THE ACQUISITION INSTITUTE INC. Veteran Owned SB
Call (703) 919-4617 or (352) 450-0304

EMAIL: AcquisitionInstitute@comcast.net (DUN & TAX INFO Below)

CEO BIO

MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDER:
"As a former senior acquisition manager, head of contracts, and DAU professor, I know just how expensive training can be, so my desire is to offer the most affordable in-house and distance COR training with the highest quality and best overall (lowest) price to government to meet their training goals. At no time in our government's last thirty years have budgets been so strained. So, unlike our competitors, we price our training on a "per course" basis and keep our costs very low, enabling agencies to reap the benefit of low cost while maximizing student attendance to obtain required CLP credits. No other firms can beat our prices, especially with our NEW DISTANCE LEARNING COTR CLASSES. Soon we'll be offering several additional classes in addition to our existing distance learning courses."

BIO OF ROBERT KNAUER CPCM CPPO

Mr. Knauer founded The Acquisition Institute Incorporated after he retired from the federal government on 7 January of 2007 after 32 years working in the federal government. He has many years as a government consultant, senior federal contracting officer, privatizaton specialist, productivity engineer, logistician, general manager, activity manager, officer-in-charge, director of contracts, contract specialist (having been a CO, cost-price analyst, ACO, negotiator, and yes, even a COTR. He is well-versed in all aspects of adult and university level training. As a former professor for the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) he also taught courses for OPM, GSA, ESI, NCMA and many others groups. At the present he sits on the National Contract Management Association's Professional Standards and Ethics Committee. Robert personaly teaches COTR and acquisition courses including Ethics, COTR Basic and Refresher, Performance Based contracting, Contracting for non-Acquisition Professionals, Contract Skills Negotiations, the Transitional Benefits Corporation (TBC) process, Performance Work Statement (PWS) Development, Development of Service Level Agreements (SLA) and Quality Assurance Surveillance Plans (QASP) for use in service contracting, Contract Closeout, Earned Value Management, and a host of any other required acquistion courses. His passion is preaching the benefits and up of Public-Private Parntership (P3) financing and methods to federal, state and local governments to help lower their costs with industry usage, and avert governmental bankruptcy. With his expertise in logistics, IT, supply management and government contracting, he has handled some of the most complex service support acquisitions in the federal government through his use of proper PWS, QASP and Service Level Agreement (SLA) development using efficient source selection processes such as oral presentations to expedite contract awards. This experience has also made him a great instructor. He has been involved in major RFP development for general services and IT consolidations using performance based methods in the most efficient manner possible. When he served as a senior unlimited warranted contracting officer prior to his retirement from government, Mr. Knauer held unlimited warrants for the Navy, Defense Logistics Agency, Treasury, Department of Labor and served as a senior procurement analyst to the SPE at the Department of Transportation. In his roles of senior contracting officer, he not only executed highly complex federal acquisitions, but also directed various public-private program competitions, better known as OMB Circular A-76. He is highly recommended by many as a consultant and trainer (Refer to Linkedin). He is well equipped to train both acquisition and program management personnel on all the mechanics of government contracting. His experience in government contracting has covered a wide array of programs including the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) simulator, Navy Consolidated Automated Test System (CASS), Bureau of Engraving and Printing's Ink Manufacture and Machine Shop public-private competitions along with the automated procurement implementation at the Department of Labor. His largest project ever completed involved the IT consolidation of 4 very large IT agency contracts into one nationwide IT support services contract supporting over 75,000 desktop users in 2008 which did as direct consultant to the CIO of a large federal agency in the DC area."

Mr. Knauer began his career in the U.S. Navy, as a Supply Corps officer on Janaury, 7, 1975 after completing college, and working in the civilian sector for the Navy PX as a merchandise manager trainee. He attended Officer Candidates School (OCS) in Newport, Rhode Island where he received his comission as an Ensign in the United States Naval Reserve. Later he attended the Navy Supply Corps School in Athens, Georgia and was later assigned to his first ship, the aircraft carrier, USS John F. Kennedy CV-67. During that first assignment he became the youngest and first Ensign in the Navy to ever be put in charge of a carrier retail operations, usually a billet reserved for CWO4. He left the Navy as a Lieutenant in 1986 and joined Federal civil service where he held positions that included management analyst and logistician, supply management officer, contract pricing specialist, contract specialist, contract negotiator, contract administrator, competitive sourcing officer, and finally senior contracting officer at three cabinet level departments. He becomae DAWIA Level III certified in contracting, and later FAC-C Level III, as well as, CPCM and CPPO certified. In his last federal position from where he retired at the U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of the Secretary, in 2007, he helped assist OMB and other agencies in A-76 public-private competitions. Over that time, he has conducted many public-private competitions, taught more than 7500 students, and has consulted on many public-private competitions, and major IT service support consolidations. Since 2007, his firm (TAI Inc.) has taught over 1400 students government contracting courses while consulting on complex acquisition projects. Some of the courses he personally instructs include: performance based acquisition (PBA), performance work statement (PWS) development, quality assurance and service level agreements (QASP & SLA), contract negotiations, contracting officer technical representative (COTR) basic and refresher training classes.

Mr. Knauer is familiar with all aspects of federal government contracting, competitive sourcing and public-private partnerships (P3), and was the first person to develop and publish a guidebook for government on Post Competition Accountability for the federal government which is today used by firms such as Booze-Allen. He has since published articles on government ethics and law, and has been cited as influential in the public-private competition process nationwide, he has been featured in two films by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. In 2006, he and his supervisor while at DOT were awarded the President’s Quality Management Award.

Today, Mr. Knauer hold a Lifetime certification as a Certified Professional Contracts Manager (CPCM) with the National Contract Management Association and a Certified Professional Purchasing Official (CPPO) with the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing, and in 1996, he obtained his DOD Level III certification in federal contracting. In 2002 he received his FAC-C Level III certification which he held until leaving DOT in 2007. Today he is a certified trainer by the Office of Personnel Management and U.S. Navy, and he has a Bachelors Degree in Financial Management (BSBA) from the University of Central Florida, along with a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Golden Gate University. His military experience in the Navy included served as a Navy Supply Corps officer in disbursing, contracting, cargo operations and stock control. Robert served as a military base comptroller, Navy Exchange Officer-in-Charge, Sales Officer, supply management officer and assistant ship repair officer. He attended the Navy Supply Corps Schools at Athens, Georgia, and the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, California.

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The Acquisition Institute Inc
356 Rhapsody Path, The Villages, FL 32162
PHONE: (703) 919-4617 or (202) 670-1714
S-Chapter Corporation chartered under P09000021504.
CAGE CODE 4PVN4 TAX ID/EIN# 20-8452893 DUN 793216866