Graduate Certificate in Government Contracting
All Certificate students must be admitted to the Graduate School in order to qualify for the Certificate. See Graduate Admissions. Admitted students may qualify for the Certificate by completing the four required courses. As this is part of the graduate degree program in the Masters of Public Administration students who enter under the provisions of post-master's admission or under special admission (non-degree matriculant) need to apply for unconditional admission.
The following courses are required for the Certificate:
PA 6645 - Managing Government Contracts (3 credit hours) - An overview of the principles, legal aspects, processes, and strategies of contract management in public and nonprofit organizations
PA 6647 - Advanced Contract Administration (3 credit hours) - Examination of the current processes, procedures, standards, issues and problems in planning, managing, auditing, and evaluating contract performance. (PA 6645 should be taken first)
PA 6648 - Contract Negotiation (3 credit hours) - This course focuses on management of the overall contract negotiation process and examines the basics of negotiation, including the procedures, processes, psychology and skills. These contract negotiation processes are applied to the defense contracting framework. Perspectives of both government and commercial interests are explored.
PA 6649 - Government Contract Law (3 credit hours) - This course focuses on legal aspects of government contracting. Procurement laws and federal acquisition regulations are examined to serve as a basis for development of case methods. The case methods are used in this course to emphasize legal procedures and logic. The course highlights the significance of the legal processes for practicing public administration.
Courses are offered on evenings and weekends in a hybrid format. All courses require the equivalent of 45 contact hours. Each class session is 5 contact hours. Hybrid courses combine in-class and on-line sessions. A typical evening class will have a combination of 5 in-class sessions and 4 on-line sessions. Weekend classes are typically formatted to cover three weekends (one session on Friday and two on Saturday). Six of the class sessions will be in-class and three will be on-line.
All instructors are adjunct professors who hold a J.D., PhD, DPA or equivalent degrees, as well as having experience in the appropriate course. All professors hold appropriate Defense Acquisition University certifications or National Contract Management Association (NCMA) professional certifications.
