Senior Master Sergeant Kade Forrester, USAF, has one more distinction to add to his already impressive career: he is the first NPS student to complete three professional certifications in the acquisition profession. Forrester has now earned certifications as a Certified Professional Contract Manager (CPCM), Certified Federal Contract Manager (CFCM), and Project Management Professional (PMP). Each of the three certifications requires completing and passing an hours-long exam in addition to holding a bachelor’s degree and having years of experience in the relevant field.
It is rare for any acquisition professional to hold all three certifications, and Forrester completed them while pursuing his studies as a full-time graduate student. It’s one more way he has gone above and beyond in his career.
Forrester was recognized in 2022 as one of the twelve Outstanding Airmen of the Year for his work as the infrastructure flight section chief for the 11th Contracting Squadron at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, D.C. He stood up a new contracting unit from scratch, seizing the opportunity to create an efficient, integrated team approach to solve acquisition challenges.
During that time, he launched a $111 million Simplified Acquisition Base Engineer Requirements (SABER) program. “By finding creative solutions to source products and contractors,” wrote Patrick Reardon in an article about the award, “Forrester’s SABER plan slashed acquisition timelines by 70 percent on 24 highly visible projects and saved more than 1,000 labor hours across the wing.”
Then-Master Sgt. Kade N. Forrester, left, a contracting specialist who helps prepare, negotiate, and award contracts to qualified vendors as well as evaluate their performances, is pictured at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., July 22, 2022. Air Force photo by Nicholas Pilch. Published in Air & Space Forces Magazine.
We asked Forrester what motivated him to complete these three professional certifications. He shared two main reasons:
“First, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity being provided to me. I am a huge advocate of personnel developing themselves and their craft for the betterment of the force. This was a case of practice what I preach—if I can attain the certification, so can you.
“My second motivation was to ink the capability of the enlisted tier attending NPS. Being one of the first Air Force Contracting enlisted members to attend NPS, I wanted to provide a demonstration of the benefits NPS provides so that my peers would be interested in applying as well. To be honest though, after completing all three, I was surprised to learn that this has never been done before.”
Forrester spent several months preparing for each exam, with the first weeks focused on gathering resources such as study guides, reference books, practice tests, and YouTube videos—then digging in to master the material. “I spent four months preparing for the CPCM exam,” said Forrester, “as it required the ability to apply numerous new concepts that I was not aware of. This was the most challenging of the three certifications and took the most time to prepare for.”
The three professional certifications provide students with recognized proficiency in skills that are valued within both defense and industry. This makes them better leaders and makes them more marketable when they leave the military.
Both the Certified Professional Contract Manager (CPCM) and the Certified Federal Contract Manager (CFCM) certifications are conferred by the National Contract Management Association (NCMA), the premiere association for the contract management profession.
The CPCM demonstrates professional expertise in the roles of buyers and sellers in both government-to-business and business-to-business contract and subcontract activities. The exam tests these competencies as they are articulated in the Contract Management Body of Knowledge, published by NCMA.
The CFCM exhibits knowledge of federal contracting, which is heavily focused on the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), primarily from the perspective of a contract manager.
The PMP designation recognizes leaders skilled at managing the people, processes, and business priorities of professional projects. The PMP certification is offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and accepted internationally as the standard in the project management profession.
NPS’ contract and program management curricula are aligned with these professional competencies and help prepare students who choose to take these exams. In addition to professional certifications like CPCM, CFCM and PMP, DDM offers students opportunities to earn training required for Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) acquisition professional certifications in program management (practitioner level) and contracting (professional level).
SMSgt Forrester at the Pentagon with (left to right) Professor Dan Finkenstadt, classmate SMSgt Ryan Schnepf, Gen. David Allvin, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and classmate Capt. Nicole Hall.
When he wasn’t preparing for these exams, Forrester was busy completing coursework and research in the Department of Defense Management (DDM). He served on a team of Air Force contracting professionals working on a project for the Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force (VCSAF) looking into talent management and human capital management. This was part of an Enterprise Innovation Design (MN3307) course in DDM that uses Hacking for Defense (H4D) and Lean Startup practices to profoundly understand a problem and develop a minimal viable product. Forrester and team traveled to the Pentagon to present their findings at Air Force Headquarters. They secured support from the Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force to continue working on the topic.
Forrester’s capstone thesis continued this VCSAF research with another DDM student. Their goal was to define readiness for the Air Force, learn what the industry equivalent to readiness is, what the existing industry best practices of readiness are, and identify constraints that prevent the Air Force from implementing these practices. Their research uncovered that the industry equivalent to readiness is agility, or the organization's ability to meet objectives effectively and respond to customer needs efficiently. To help improve Air Force readiness, they recommended implementing three courses of action (or minimum viable products, in H4D lingo) to increase organizational readiness by balancing readiness requirements with the individual needs and desires of its personnel.
Forrester presented this research earlier this year at the 20th Annual Acquisition Research Symposium held in Monterey, an NPS event organized by the Acquisition Research Program that draws researchers and senior leaders from across the defense acquisition innovation ecosystem. During the student poster show, Forrester was one of 18 students discussing their research with attendees.
Forrester presenting his research-in-progress at the 20th Annual Acquisition Research Symposium in Monterey, May 10, 2023.
Forrester graduates this December with an MBA in Contract Management and an Advanced Contract Management Certificate. After graduation, he will attend the Air Force’s Officer Training School, after which he will receive a commission in the Air Force. He has been selected to become a 64P-Contracting Officer. While his next duty assignment is still to be determined, he will continue to serve the enlisted tier as the 2023 Outstanding Airmen of the Year Mentor, working closely with the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force (CMSAF) and her team. He was personally selected by the CMSAF to guide and develop the 2023 Outstanding Airmen of the Year team as they fulfill their duties as ambassadors.
Forrester is thoughtful about how his time at NPS is preparing him for the future:
“I have learned a tremendous amount during my time at NPS that will be instrumental in my future positions. Most of all, what I plan to not only apply but also share and let spread like wildflowers, is how to approach problems. My time at NPS taught me a new way of thinking. Due to mission tempo, we typically try to find quick fixes to problems, by adding or creating something new, sort of like band-aids.
"However, NPS taught me the concepts of how to strategically approach problems by dissecting them to find the root causes. My biggest lessons in this way of thinking came from the course MN3307, Enterprise Innovation Design, and classroom discussions with my fellow students.”
Want to dig into Forrester's research?
Read his thesis, "A Review of Air Force Readiness: A Focus on Human Capital Management," written with co-author 1st LT. Andrew A. Stoneberger, USAF, and advised by LtCol Daniel J. Finkenstadt, Assistant Professor, and Dr. Erik Helzer, Associate Professor.