The Defense Acquisition Portal (DAP) was launched to replace the AT&L (Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics) Knowledge Sharing System (AKSS). Like its predecessor, DAP continues to provide acquisition information for all DoD service components and across all functional disciplines. DAP serves as the central point of access for all AT&L resources and information, and to communicate acquisition reform. As the primary reference tool for the Defense AT&L workforce, it provides a means to link together information and reference assets from various disciplines into an integrated, but decentralized, information source. DAP is one part of the Defense Acquisition University knowledge system. This knowledge system encompasses two web sites that meet two different workforce needs, but when combined are complementary in assisting the workforce in completing their missions, and finding the right information at the right time in the right place. The two sites are the DAP and the Acquisition Community Connection.

The vision for the DAU knowledge system is that it not only be a reference source for policy documents, but a means to foster and facilitate the growth and sustenance of AT&L related Communities of Practice (CoP). CoPs are an integral part of the Knowledge System vision and serve to promote sharing of discretionary assets (lessons learned, best practices, templates, etc.) on a continuing basis. CoPs do this by bringing together individuals who have a common interest in a particular topic and who find value in connecting to peers for the purpose of increasing their knowledge and understanding of the subject matter to better perform their jobs.

The DAP provides the AT&L workforce with a single entry point to acquisition, technology and logistics resources. It helps you to:

• Save time by providing you direct access to policy, guidance, templates, training, and peer discussions to use in your day-to-day work.
• Increase your productivity by guiding you to best practices and lessons-learned both within the DOD AT&L community and industry.
• Improve your effectiveness by finding and using proven practices and the sharing of lessons learned across the AT&L workforce.
• Accelerate problem solving by improving access to relevant, current, authoritative, validated information sources.
• Leverage the expertise and experience of others in the AT&L workforce and its industry partners.
• Access training and learning resources that help you to grow within your career field.
• Access mission assistance tools that will aid your productivity.

The DAP is designed to ensure that the information it provides is the most current information available. The new philosophy of directing users to the official source for references and documents assures you that you are accessing the most current version of policy documents and references.

Yes. DAP will continue to evolve and improve over the coming months by:

• Adding more documents and references
• Refining the categorization of information and knowledge
• Improving the ways you locate information by adding better search and categorized information browsing
• Integrating disparate information sources into a single cohesive information source

We appreciate all of the feedback we have received to-date. We are acting on that feedback to continue to improve this site to provide you with a true "golden source" of all acquisition-related content. Please continue to provide us with your ideas and express your needs via e-mail to our Help Desk or by completing our feedback survey.

The management of Defense Acquisition information has moved from the Joint Program Office (JPO) at Wright Patterson AFB to the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) at Ft. Belvoir, VA. The DAP Program Manager may be contacted via postal mail at:

Defense Acquisition University
Attn: DAP Program Manager
Bldg #209
9820 Belvoir Road
Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-5565

Contact the help desk at:

AT&L Knowledge Sharing System
Defense Acquisition University
Operations, Information Systems (Help Desk)
9820 Belvoir Road
Ft. Belvoir, VA 22060-5565
Comm: 703-805-3459
DSN: 655-3459
Fax: 703-805-3481
E-Mail: issc@dau.mil

We're interested in your opinion. If you have feedback you'd like to give with regards to the DAP, please go to the Feedback Survey, which is a button on the DAP Home Page, to complete our survey.

To see the DAP privacy and security policy click here.

Legal notices and policy statements for the DAP can be found here.

The abbreviations and acronyms used in the DAP include:

AAP

Ask A Professor

ACC

Acquisition Community Coneection

AKSS

AT&L Knowledge Sharing System

AT&L

Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics

BPCh

Best Practices Clearinghouse

DAG

Defense Acquisition Guidebook

DAP

Defense Acquisition Portal

DAU

Defense Acquisition University

DFARS

Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement

FAR

Federal Acquisition Regulation

JCIDS

Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System

PPBE

Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution

You can find more definitions in our glossary of Defense acquisition acronyms and terms.

Policy documents in the DAP are organized by:

• Department/Organization
• Career Fields
• Special Topics

A mandatory policy is a policy for which compliance is required. It usually has its genesis in law or a higher-level regulation. A discretionary policy consists of content that can be used in order to assist job performance, like Guidebooks and Handbooks.

In addition to the Home Page, there are six main tabs in the DAP. They are:

• Acquisition Process
• Workforce
• Policy
• Communities of Practice
• Training and Education
• Industry

The content under each tab is further organized using context-sensitive menus on the left side of the screen.

Policy reference content is maintained and updated by the individuals responsible for the source documents. The remaining content is maintained by the DAU Program Manager and incorporates content identified as useful by users.

For more information regarding the 5000 series documents, please go to the 5000 Series Resource Center. Click here.

You may search the subject areas of previously asked Ask A Professor questions by going to the Advanced Search page and selecting the Ask A Professor Library.

You can copy and paste text from a PDF document to Word by using the "Text Select" tool. This feature is available with both the basic Reader, as well as the full version of Acrobat.

1. Right-click anywhere in the PDF, and from the pop-up menu, make sure the "Select" tool is highlighted.
2. Select any letter, word, line, or the whole page.
3. Right-click again, and select "Copy".
4. Switch to the Word window, right-click where you wish the copied text to appear, and select "Paste" from the pop-up menu.

Using the DAP tabs and menus will take you to the content you are looking for with fewer clicks. Rollover a tab to read a description of the content of the pages under it. After selecting a tab, notice the list of items in the menu on the left of the screen. Next to some menu items is a small box with a "plus" sign: this indicates that when you click the menu item, a roll-up sub-menu will appear. If there is no box, there is no sub-menu. If the box has a "minus" sign, then when you select the item, the items below the box roll-up to save space on-screen.

The Community Resource Center contains information about Communities including:

• Acquisition Community Connection (ACC) Communities Vision
• Community FAQ's
• Educational resources to learn more about communities and how they work.