I'm Nick Hazelett. I've been in contracting for about 14 years, and over that time the field has been a steady stream of information from every direction: WarU, JKO, varying CO practices from office to office, FAR changes, policy changes, and now the RFO. All of it valuable. All of it a lot to track at once.
The question I kept coming back to: how are our new Airmen and 1102s supposed to navigate all of this when those of us with years of experience are still adjusting to the same rapid changes? So I went back and built something to help. Training that starts at the true basics and walks step-by-step through them. What's a NAICS code? How do you do market research? What do you need to learn, what does the right way look like, and how do you keep doing it on your own once the training ends? That's what KTHQ is. I plan to expand and simplify additional training as time allows.
Supervisors in the Air Force have already been doing this, it's nothing new. But I wanted to build something consistent for newer folks to learn, and then to come back to for a refresher if they need it.
For the curious: I started contracting in 2012 at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma. From there it was four years at RAF Lakenheath in England, sixteen months at Cannon AFB in New Mexico, four years at Langley AFB in Virginia, and now I'm at Wright-Patterson in my home state of Ohio. Mixed in along the way: two deployments to Turkey, two to Saudi Arabia, and various adventures in between. If you want to connect, I'm on LinkedIn.
Use this site as a guide, but please don't use it as a replacement for your certification path. New 1102s should read KTHQ. They should also take the CON 0900-series courses, earn their DAWIA or FAC-C credentials, and finish whatever certification track the agency requires.
KTHQ teaches the way I'd teach you if I were a supervisor peering over your shoulder. Practical, blunt, and grounded in how the work actually gets done. That's a complement to formal training, never a substitute for it. Classroom courses build the conceptual foundation; this site helps you apply it.
Please don't treat KTHQ as a substitute for FAI, WarU, or your CON coursework. Use it alongside them. The certifications open the doors. The training on this site helps you walk through them without falling on your face.
Also we have so many "One Stop Shops" I figured I'd consolidate them all into my links page. Let me know if I missed any!
I do this in my spare time, and I'm hoping to keep updating it with content as much as possible.
You'll notice that across the site I cite FAR Parts (like "FAR Part 15") rather than specific sections (like "FAR 15.404-1(b)(2)(iii)"). That's on purpose, for two reasons.
First, it builds muscle memory. The hard part of citations is figuring out which Part the topic lives in. Once you know the Part, finding the section is easy. Without that, you're hunting blind. Options? FAR Part 17 (Types of Contracts). You wouldn't guess that from the title. So I'll tell you the Part and point you toward Ctrl+F. Going there and finding it yourself is how it sticks.
Second, the RFO. With sections moving and renumbering as deviations roll out, a hyper-specific citation can become outdated within days, weeks, or months. I can't deliver competency-based training that expires that fast. Pointing to the Part keeps the training stable while you build the skill of navigating the regulation.
When I do paste a direct citation, it's usually because I've copy/pasted the entire FAR reference, so even after a FAC changes the language, you can see what the content used to be.
So when you see a Part reference on the site, go look it up. Ctrl+F is your friend.
I want to keep this page fun and light, so feel free to enjoy my dumb contracting songs, if you have any ideas for improvement, please feel free to hit me up. Also, go see the CMCoE page for fantastic memes.
I plan to keep it free forever, but if you'd like to support the page, I do have a buy me a coffee link up top, but if not, I've got a day job to fall back on, no worries.