III: Narrative:
1. Describe what makes your organization a Learning! 100?
The Defense Acquisition University has truly accomplished a "learning revolution" some say
"the Gold Standard!" Rationale: Phenomenal Growth, Superb Customer Feedback, Global
Reach, and Consistent Recognition by our Peers!
Phenomenal Growth! Since 2000, DAU has continuously improved each year in all areas. DAU
has had significant growth in graduates each year since FY02 (a total increase of 226 percent).
Consistent with each prior years’ phenomenal growth statistics, DAU was again impressive in
FY13:
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Graduated 197,470 students, 52,700 classroom and 144,770 Distance Learning
Provided 7.9 million hours of training
Provided 12.3 million hours of formal and informal learning
Increased continuous learning modules completions to over 681,000 (record!)
Provided 735 total mission assistance efforts, totaling 110,000 hours—all working with
customers in their workplaces
Reached our 160,000th Acquisition Community Connection member with 45 million
pages views
Superb Customer Feedback! DAU’s increases in capacity and throughput did not come at the
expense of learner satisfaction. The University’s customers consistently give top ratings to
DAU’s learning assets and to the outstanding faculty who deliver them. Over 2,100 course
offerings per year are delivered in a classroom setting at DAU’s five regional campuses and
more than a dozen satellite locations. Courses are also taught at customer sites. At the end of
each course, DAU surveys students on several aspects of the course, including course content,
coursework, faculty, and job applicability.
For classroom courses, students take the survey online while they are still in the classroom. For
FY13, of the surveys completed by University students, DAU’s received an average rating of 6.4
(92 percent) on the seven-point Likert Scale. This exceeded DAU’s target of 80 percent by 12
percent and is 7 percent above the Metrics that Matter corporate benchmark of 85 percent. In
addition to the end-of-course surveys, DAU also sends, via e-mail, a follow-up survey to all
students once they are back at their work site 60 days after the completion of the class.
Additionally, for selected courses, DAU sends surveys to the students’ managers 120 days after
class completion to determine the impact of DAU’s training on the organization. DAU
continuously analyzes its follow-up course survey data and works with the acquisition
functional advisors to incorporate improvements and develop more focused course content.
Global Reach! DAU’s learning assets extend the concept of learning beyond the classroom.
DAU’s Web-based training courses and continuous learning modules provide 24/7 global reach
to the Defense Acquisition Workforce. DAU learning assets are accessed by workforce
members stationed in 112 countries.
Consistent Recognition! Additionally, the university has been repeatedly recognized in both
the public and private sector. In the last few years DAU has repeatedly swept many of the
major learning and development best-in-class awards (Chief Learning Officer Magazine Learning
In Practice Awards, American Society of Training and Development Best Awards, Training
Magazine Top 100, Corporate University Best-In-Class Awards, Brandon Hall Gold Award for
Excellence in e-Learning, Elearning! 100 Awards, Leadership Excellence Awards, etc.).
Additionally, our learning leaders have also been repeatedly recognized by their peers as CLO of
the year 2004, as well as training learning leader of the year (three times). In 2011, DAU again
received peer recognition for CLO Magazine Vanguard Award for its Learning Technology
Roadmap. DAU was named a Laureate in the 2011 Computerworld Honors Program.. In 2012,
DAU again received Elearning 100 Award; the Eagle Award (their most prestigious award for
excellence) from the Federal Government Distance Learning Association; and the Chief Learning
Officer Learning and Practice Gold Award for our Learning Strategy. DAU was in the Top 10 for
CLO Magazine’s LearningElite for three consecutive years 2011, 2012, and 2013. Finally in
2013, the Global Council of Corporate Universities awarded DAU as Best Over All Corporate
University, and Elearning Magazine recognized DAU in their prestigious Top 100 (#1 public
sector)!
In summary, DAU has been consistently recognized by many as one of very best learning and
development organizations in America. It is rare for a government organization to compete and
win with the best of private industry. It is even rarer to do it again, again, and again!
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2. Nominate one recent program for the Learning! 100 consideration:
Recent Program is our adoption of our new Learning Strategy! The best corporate
universities have enterprise learning strategies. DAU has grown over the years, from a
narrowly focused “career preparation and formal learning” organization; to a multi-faceted
corporate university that emphasizes workplace performance support and drives “better
business outcomes.”
Our learning strategy has evolved and was derived from this performance learning and jobcentric perspective!
Learn, Perform, Succeed!
Our Learning Strategy shown above with its key elements, Learn, Perform, Succeed
describes our integrated environment of foundational training, workplace learning, and
demonstrated performance. It integrates our training, continuous learning, knowledge
sharing, mission assistance, qualification, and team training– each is focused on improving
organizational outcomes! We believe that the elements of our strategy give the Defense
Acquisition Workforce the right training, expertise, and tools to positively impact the
business outcomes of our defense programs. DAU’s Learning Strategy provides our
workforce of 152,000 the right learning solution at the right time, and at the right place
throughout their career!
The Defense Acquisition Workforce is a diverse and talented group working toward the
common goal of achieving the right acquisition outcomes. As the primary training organization
for the Defense Acquisition Workforce, DAU is committed to providing the training—both
formal and informal—to develop and support these acquisition professionals by engaging our
students both in our courses and on the job. DAU’s training is augmented with face-to-face
mission assistance engagements plus a continuous support presence through our online
continuous learning center, knowledge sharing websites, and online collaborative workspaces.
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These assets are available to ensure immediate access and help for both individual workforce
members and their acquisition organizations. By implementing our Learning Strategy, DAU will
continue to focus its efforts and resources on increasing the performance of the workforce; still
provide a wide variety of assets to support on-the-job learning; and at the same time leverage
the tremendous growth and availability of new learning tools. Within the Roadmap, DAU
identified ten Performance Based Learning Initiatives: Learning Infrastructure, Virtual
Environments, Personalization, Casual Learning Opportunities, Collaboration, Mobile, Teaching
and Leaning Labs, Virtual Environments, Media, Technology for Courseware, and Games and
Simulations. The intent of these initiatives is to ensure DAU expands its capabilities and
harnesses the full potential of emerging technologies. They form the “how to” of DAU’s
learning strategy and are the real drivers of changing workplace learning and culture. The DAU
roadmap represents the path to realizing and harnessing the full potential of our integrated
learning strategy by leveraging technology in order to create a more prepared and qualified
workforce.
Underpinning our learning strategy, Learn Perform Succeed, these initiatives reflect the
changing landscape of the needs of the 21st century learner. It is very clear that the Defense
Acquisition University is investing in the future and intends to maintain its leadership in the
learning and development community. We are also transforming all aspects of learning by
partnering with industry to access best practices, experimenting with new technologies and
emphasizing the value and effectiveness of learningby-doing in traditional, online, and future. DAU,
through its learning strategy and implementation road
map, is rapidly incorporating all learning activities
such as mobile learning, games and simulations,
virtual environments, robust social collaboration
methods and systems, and on-demand video tutorials.
Collectively, these initiatives signify and define what
can be called "DAU's second transformation"- focusing
on Workplace Performance.
By leveraging our Learning Strategy, DAU’s products and services target workplace
performance and, promote mission effectiveness —ultimately developing fully qualified
acquisition professionals who provide cost effective systems, equipment, and services to
meet warfighter requirements and save taxpayer dollars.
3. Which brands or solutions did you use to execute this program?: Polycom, Cisco, Microsoft,
Apple, Toyome, Dell, Google Analytics, Metric that Matter, Samsung, etc.
4. Please provide video link reflecting your organization’s brand or culture. (Field to type link only- do
not upload video): http://www.youtube.com/defenseacquisition and
http://www.dau.mil/AboutDAU/default.aspx
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5. Describe challenge:
Budget cuts continue to be our largest challenge in FY
14 and beyond! The Department of Defense faces
challenging times with furloughs and the
congressional government shutdown. Even before
these, the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) had directed targeted savings across all Department
Components and Agencies. He had tasked the Department to take a hard look at every aspect of
how it is organized, staffed, and operated - indeed every aspect of how it does business. This new
era will require a different mindset for both government and industry managers. The President,
Congress, the Secretary of Defense, and the taxpayer want better value for the defense dollar. DAU is a
key player in helping our leadership to achieve their vision of fostering a more agile, effective, and
efficient acquisition system and developing a more qualified acquisition workforce. The Secretary of
Defense directed targeted savings across all agencies with the reductions focusing on headquarters and
overhead functions. In this politically charged climate of continuing resolutions, sequestration, and
deficit limitations, DAU has had to take its share of budget reductions, yet still must perform its critical
training missions. Additionally, the Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense told the president of
DAU, "You should still strive to achieve more capability within your resources … cost avoidance
proposals are strongly encouraged. You can reinvest such cost avoidances into more capability within
DAU." Our Challenge: Effectively managing resources in an era of constrained budget, so that we can
still deliver our primary products and services to develop a qualified workforce and impact acquisition
outcomes.
6. How did you solve the challenge: Describe in terms of People, Process, and Tools: (1000) (997)
In spite of government shutdowns, the president, congress, and DoD senior leadership remain
committed and actively involved in shaping initiatives on government contracting, weapon systems
acquisition reform, and the capability and capacity of the Defense Acquisition Workforce. Hon.
Frank Kendall, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics strongly
believes that DAU is critical to ensuring the success of the SECDEF's initiative by providing highquality and relevant training to the Defense Acquisition Workforce so that they can perform their
duties more effectively and efficiently. In his testimony to congress, ”I will work to increase the
capability of the workforce. As budget reality reduces the capacity to increase the size of the
workforce, I will turn greater attention to the capability within the workforce. The most important
legacy we can leave behind is a stronger workforce—a more capable workforce than the one we
inherited.”
Stating as key to his corporate Business Strategy, “Better Buying Power 2.0, emphasizes that this
most important factor in the performance of the Defense Acquisition System is the capability of the
professionals in our acquisition workforce,…In the end, it is the quality of our people that matters
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the most, …As such, we will focus on further improving the capability of our workforce and provide
them with the tools and skill sets they need to do their job of obtaining the best possible value for
the Government.”
Solving the Challenge! In response, DAU was challenged to play a critical role with five strategic
challenges: 1) Demonstrating teamwork and communication to the USD (AT&L) leadership team by
aligning with their priorities, especially the efficiencies initiative which the leadership team used
DAU’s web portal to communicate and manage, and proving our ability to deliver results. 2)
Remaining competitive with other leading corporate universities through innovations in classroom
technology, simulations, and informal learning techniques. 3) Engaging with Major Defense
Acquisition Programs to enhance acquisition outcomes. 4) Helping acquisition field organizations
improve their acquisition outcomes by adding organization team training to our current individual
training assets. 5) Effectively employing the Defense Acquisition Workforce Development Fund to
increase our faculty and support resources to expand existing training programs and develop new
learning assets. This drove the realization of our vision of enabling the Defense Acquisition
Workforce to achieve the right acquisition (business) outcomes.
Finally, the Under Secretary of Defense, Frank Kendall, showed strong clear support for valuing
DAU, protecting its budget, and promoting a learning culture. He stated, "The Defense Acquisition
University was ruled exempt from this round of targeted savings to ensure we are fully invested
in the training and education of our most valuable resource: the Acquisition Workforce, the very
people we depend on to find savings and efficiencies in our acquisition programs every day.
However, you should still strive to achieve more capability within your resources and, as such,
''tooth to tail" cost avoidance proposals may be submitted and are strongly encouraged. You can
reinvest such cost avoidances into more capability within DAU."
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