Periodically people ask about how Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and Continuous Learning Points (CLPs) are awarded, how they relate to each other, and how they differ. Well, in case you were wondering, let me shed a little light on the subject.

Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are handled by non-DoD organizations such as (but not exclusively by) the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET), and have broad applicability across public and private sector academia. IACET, for example authorizes educational providers to award the IACET Continuing Education Unit (CEU). DAU, for example, happens to be one of those institutions. Details at https://www.iacet.org/standards/continuing-education-unit-ceu/about-the-ceu/ and https://www.iacet.org/ce-t-accreditation/frequently-asked-questions/.

Continuous Learning Points (CLPs) conversely, are points awarded for successful completion of Continuous Learning activities, and are required for members of the DoD Defense Acquisition Workforce (DAW). Generally speaking ten CLPs translates to one CEU. Defense Acquisition Workforce members are required to meet the goal of 40 CLPs each year or the mandatory requirement of 80 CLPs within two years. DoD Continuous Learning policy information is available at http://www.dau.mil/clc/Pages/policyguidance.aspx. Additional information is also available at the OSDDefense Procurement and Acquisition Policy (DPAP) site at http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/Docs/CL%20Policy.pdf and in the DAU iCatalog http://icatalog.dau.mil/onlinecatalog/courses.aspx.

If you are organizing an acquisition or Life Cycle Logistics-related conference, additional information on establishing CLPs for your event are available at http://www.dau.mil/clc/Pages/sponsor.aspx.