Capability

Your CLP Period Restarted in May 2026

The Federal Acquisition Certification continuous learning period ended 04-30-2026 and a new one began. How many points you owe depends on which certification you have.

By Joary Khairudin-Casey, Founder · Principal Consultant · October 12, 2026 · Long Read · 6 min

The Federal Acquisition Certification (FAC) continuous learning common period that began 05-01-2024 ended on 04-30-2026. A new two-year period started the next day. I read the continuous learning guidance closely because my course material has to match it. The number I hear most often is 80 for everyone. It isn't the number for every certification.

Your Number

The Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI) publishes the requirement by certification.

Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting (FAC-C): 80 continuous learning points (CLPs) every two years.
Federal Acquisition Certification for Program and Project Managers (FAC-P/PM): 80 CLPs every two years.
Federal Acquisition Certification for Contracting Officer's Representatives (FAC-COR): 8 CLP hours every two years at Level I and 40 at Levels II and III.

FAI writes the COR requirement in CLP hours and the other two in points. An hour of instruction is one CLP. If you have the Digital Services specialization, 20 of your 80 come from acquiring digital services.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) reduced the FAC-C requirement from 100 points to 80 in an Acquisition Flash on FAI.gov. The reduction applies to the current and future common periods. The same document says there was no change to FAC-COR or FAC-P/PM. So a Level II COR needs 40. A FAC-C holder needs 80.

The New Period

Your count for the new period starts at zero. The Flash says learning and training activities completed after 05-01-2024 apply to the period that began then. Activities count toward the period you complete them in. Whatever got you to your number by 04-30-2026 went to the period that just closed.

Tracking happens in the Continuous Learning Individual Progress (CLIP) dashboard in FAI CSOD. The dashboard is now at learn.csodfed.com. The Flash says to check CLIP before you enter an agency webinar or brown-bag session by hand because many agency managers award those points directly through express classes.

The Proposed Rules

This period is harder to plan than the last one. The material the training teaches is being rewritten while you earn the points.

Eight Revolutionary FAR Overhaul proposed rules are out. Four published 06-23-2026 with comments closed 07-23-2026. Four more published 09-18-2026 with comments open until 10-19-2026. No final rule has published as of 09-29-2026.

Source selection is in the second batch. FAR Case 2026-003 would revise Part 15 to focus on negotiation rather than discussions, revise the definition of “deficiency,” and eliminate the procedures for exchanges with offerors before a competitive range is established. It would keep the meaningful negotiation with each offeror in the competitive range. Deficiencies and significant weaknesses would be addressed there. The same case would revise Part 12 to align commercial buying more closely with customary commercial practice.

Those are the topics inside source selection training. Points from a course based on the current Part 15 still count toward your total. Some of what that course teaches would change under the proposed rule.

Sixty Free Points

The same OFPP Flash lists more than 60 CLPs of overhaul training at no cost: the “Navigating FAR Framework” module at 1.5 points, 49 Practitioner Albums worth 45 points between them, FAR Forward monthly office hours at one point a session, seven recorded overhaul webinars, and a six-point Foundations Workshop through FAI CSOD.

That's a Level II or Level III COR requirement in full.

The Training Budget

If you supervise 1102s or CORs, the total is a curriculum question. An office of fifteen with a mix of FAC-C holders and Level II CORs needs between 600 and 1,200 points over two years. Someone has to source, approve, and document every one of them.

In December 2024 the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed the acquisition workforce at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Of the 55 program managers, contracting officers, and contracting officer's representatives GAO interviewed, 41 named heavy workload as their “most considerable challenge.” Twelve of the 17 program managers named lengthy hiring time frames. A fiscal year 2023 DHS report cited in that review put acquisition hiring time frames at three to eighteen months. The report is GAO-25-107075, Actions Needed to Address Acquisition Workforce Challenges and Data.

The training budget can go to material that earns the points and prepares staff for rules that are still in comment.

When I put a course together I've got to tell the agency which FAC competencies it addresses and how many instructional hours it includes. That's what a learner's supervisor and Acquisition Career Manager need to approve the points.

It helps to start with your number. CLIP will show what the period that began 05-01-2026 has recorded for you. 80 points over 24 months is between three and four a month. 40 points is under two a month.