Guides & Manuals

Guidance on Ethics and Procurement Integrity

Brochure on Ethics and Procurement Integrity This brochure was prepared by the Office of Government Ethics and is helpful in identifying ethics issues that can arise in the procurement process. The brochure may be particularly helpful to agency personnel whom may not have extensive acquisition training yet perform acquisition functions such as: source selection authority; member of a source selection evaluation board; contracting officer's representative; or program manager or deputy program manager with oversight authority over specific contracts.

Contract Pricing Reference Guides

Contract Pricing Reference Guides are a set of five reference volumes that were developed jointly by the Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI) and the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT).

The Guides are now maintained by the Office of the Deputy Director of Defense Procurement for Cost, Pricing, and Finance (DP/CPF). The Guides were developed to provide instruction and professional guidance for contracting personnel. They provide detailed discussion and examples applying pricing policies to pricing problems. However, as noted in FAR 15.404-1(a)(7), the Guides are not directive and should be considered informational only.

Contracting Professionals Smart Guide

The Contracting Professionals Smart Guide consists of 51 FAR-driven Activities associated with the acquisition process and is divided into two sections: Contract Formation and Contract Administration. In each Activity, you will find:

• Tasks, regularly updated references to the FAR, and additional helpful information;
• Flow charts to visually demonstrate the tasks;
• Links to relevant FAI and DAU training courses; and
• Links to related online tools (if applicable).

If you would like to provide feedback for the Contracting Professionals Smart Guide or if you have any recommendations for how the Smart Guide can be improved, please fill out the FAI Guides Feedback Form.

Project Manager's Guidebook

The Project Manager’s (PM) Guidebook is provided as a resource to current and future project and program managers (P/PMs) in the Federal sector. The PM Guidebook serves as a supplemental text and reference for entry-level P/PMs enrolled in FPM 120 (online) and FPM 121 (resident) courses: “Acquisition Fundamentals of Project and Program Management” (Parts 1 and 2). The Guidebook also serves as a desk-side reference containing basic process, procedure, and best practices for use by all P/PMs. The Guidebook is organized around the project life-cycle decision functions of requirements development, budgeting, and acquisition governance inherent in all Federal acquisitions.

If you would like to provide feedback for the PM Guidebook or if you have any recommendations for how the Guidebook can be improved, please fill out the FAI Guides Feedback Form.

ACM Guidebook

The ACM Guidebook is provided as a resource to current and future ACMs to use when carrying out their responsibilities as identified in Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) Policy Letter 05-01 and subsequent policies. It is organized around key responsibility areas and provides suggested steps, resources, tools, source documents, links, and other information that are relevant to each. The ACM Guidebook Update Tracker lists all of the updates made to the Guidebook since its September 30, 2015, release in chronological order.

If you would like to provide feedback for the ACM Guidebook or if you have any recommendations for how the Guidebook can be improved, please fill out the FAI Guides Feedback Form.

Student Training Guidebook

The Student Training Guidebook is a resource that details the student policies for FAI’s training offerings. The Guidebook serves as a resource for both students and training providers on how training will be administered for FAI’s certification and continuous learning courses. The Guidebook features topics such as academic integrity & standards of conduct, accommodation for the disabled, attendance policies, inclement weather & emergency situations, and virtual instructor-led training.