Challenge
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Acquisition and Logistics, Acquisition Career Management, Applied Learning Center (ALC) initiated a program to establish a standardized framework for best practices in project management based on the Federal Acquisitions Institute (FAI), Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting - Program and Project Managers (FAC-P/PM) model. VA sought assistance in the development of three program management assessments for its Acquisition Career Management program.
Solution
Atlas Research partnered with Cornerstone Acquisition and Contracting Corporation to develop test questions designed to assess an individual's mastery of the technical competencies and aligned skills associated with the FAC-P/PM, Senior/Expert Level Certification (Level III). The scope of work for this program, known as the VA Project Management Institute, included the development and critique of questions and related assessment documents as well as other expert project management professional services to support content development for the ALC.
Result
Atlas Research authored Level III test questions divided equally across 20 competencies and aligned skills. Each question included three plausible distracters, one correct answer and a full citation from the Project Management Body of Knowledge Guide and Standards. The questions were used to populate the ALC assessment for the Senior/Expert Level, Program and Project Manager Certification.