Newsroom :: NTIS and UMT Partnership Formed to Offer Project Management and Acquisition Management Online Degrees and Certificates

NTIS and UMT Partnership Formed to Offer Project Management and Acquisition Management Online Degrees and Certificates

ARLINGTON, Virginia, November 7, 2006 – The National Technical Information Service (NTIS) and the University of Management and Technology (UMT) of Arlington, Va., have entered into a partnership to offer online degrees and certificates in the areas of acquisition management and project management. These are hot areas in the Federal sector, in large measure because of recent Congressional and OMB initiatives to promote acquisition reform. The Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2003, for example, requires all government agencies to offer employees training and education programs in acquisition-related areas (including project and program management). The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) Policy Letter 05-01 makes it clear that all agencies must work to strengthen acquisition reform.

By ordering courses through NTIS, government offices and employees can by-pass the hassles of acquiring courses through competitive bid processes. They can also acquire these courses at substantial discounts. Because the courses offered through the partnership are self-paced online courses, government clients enjoy the benefit of enabling students to study at their own convenience. Essentially, this partnership is aligned with NTIS’s mission to provide valuable information to the government and to the public, contributing to the strengthening of the capabilities of public and private enterprises.

“UMT faculty have worked with the Federal government for many years,” says UMT Academic Dean, Dr. J. Davidson Frame. “This partnership enables us to teach government-related management skills and techniques to a larger audience of government employees.”

For information on degrees and certificates offered through the partnership, go to http://www.ntis.gov/umt/umt.asp.

The NTIS is an agency of the Department of Commerce, Technology Administration that serves our nation as the largest central resource for government-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and business-related information available today. For 60 years NTIS has assured businesses, universities, and the public timely access to well over 3 million publications covering over 350 subject areas. Its mission supports the nation's economic growth by providing access to information that stimulates innovation and discovery. For more information on NTIS, go to www.ntis.gov.

UMT is an online university that specializes in education in the areas of acquisition management, program management, and project management. It is Arlington, VA based and is a strategic partner of the Defense Acquisition University (DAU). UMT’s Project Management degrees and certificate programs earned Specialized and Professional Accreditation by the Project Management Institute (PMI). Its project management degree program is the largest in the world, with some 2,500 students working toward degrees in acquisition management and project management. For more information about UMT, go to www.umtweb.edu.