PATUXENT RIVER NAVAL AIR STATION, MD—The Department of the Navy Acquisition Intern Program provides an intensive and structured three-year career development program for college graduates who want to become acquisition professionals.

Interns go through formal training classes, diverse rotational assignments and progressively advanced and extensive hands-on training. The interns then attach to a specialized acquisition field supporting Naval forces; At NAS Patuxent River there are four areas of expertise: contracts, logistics, engineering and business/cost/finance.

Most AIP interns perform a three-month rotation outside their career competency. They often have a limited scope of the many projects, programs and competencies within NAVAIR and choose a rotation area they are already familiar with. They often do not realize the wide variety of opportunities here at Pax and its Webster Field Annex.

An example of a beneficial external rotation assignment is that of a contracts intern who found a three-month assignment with Research and Engineering Crew Systems, where she was able to participate in technical aspects of acquisition. This allowed her to gain an understanding of what tasks are performed, aside from the contractual procurement of certain services/hardware.

Another AIP requirement is a senior project, which provides the intern with the "big picture" of Navy acquisition. Carla Wible and Jessica Wilmore, contracting interns, are preparing their senior project by gathering point-of-contact information that enables AIP interns to fulfill their external rotation assignments here. Their project goal is to familiarize other interns with the programs that encompass NAVAIR's mission and to gain insight into how each intern's position relates to the fleet's activities.

Wible and Wilmore are constructing an information packet to distribute to interns in June that includes details about Pax River's facilities. The information they are obtaining includes interested POCs and their locations, departmental goals and duties and expectations of the rotating intern. If you are interested in hosting an intern, contact Wible at 301-757-8978 or Wilmore at 301-757-8941 or by e-mail at [email protected] and [email protected]. These rotational assignments are funded by AIP, so there is no cost to the department.

This information will be posted to the newly updated Career Development Office Web page on WingSpan. The Navy Acquisition Intern Program Web site, http://www.navyintern.cms.navy.mil, also has information about the intern program. Interns are encouraged to visit the intern link on the NAVAIR Contracts Web site at http://contracts.navair.navy.mil.

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