What are the top websites and web-based resources for acquisition?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bill Mathis on January 14, 2010 at 11:01pm

Andrew - there are many to choose from - Program Management, Earned Value, budgeting, etc. One aspect to consider is whether you lean toward DoD or civilian processes. I would also recommend others to keep an eye on CPIC news sites and groups. They often cover topics essential to the foundation policies that later affect acquisition professionals.

Permalink Reply by Andrew Krzmarzick on January 15, 2010 at 8:00am

Hi Bill - What do you visit on a daily or weekly basis? What are your absolute Top 3 sites?

Permalink Reply by Jeff Smith on January 15, 2010 at 6:59am

One website that I would recommend you check out is Spend Matters (http://spendmatters.com/). It's more focused on private sector procurement, supply chain and spend management. But I've found a number articles that are applicable to government procurement.

Permalink Reply by David Dejewski on January 15, 2010 at 7:46am

Great question, Andrew! This string has great potential to become a value added resource!

I consider the DAU learning site valuable. This site is a required early stop for all DoD professionals from Task Managers, PM's and COR's to KO's and PEO's.

https://learn.dau.mil/html/login/login.jsp

Here people can sign up for online courses or jump over to other sites like the Federal Acquisition Institute.

http://www.fai.gov/

NAVSEA hosts the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) here:

http://www.cpars.csd.disa.mil/cparsmain.htm

A good site for collaborating is Defense Acquisition University's "Acquisition Community Connection" which can be found at:

https://acc.dau.mil/forums

You have to register an account to read or contribute, but there are some good acquisition focused discussions on this site, and many serious acquisition professionals.

There is also the Federal Acquisition Regulation site:

https://www.acquisition.gov/far/

Permalink Reply by Andrew Krzmarzick on January 15, 2010 at 8:03am

Thanks, David - great list! How about news sources? My plan is to take all the top news feeds, integrate them in Yahoo! Pipes then include them in the Acquisition 2.0 group. I could add blogs, videos, etc. to the feed so that it becomes THE comprehensive resource for acquisition-related news. Thanks again!

Permalink Reply by Andrew Krzmarzick on January 15, 2010 at 8:07am

My former employer - the Graduate School (USDA) - has a ton of acquisition courses, many of which are linked to DAU courses. Another excellent resource for training is Management Concepts and you can find their acquisition and contracting courses here.

Permalink Reply by Spence Burton on January 15, 2010 at 10:41am

Government Executive is an excellent source. http://www.govexec.com. It often has articles on acquisition and/or acquisition-related policy developments.

Permalink Reply by Evelyn Smith on January 15, 2010 at 8:29pm

Where in Federal Contracting (www.WIFCON.com )

Permalink Reply by Pattie Buel on January 19, 2010 at 3:48pm

Generally love WIFCON and while there's no such thing as a stupid question, some of the people answering will spend more time dissecting how you asked instead of answering what you asked. So if new to the field, state that up front and it lessens that tendency in most.

Permalink Reply by Sterling Whitehead on January 18, 2010 at 10:10pm

I'd consider the Quick Kit on Wifcon.com. It's definitely a design-dated site but has so many links to worthy sites, it is definitely a great site to look at.

http://www.wifcon.com/quickit.htm

Permalink Reply by Chris Hamm on January 19, 2010 at 6:51pm

I am going to split my answers into a few different threads:

"Pushed" Information - emails, trade publications that find me without any effort

- Acquisition Solutions Update - this is an email attachment (monthly?) that has indepth analysis of relevant acquisition topics, along with implementation advice.
- Government Executive - see earlier posts. Generally, I prefer the magazine over the email blasts, as it seems like there is more content
- Federal Computer Week - Daily emails that are always topical information, with articles on acquisition.

Web Based - info that I seek out
- DAU - the learn.dau.gov website is the primary source for free acquisition training for my organization. They do a great job. Did I mention that they are free?
- WIFCON - great for thorny acquisition questions

Presentations & Videos

- Google - I have not found a central location for this information, but if you search, you can normally find a few PPTs out there that have valuable content. I have the opportunity to speak at a conference or two, and I normally search out presentations and find good information by using some advance search technicals on google (e.g., looking for .ppt or .pps file names)
- Skillsoft - We use software to turn presentations into internal webinars. Unfortunately, these are not professional or even polished. Once we reach that stage, maybe we could post them.

Permalink Reply by Peter G. Tuttle on January 20, 2010 at 8:07am

Hi Andy. Thanks for asking. See imbeds:

- What news sources or blogs do you read every day to get information on acquisition, procurement and contracting? (PGT) I have set up a large # of RSS feeds from a number of trade rags, FedRegister, newspapers and blogs which I try and look at every day. I also get feeds from GAO, politicians, etc. I also routinely look at 2-3 blogs and WIFCON. In essence, I think I have set up a well-balanced source of information that provides timely info on acquisition topics. It takes me about 1+ hours to plow through daily which is probably too much time for our Federal friends to devote. For those who can afford only 10-15 minutes, I'd look at GovExec.com, FCW.com and WIFCON.

- What are the top websites (government, non-profits, associations, etc.) with tools and resources? (PGT) I find that the inside the beltway trade publications such as FCW and GovExec are pretty current and have interesting articles. I check Twitter since the latest breaking news, etc. appears to hit there first. I participate in ACT/IAC's Acquisition Management Shared Interest Group (SIG) and find that a good forum to get deeper involved the acquisition process. The website is not the primary tool - the SIG is. I've found it beneficial and interesting. I also check out the Profesional Services Council's (PSC) and POGO's websites as well, keeping in mind their particular mission/objective.

- Do you know of embeddable content like videos or presentations that are especially helpful? (PGT) FCW hosts some great webinars that contain excellent content. NCMA also provides excellent training opportunities, some of which are on line.

- Any YouTube channels, podcast series, etc., that are valuable? (PGT) Have not explored yet. Am open to recommendations.

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