GWU Master of Science in Government Contracts

See my blog.

Hello all. Vern et al. First time poster but have been following as a guest member. Since this program has not received a ringing endorsement, what current program is the best for both initial hire and promotion. We can use informal resources to get the most practical/useful training.

There are a number of schools around the country that offer degree or certificate programs in government contracting, You can find some of them through this portal http://education-por...gram_Info.html. You can also search for them using Google. I don't know much about any of them and do not endorse any of them for that reason.

Government contracting is not a distinct academic field, the existence of which is a prerequisite to a first rate program. Most government contract training is conducted by attorneys or persons with experience in the field, but they usually are not academics. They teach what they know, which is not always good. Most of them don't write, so you don't have any way to judge their expertise except on the basis of their work experience, which is not particularly informative. What matters is what a person knows and can teach.

The bottom line is that government contracting is an occupation, but not really a profession, despite the lip service given to professionalism. I don't like saying that, but I'm afraid it's true. For that reason there is no widespread agreement on a curriculum and on course content. Attorneys have the ABA, doctors have the AMA, CPAs have the AICPA, architects have the AIA, and those organizations set professional standards. Contracting has no such organization. NCMA has never been widely or fully accepted as fulfilling that role.

It's a problem.

How much more information/training does this program provide vs the Master Certificate program they offer through ESI?

The courses in the new GWU program should be much more comprehensive and detailed than those of the GWU/ESI program. (I say "should," because I have not taken any of the courses.) The former are college courses taught by academics/practitioners that will presumably involve considerable course work on the part of participants -- reading and writing. The GWU/ESI courses are commercial continuing education seminars ranging in length from one and one-half to five days in length and are taught by various current and former practitioners and involve little if any course work. The GWU/ESI program is a good one, for the most part, taught by mostly good people, but different in terms of depth of content and conduct.