Meeting Experience Standards
This page last updated Sep 09, 2015

Acquisition experience, general and/or specialized, is required for:

• Certification in the various acquisition career fields.  Each certification level within each acquisition career field carries an experience requirement ranging from 1-8 years depending on the career field and level.  The requirement may be listed as specialized acquisition experience, general acquisition experience or a combination of the two.

• Membership in the Defense Acquisition Corps.   Membership in the Defense Acquisition Corps requires four (4) years of general acquisition experience.

• Acquisition positions that carry statutory and/or regulatory experience requirements.  Some acquisition positions such as the Program Manger of a Major Defense Acquisition Program requires specialized and/or general acquisition experience.  These requirements can be found in the AT&L Workforce Desk Guide.

The difference between general or specialized experience is simply how the experience is articulated in the standard.  For example; if the requirement simply states “acquisition experience” then any creditable acquisition experience meets the requirement.  If however, the requirement states the career field or type of experience such as “in the …. career field” or  “… years of experience as a Program Manger”  then it is considered specialized and the person evaluating the experience must consider how the experience was accumulated.

Creditable DoD acquisition experience can come from any of the following sources:

• Experience Gained from a Designated DoD Acquisition Position
• Experience Gained from a Non-Designated DoD position
• Experience Gained from Other Government Agencies
• Experience Gained from Private Industry
• Holding an acquisition enhancing Baccalaureate degree or higher (Education Credit)

Experience Gained from a Designated DoD Acquisition Positions

• All the time served in a DoD designated acquisition position counts.
• Unless otherwise tracked and specified or addressed by appropriate authority within the component, this time is also credited as specialized experience in the career field assigned to the position. 

Experience Gained from a Non-Designated DoD Positions

• Time served within DoD when the position is not designated as an acquisition position may be credited if the acquisition work (as described in one or more of the Acquisition Position Category Descriptions) was a significant and substantial part of position.  In order to be considered, the applicant must describe the work performed and provide any additional information that will help the approving authority arrive at an appropriate decision. 
• A substantial part of the work is defined as at least 10%. If upon assessment, the acquisition related functions involve 50% or more of the average workday, consideration should be given to designating the position.  Otherwise, creditable acquisition experience, if appropriate, in these positions is expected to be something between 10-50%.

Experience Gained from Other Government Agencies

• Experience gained from service in another government agency may be credited if upon assessment; the individual performed acquisition-related functions.
• The approving agency and workforce member should retain documentation as to the nature of the work, the duration of the work and the percentage of time spent doing the work as in non-designated DoD positions.

Experience Gained from Private Industry

• Experience gained from service in industry may be credited if upon assessment; the individual performed acquisition-related functions.
• The approving agency and workforce member should retain documentation as to the nature of the work, the duration of the work and the percentage of time spent doing the work as in non-designated DoD positions.

Holding an acquisition enhancing Baccalaureate degree or higher (Education Credit)

• Individuals with an acquisition enhancing Baccalaureate degree or higher, (those degree listed as the education standards for any in of the Certification & Core Plus Development Guides) can be credited with twelve (12) months of acquisition experience. 
• Multiple acquisition enhancing degrees do not result in multiple credits.
• The experience should be applicable to the career field most associated with the field of study of the degree. 
• Degrees in business may be as credited toward the degree requirement in any career field except the Engineering and Technology related career fields. 

Counting Acquisition Experience

• Acquisition experience is always counted in terms of years and/or months of experience.
• Creditable acquisition experience is always applied to one of the specified acquisition career fields.