquisition policy and guidance information, training opportunities and best practices to support both the public and private sectors.

Quick Links:

• ** NEW: DoD Market Research Report Guide for Improving the Tradecraft in Services Acquisition, Version 1.0, APRIL 2012
• OFPP, DAU and FAI Partnership Development Objective
• GSA CAO Newsletter- ACE for Services article
• AT&L Acquisition of Services Policy Memo, October 02, 2006
• DAU Acquisition Community Conference Presentations, 17 April 2007: Trends in the Acquisition and Program Management of Services in DoD
• 7 Steps of Performance Based Acquisition
• View The Acquisition Center of Excellence for Services - Strategic Plan
• Contract Officer Representative (COR) Community of Practice
• Contingency Contracting Community of Practice

Acquisition Center of Excellence for Services

Purpose

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) is required, by the Service Acquisition Reform Act (SARA), Section 1431(b), to establish an Acquisition Center of Excellence (ACE) for Service Contracting. The purpose is to provide a central clearinghouse of service contracting best practices for both the public and private sectors.

Mission Statement

Provide a premier source for services information to both the public and private sector acquisition community to promote knowledge sharing and excellence in making smart business decisions.

Vision

To establish an online resource center for services best practices that will evolve in to a knowledge management repository for best practices. The center will include areas for best practices, e-tools, policy and guidance, as well as a training center. The center will expand to include the ability to provide virtual experts to assist the acquisition community in planning, soliciting, evaluating, awarding, and managing service contracts. This center will also complement and enhance the Services Course under development by the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) and Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI) partnership-led interagency development team.

Benefit/Value of the Site

Offers a collaborative structure that has proven to be extremely effective in the creation and transfer of knowledge within organizations and provides value to organizations in the following ways:

• Provides a one stop resource information center for new/more junior employees and senior/more experienced practitioners;
• Facilitates the building of service knowledge;
• Facilitates the rapid identification of individuals with specific knowledge or skills;
• Fosters a collaborative knowledge sharing across organizational boundaries ("boundary spanning"); and
• Promotes and facilitates the capture and re-use of existing knowledge assets within the acquisition community.

Target Audience

The Private and Public Sector Acquisition Community, including program managers, technical representatives, etc.