Individuals interested in pursuing their CDA must complete all of the Vested courses to become a CDA. Some of these courses are free, some are conducted on-site at the University of Tennessee (or at hosted locations around the world) and some are online.

The CDA program is modeled after a typical journeyman approach where individuals must apply their knowledge in practice. Besides the knowledge gained in the UT on-site and on-site courses, CDA candidates must complete the UT Validation capstone course that involves delivering a Vested agreement.

Benefits of Becoming a CDA

The Certified Deal Architect program comes with several benefits post-graduation.

• Use of the term CDA and the CDA logo
• Courses are a single-use license, however our CDAs can use the Vested Toolkit/IP for future deals at no additional cost.
• Access to revisions to the Vested online courses at no additional costs. For example, when the Creating a Vested Agreement online course is refreshed with new case studies and additional tools, you will automatically have access to these future enhanced versions.
• Invitation-only access to the annual CDA conference where you can network and learn from other CDAs that have done Vested deals.
• Invitation-only access to a CDA Distribution List where you can further network with other CDAs (as a CDA, you must opt-in to share your information).
• A “push” notification of new resources and tools. For example, when UT releases a new case study you will be notified. You will also get our exclusive and extended “teaching” case versions so you can further enhance your learning on a continual level (as a CDA, you must opt-in to this benefit).
• CDA candidates are “affiliated” with a “home” Vested Center of Excellence where they can further network on a regional or more local level. For example, some Centers of Excellence have roundtable meetings where CDAs share their successes and struggles in doing Vested deals.

Enrollment

The Certified Deal Architect program is not one course – but requires individuals to take the required courses. Group/Corporate rates are available for all courses, making the program affordable. For example, tuition for one person is $17,500 for the complete program while a four person buyer-supplier team (2 people representing the buyer and two people representing the supplier) is only $10,175 per person. (All four team members must attend the 3 Day Vested and 2 Day Collaborative Contracting courses together as a team)

Certified Deal Architect Program Tuition

For More Information:

• Reach out to Mike Watts – program Chief of Staff – who can answer questions and provide personalized help in getting registered. Mike can be reached at [email protected]
• Download our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Guide
• View our current Vested Certified Deal Architects