Acquisition Workforce Qualification Initiative (AWQI) is an employee development tool used to identify job specific gaps in experience, allow for identification of on-the-job developmental opportunities and capture demonstrated acquisition experience. As a key element of acquisition and innovation initiatives, AWQI aims to ensure that everyone who touches acquisition has the skills required to ensure successful acquisition outcomes.

Subject matter experts, beginning with acquisition competencies established by acquisition functional leaders, translated career field competencies into measurable on-the-job products and their corresponding tasks (referred to as demonstrated experiences) for each acquisition career field.

Acquisition workforce members can leverage the tool to gauge their proficiency against the demonstrated experiences, identify specific acquisition gaps in experience for their position, develop acquisition focused Individual Development Plans (IDPs) and see the breadth of the acquisition outcomes they may encounter over their career. When fully implemented with independent assessors overseeing progress, the employee can also earn required continuous learning points.

Additionally, AWQI provides a common set of demonstrated experiences for organizations. Organizations can use this information to mitigate acquisition skill gaps by leveraging developmental opportunities or targeting strategic hiring.