Department of Defense Courses on
Specifications, Standards, and Related Subjects

The Department of Defense (DoD) offers several courses on the development and application of specifications and standards, as well as several related subjects. Non-DoD people may attend these classes on a space available basis. These courses are available free-of-charge to both defense personnel and to individuals from the private sector and other government agencies. The following is a description of the classes.  You can find out more about these classes and register for them online at www.dau.mil. 

PQM 103 - Defense Specification Management Course

The Defense Specification Management course covers DoD policies and procedures for the development, preparation, and use of non-government standards, commercial item descriptions, and government specifications and standards. The course begins with the identification of the requirement for a standardization document and guides the student through the development, application, feedback, and maintenance of a document. Special emphasis is placed on market research, use of commercial alternatives, use of performance specifications, and current defense policies for application of requirements.  The schedule for fiscal year 2005 can be viewed at http://www.dau.mil/schedules/coursedetails.asp?crs=PQM%20103&url=http://www.dau.mil/catalog/cat2005/DAU%202005%20CATALOG%20low2.pdf#page=70

PQM 104 - Specification Selection and Application

The Specification Selection and Application course provides an overview of the role of standardization in the Defense acquisition process. This course focuses on acquisition reform objectives, policies, procedures and implementation within the Defense Standardization Program, the criteria that should be used in selecting requirements documents for procurement; and the standardization tools and references available to the DoD acquisition workforce.  The schedule for fiscal year 2005 can be viewed at http://www.dau.mil/schedules/coursedetails.asp?crs=PQM%20104&url=http://www.dau.mil/catalog/cat2005/DAU%202005%20CATALOG%20low2.pdf#page=70

PQM 202 - Commercial and Nondevelopmental Item Acquisition Course

The Commercial and Nondevelopmental Item (NDI) Acquisition course focuses on tools and techniques for identifying and evaluating commercial and NDI alternatives throughout the acquisition process. The course provides instruction on requirements definition, acquisition strategy development, acquisition, and support planning. It also introduces tools and techniques for selecting and preparing the appropriate technical requirements documents, commercial item descriptions, using multiple award schedules, and using market acceptability criteria, and lessons learned in commercial and NDI acquisition.  The schedule for fiscal year 2005 can be viewed at http://www.dau.mil/schedules/coursedetails.asp?crs=PQM%20202&url=http://www.dau.mil/catalog/cat2005/DAU%202005%20CATALOG%20low2.pdf#page=72

PQM 203 - Preparation of Commercial Item Descriptions Course

The Preparation of Commercial Item Descriptions course presents instruction on the preparation and review of commercial item descriptions, including market research techniques to identify and characterize commercial items, the development and use of market acceptability criteria, and the development of performance-based salient characteristics. The course also provides current DoD policy on the use of commercial items, market research, and performance-based specifications.  The schedule for fiscal year 2005 can be viewed at http://www.dau.mil/schedules/coursedetails.asp?crs=PQM%20203&url=http://www.dau.mil/catalog/cat2005/DAU%202005%20CATALOG%20low2.pdf#page=72

PQM 212 - Market Research Course