YES! FREE IT TRAINING FROM U.S. GOVERNMENT! (Part I)

Don't you love it when you get spam messages like this in your e-mail? Or better yet, remember when pitchman Matthew Lesko would appear on television telling you about all of the free money you can get from the Federal government.? Well sit back and read while I tell you about an incredible deal on FREE IT training from the United States Government. Yes I said FREE!

Disclaimer: This of course only applies if you are in the United States legally. So for my friends across the pond, my apologies in advance.

Some of you may know that my first career was in procurement for the Federal government. I was a buyer for the Naval Air Systems Command, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), I negotiated contracts and grants for systems software maintenance on the TOMAHAWK Cruise Missiles Project, aircraft retrofits for the Model E-2C airframe, diaherral disease research in Bangladesh, the creation of a joint vaccine revolving fund for children in developing countries with UNICEF, the privatization of the cattle breeding industry in Poland, and global climate change research.

I left the comfortable womb of Government service in 1999, spending the last ten years as an IT consultant. With the economy in shambles and needing to get back to work to support my family, one of the options I am looking at is going back to work in the Federal government. But here is the rub. I have been out of line procurement for over 12-13 years. In a conversation with the head of procurement for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), I was told that I might have a lot of changes to catch up with to be effective.

One of the biggest changes has been the move to standardize and professionalize the education and training requirements to hold a warrant as a contracting officer. Although I held an unlimited warrant with the EPA, meaning I could sign contracts up to a zillion dollars if they existed, this is no guarantee I could do the same today. The new standards took effect after I left, and course names/content had changed, Since I was not in the position in 2000, I was not automatically grandfathered.

So I needed to do some research on what the new requirements are, and how my old training courses would translate. For those who like to be numb, this is what my training looked like:

Management of Defense Acquisition Contracts (Basic) - 4 Weeks
Management of Defense Acquisition Contracts (Advanced) - 3 Weeks
Government Contract Law (Basic) - 2-3 weeks
Government Contract Law (Advanced) - 1-2 weeks
Contracts Negotiation Workshop - 2 weeks
Defense Cost and Price Analysis - 2 -3 Weeks
Federal Appropriation Law - 1 Week

and the list goes on.

But how could I find out if these classes would translate? If not, how could I update my training with zero budget in this time of unemployment?

What I found is something that blew my mind. And as an added bonus, I easily racked up 35 continuing professional education hours, which will apply to my continuing education requirements to remain a Certified Information Systems Auditor.

And what I found may also help you, especially if you are a business partner that does or wants to do business with the U.S. Government. It may also help you if you want to broaden your information technology career from a project/program management side.

Coming next...The Source for Free Training