Critical Thinking: A Missing Ingredient in DoD's Acquisition (Education) System

Abstract

The organization with the formidable task of training and educating this workforce is the Defense Acquisition University (DAU). Headquartered near Washington, D.C., DAU has 500 instructors in five regional campuses across the country. These instructors train all of DoD's 152,110 program managers (PMs), financial managers, contracting officers, engineers and logisticians. Each year, DAU receives many accolades for the excellent job it does in educating the acquisition workforce. In 2013, KnowledgeAdvisors recognized DAU as the top overall corporate university. Yet it is the graduates of this award-winning university who are responsible for and lead the multitude of failed acquisition programs. Certainly, one cannot hold DAU accountable for failed acquisition programs, but this apparent dichotomy points to an important question: Are the Department's personnel adequately prepared to lead the highly complex programs of today and tomorrow?

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2014
Accession Number
ADA611330

Entities

People

  • Scott Reynolds
  • Sean M. Frisbee

Organizations

  • Defense Acquisition University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Air Force
  • Coast Guard
  • Cost Estimates
  • Department Of Defense
  • Distance Learning
  • Education
  • Governments
  • Instructors
  • Military Acquisition
  • Organizational Structure
  • Procurement
  • Schools
  • Students
  • Thinking
  • Training
  • Weapon Systems

Fields of Study

  • Education

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • STEM Education