The Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Materiel Readiness, who also serves as the Life Cycle Logistics defense acquisition workforce community Functional Leader (FL), approved several changes late last year to the FY14 Life Cycle Logistics Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) Certification requirements. While no changes were made to either the education or experience requirements, the following updates to the existing training requirements were adopted effective October 1, 2013:

·         Added CLC 011 Contracting for the Rest of Us as a new Level II continuous learning module requirement

·         Consolidated all distance learning “options” into a new "Choose One of Four" interdisciplinary Level II distance learning requirement. Choices will be one of the following four distance learning course options (note: a fifth option, LOG 215, will be added when it deploys in FY15):

o    BCF 102 Fundamentals of Earned Value Management OR

o    RQM 110 Core Concepts for Requirements Management OR

o    CON 121 Contracting Planning and CON 124 Contracting Execution and CON 127 Contract Management OR

o    LOG 204 Configuration Management OR

o    LOG 215 Technical Data Management (Note: LOG 215 is a planned new course with an estimated deployment date of October 1, 2014)

·         Updated existing Level III "Choose One of Four" interdisciplinary Level III classroom course requirement. Choices will be one of the following four classroom courses:

o    LOG 211 Supportability Analysis OR

o    BCF 215 Operating and Support Cost Analysis OR

o    ACQ 265 Mission-Focused Services Acquisition OR

o    ACQ 315 Understanding Industry (Business Acumen)

Note that because the former CON 115 distance learning course was split into three separate courses (CON 121 Contracting Planning, CON 124 Contracting Execution and CON 127 Contract Management), students choosing this option would have to complete all three of these shorter duration contracting courses to meet this level II requirement.

The Life Cycle Logistics Level II and Level III core certification standards contained in the DAU iCatalog have been updated to reflect both the current FY13 DAWIA certification requirements (through September 30, 2013) and the new FY14 requirements (effective October 1, 2013). An updated graphical representation for FY14 has also been added to the Life Cycle Logistics Certification Track page on the Logistics Community of Practice (LOG CoP) Training site.

There were several reasons for these changes, including the need to separate the choices of distance learning and classroom choices at Level III, as well as to ensure training for key interdisciplinary competency requirements for the life cycle logistics functional community that were not already being met. If there is one clear message that comes out of the FY14 training requirements in general, and these updates in particular, it is that a life cycle logistician cannot successfully operate in a narrow, stove-piped functional world – interdisciplinary integration with  (and at least a basic understanding of) contracting, program management, Systems Planning, Research Development, and Engineering (SPRDE), requirements management, business, cost estimating, and financial management is absolutely crucial going forward if we are to deliver optimized, affordable readiness for our warfighter customers.