Course Description
Project acquisition management involves managing a project over the entire project lifecycle from concept development to design, through build, to operations, and finally to disposal.  In this course, participants will develop understanding of the fundamental processes involved in leading a project acquisition to a successful outcome, whether the project is building a satellite or deploying a new IT system.

Participants will be provided with the background and tools to enable them to lead a project through the phases and critical milestones that constitute the acquisition lifecycle.  In order to illustrate the key phases and milestones, examples will be taken from current acquisition lifecycles undertaken by the Department of Defense, NASA, and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).  Key milestones such as system requirements review, authority to proceed, critical design review, test readiness review, and disposal readiness review will be discussed in detail.

Participants will learn practical aspects of acquisition planning such as market research, writing and responding to proposals, make or buy analysis, source selections, contract types and administration, and contract closeout.   Project cost and schedule estimating, financial management, risk management, systems engineering, technology management, and team management will also be covered.

This fast-paced, highly interactive course will involve lectures, exercises, and case studies.  The exercises are based on the instructor's extensive real-world experience in leading projects through every phase and milestone of the project acquisition lifecycle.  The case studies and discussions will focus on contemporary peer-reviewed literature and articles from the Harvard Business Review.  At the end of this course, each participant will be armed with the best practices, tools, techniques, and checklists to lead a project through the acquisition lifecycle.

Course Objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Understand the project acquisition lifecycle phases and milestones
• Develop an acquisition strategy for a project
• Create a financial management plan that integrates the project's cost, schedule, and scope baselines
• Discuss the appropriate use of contract types such as cost reimbursable, fixed price, and incentive and award fees
• Describe the roles and structure of the project office including project manager, chief system engineer, business manager, and integrated product teams
• Summarize the activities within each acquisition phase such as concept development, design, assembly, integration, production, operations, and disposal
• Present detailed descriptions of major milestones such as systems requirements review (SRR), authority to proceed (ATP), preliminary design review (PDR), critical design review (CDR), and test readiness review (TRR)
• Develop rigorous entrance and exit criteria for each major project milestone to ensure the project is ready for the next level of development
• Craft key project metrics to manage and balance the program drivers of cost, schedule, and technical performance
• Discuss best practices for systems engineering, project management, technology management, stakeholder management, and team management