CMI101 - DCMA Multifunctional Orientation
DCMA learners should use Edge as their browser. Follow instructions on this webpage to access documents, play a game, and watch videos. Download documents to a DCMA Orientation folder that you create so that you can use them later as resources when you perform the work. Read, close, and return to the next section in the webpage.
VIDEO: DCMA Director's Welcome
Welcome to Multifunctional Team Support of the DCMA Mission!
You will learn about DCMA, its culture of team work and begin to meet some of your co-workers during the next few weeks as you complete the first of five CMI101 modules. The additional modules include:
- Prior-to-Award Activities
- Contract Receipt and Review
- DCMA Surveillance
- Contract Closeout
Audio File
Follow along with the Learning Map while you listen to the audio about how to access and use the Learning/Performance Support Assets (L/PSAs). Select the icon and the play button.
Welcome to CMI101 DCMA Multifunctional Orientation! As you participate in this orientation, you and hundreds of your colleagues will gather foundational information about DCMA, your role as a functional specialist, and the value that your multifunctional team provides to the warfighter. First, let's talk about the structure of CMI101. The materials are divided into five modules: Multifunctional Team Support of the Mission (also referred to as DCMA Mission), Prior-to-Award Activities, Contract Receipt and Review, DCMA Surveillance, and Contract Closeout. Each module contains a variety of Learning and Performance Support Assets, or L/PSAs, that will help you discover DCMA. The L/PSAs include checklists, job aids, documents, videos, and more.
To keep track of your progress, we've developed a checklist, or Planner, for each module. You probably already accessed the Mission Planner when you first began CMI101. Work together with your FLS to manage your workload. Decide when to start each module. Document that date at the top of the Planner and use it to check off and date when you have completed each L/PSA. At every turn, CMI101 emphasizes your role as part of a multifunctional team. No matter your specialty, you will rely on your colleagues every day—and they on you—to support and achieve DCMA's mission.
To help you get to know one another, we've created the Learning Forum, a space for online discussions. Each module has its own Learning Forum Guide, which provides specific assignments for you to post on the Learning Forum. Speaking of which, please network and post your responses to the Mission Learning Forum to complete the Mission module. Check out the instructions in the Mission Networking and Learning Forum Guide. You will probably have many questions during these first few months on the job. Please ask your First-Level Supervisor, a networking point of contact, or any new functional specialist who is on this journey with you for help discovering DCMA.
Thanks for being a part of the team!
MODULE OVERVIEWS
DCMA Mission
What will you learn? The DCMA mission module introduces you to the history, culture, and work of DCMA so that you can begin to experience how the DCMA mission connects with YOUR work. You will learn some of the core responsibilities and the capabilities that make up the Business Capabilities Framework. In addition to the function in which you work, you will learn a little about other functions and how each of you contribute to the multifunctional team. Many functions support DCMA, but these modules will focus on Contracting, Engineering, Manufacturing, and Quality Assurance.
How will you learn? You will engage in the material through short videos, reading, a game, and networking with experienced individuals and with your group in a discussion board which we call the learning forum. The people you meet in these first days may be in the same boat as you or have been here too many days to count. No matter what their experience, these connections will be invaluable as you grow professionally and personally. Seize this time to connect with each other!
Your journey begins today as you DISCOVER DCMA through the five modules: DCMA Mission, Prior-to-Award, Contract Receipt and Review, DCMA Surveillance, and Contract Closeout. Complete the module learning and performance support assets (L/PSAs) in the order listed unless your first-level supervisor (FLS) suggests otherwise. Use the Module Planner to stay on track with each module. Download all the documents and videos so that you will have easy access to them even after you are finished with CMI101. It is likely that you will want to refresh your memory about specific modules by using the documents as performance support tools.
Prior-to-Award
In the Prior-to-Award Activities module, you will learn from seasoned functional specialists through a short Voices of Experience video. You will participate in an interactive scenario and the learning forum. This module focuses on an introduction of Prior-to-Award activities and explanation of how the activities reduce risk to our Department of Defense (DoD) partners, also known as the buying commands, suppliers, or customers.
You will be exposed to many actions that support prior-to-award: preaward surveys, technical pricing support, industrial base analysis/production capability, business system adequacy, and indirect/direct rate insight. You and your multifunctional team should begin to see the role that each function plays in conducting or supporting these activities.
This module focuses on two capabilities from the Business Capabilities Framework: negotiation intelligence (NI) and indirect cost control (ICC).
Contract Receipt and Review
Contract Administration Services (CAS) includes contract receipt and review (CRR), DCMA surveillance and contract closeout. You will learn "why" this work is important instead of "how" to do the job. CRR provides perspective through a short Voices of Experience video, an interactive scenario, reading, and learning forum posts when you will learn:
- An overview of standard contract formats, guidelines, and requirements for a complete and accurate CRR, including an explanation that CRR is done on new contracts and contract modifications
- An introduction to contract deficiency reports (CDR) that capture contract errors/omissions, which result in contract modifications. Your learning will be reinforced by watching a short video and completing an activity
- An explanation of what each multifunctional team member needs to know about the level of support DCMA will provide its customers based on CRR
The CAS capabilities from the Business Capabilities Framework include: contract maintenance, product acceptance and proper payments, contractor effectiveness and program support.
DCMA Surveillance
You will hear from seasoned functional specialists in a short Voices of Experience video to help you with perspective and context as you participate in the DCMA Surveillance Module. Through text and an interactive scenario, you will learn how the multifunctional team works together to ensure products and capabilities are delivered to the warfighter, preventing delays or changes in cost through effective contract surveillance. You will also be exposed to DCMA's regulatory surveillance requirements that may or may not be included in contracts, such as contractor business systems’ compliance or prime contractor control over subcontractor management. You will also complete an activity and participate in the learning forum.
Contract Closeout
A Voices of Experience video helps you to learn from others' experiences during contract closeout. You will build on their experiences as you read documents and participate in an interactive scenario covering the importance of a successful contract closeout, the conditions for closing a contract, and the closeout process. You will be asked to write and post on the learning forum a short paragraph describing how you contribute to contract closeout. Other new functional specialists will learn from and respond to your post.
Select the icon after you have completed the Module Overviews.