What is the day-to-day job like as an Army Acquisition Officer or NCO? Are there any programs allowing me to commission instead of reclass?

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 21:27:24 -0500

Hello everybody. I just have a few questions for those of you that are in that career field.

What is your day to day job like? I've done some research myself but everything seems pretty vague.

I have found the steps to take to reclass an acquisitions NCO, and even how to transfer branches. So my next question is, are there any programs that allow me to commission instead of reclass? From the sounds of each, you have 24 months to meet all training requirements and acquire all necessary certifications.

From everything that I have read about this MOS, this definitely seems like something I would enjoy doing.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 21 at 2021 11:07 PM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 23:07:38 -0500

Acquisition is a functional area for officers so in the Army you can not commission directly into it. Officers must be a branch qualified CPT to switch to Acquisition but they maintain their branch. The Navy (supply corps) and Air Force do commission directly into Acquisition fields. There are positives and negatives to it as with anything. It does directly relate to civilian employment l, sometimes doing exactly the same job.

Feel free to contact me with any questions or for additional information.

Response by Lt Col Jim Coe made Jan 22 at 2021 3:31 PM

Lt Col Jim Coe — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 15:31:47 -0500

I worked a lot with Army and Air Force Civilian employee acquisition personnel for 6 years. Their day-to-day work depended a lot on the office to which they were assigned. The contracting officers in the HQ contracting office handled a variety of acquisitions for professional services, information technology, and equipment. Some worked with functional representatives like myself to develop an acquisition for professional services including statement of work, quality assurance plan, and cost estimates. They evaluated the proposals from bidders and assisted the functional experts in selecting the best value or lowest cost provider. Subsequently they monitored contract execution. Upon completion of the work they closed out the contract and made sure the Government got everything they contracted for and the contractor was paid correctly. They told me their biggest challenge was making sure all the proposed contracts, especially from the Command Group, were properly and legally set up to provided needed support.

At the Port Battalion level, acquisition programs contracted for labor (union and non-union), products, and facilities the ports needed to operate. This could included warehouse space, dock and container yard space, fuel oil, motor transport, and IT support. Some acquisition personnel were forward deployed to help support port operations at new locations.

I also worked with acquisition personnel at the Unified Command Headquarters level. They were all civilians. The most senior was an SES-1. They were staff officers managing national and international level projects. They worked a lot with other Unified Command Staffs, the Joint Staff, and Office of the Secretary of Defense. Also, had some interaction with the Departments of Transportation and Homeland Security. The acquisitions they negotiated involved entire industries, such as the cargo airline industry.

At the Component Command level, acquisition officers helped set up lines of communication across multiple modes of transportation and multiple countries. For example, they set up LOCs from Eastern Europe, across the Black Sea, Russia, Caspian Sea, and a couple of the "Stans" to move supplies into Afghanistan from the West instead of the South. These acquisitions included port services, motor and rail transport. These were major international contracting efforts and very complex. Worked with Unified Commands, State Department, and several other US Government Agencies.

I don't recall working with military acquisition officers or NCOs. All of the acquisition personnel I worked with were civilian employees. I'm confident your work will be similar to the DACs I worked with. Best of luck!