Defense Coalition of Champaign County (DC3) Announces 2022 Training Series

The University of Illinois Research Park and Champaign County Economic Development Corporation have contracted Capital Edge to provide quarterly training programs. These half day training events are free for Defense Coalition of Champaign County (DC3) participants and their organizations.

The training will be offered online for virtual attendance. Local participants are invited to attend at the Research Park to encourage collaboration and learning together.  Materials will be provided for each training event. More information about each session is below.

• Wednesday, March 30: Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC)
• Wednesday, June 29: Introduction to Government Contracting
• Thursday, September 29: Overview of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR 31)
• Tuesday, December 6: Truthful Cost and Pricing Data & FAR Part 14

The Research Park will provide breakfast, coffee, and lunch for in-person participants.

Registration for all events is open: https://calendars.illinois.edu/detail/3462?eventId=33427950.

About DC3

DC3 is a local network of companies and organizations that pursue federal funding for the defense industry. The DC3 group includes a curated group of local companies working on defense/space/cybersecurity related technologies to support the defense industry cluster in Champaign-Urbana. The group has been meeting over the last two years to better understand the companies locally in this sector and address challenges and opportunities of mutual interest. The group is co-chaired by: Bill Vavrik, Applied Research Associates, VP Principal Engineer and Division Manager; Bill Dick, Illinois Rocstar, President and CEO; and Mark Scott, Director, Software Engineering – Global Governments at Forcepoint. The University of Illinois Office of Corporate Relations, University of Illinois Research Park, and Champaign County Economic Development Corporation are organizational partners for this network.

Quarterly Defense Contracting Training Events for 2022

The University of Illinois Research Park and Champaign County Economic Development Corporation have contracted Capital Edge to provide quarterly training programs. These will be offered as free half day training events for DC3 participants (and their organization’s employees). The training will be offered online for virtual attendance, but we will encourage local participants to do this together at locations provided at the Research Park to encourage collaboration and learning together. The Research Park will provide breakfast, coffee, lunch for in-person participants. Materials will be provided for each training event.

• March 30, 2022: Training on Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) certification to retain current or earn new contracts through the U.S. Department of Defense, whether as a prime or sub-contractor. Level 3 of CMMC provides demonstration of good cyber hygiene, so DoD knows your organization is prepared to safeguard sensitive information and reduce risks. This training will help address where your organization ranks in terms of CMMC readiness and to achieve a plan for meeting government requirements. We are also promoting IMEC CMMC Cybersecurity training, which meets the first Wednesday of every month: https://www.imec.org/event/make-steady-progress-cmmc-cybersecurity-series-for-mfrs-fy21-2/2022-03-02/ through October 2022.
• Wednesday, June 29: Introduction to Government Contracting by Capital Edge government contract consultants to support Federal Grant Recipients. The in-person meeting will be hosted at 1901 S. First Street and offer an optional for a tour of the special facility with an overview of SMO after the training is completed (over lunch hour).
• Thursday, September 29: Overview of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 31 cost principles and procedures. These guidelines help maintain consistency between the accounting methods used by different contractors and need to be followed so that government agencies can easily review costs and approve the reimbursement of qualifying expenses. Every contractor needs to be familiar with since charging for costs not covered under FAR Part 31 could result in penalties, and failing to report every reimbursable cost could considerably reduce a contractor’s profit margin. Half day training with be online/virtual, but we will encourage local participants to do this together at EnterpriseWorks in the Research Park.
• Tuesday, December 6: Overview of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 14 related to Sealed Bidding. An agency prepares an “Invitation for Bids” or IFB. Next, an agency must publicize the IFB to prospective bidders. Doing so, the agency is required to provide enough time to enable contractors to prepare and submit bids for the work the government needs. From there, contractors (in this case bidders) will submit “sealed bids.” Sealed means the government will not open or review until the deadline provided in the IFB. After the deadline, the agency will review the bids and evaluate them without discussions with bidders. Finally, the agency will award the work to the “responsible bidder” whose evaluation appears to make its proposed performance the “most advantageous to the Government.” Half day training with be online/virtual, but we will encourage local participants to do this together at EnterpriseWorks in the Research Park.