The core program runs in eight-month cohorts — think of it like a college semester, with the whole cohort onboarded together. The team considers eight months enough time for a serious member to get fully registered, actively bidding, and through several bids and debriefs.
What happens at the end depends on where you are:
If you win a contract during the program (with the program's help on the bid), your status changes from member to partner and you remain in the program for the full life of that contract — even multiple years — with no renewal fee, because the program earns from the contract instead.
If you finish without a win, you graduate, with a one-time offer to renew for another term. The renewal is smaller than original enrollment since your account, portal, and roadmap are already built, and active members are honored at the rate they originally paid even if list pricing has increased.
If you go inactive or unresponsive, you are graduated out without a renewal offer, and your seat opens to new applicants. You can rejoin a later cohort, but at current pricing.
Either way, the registration and compliance work is yours to keep — entity, SAM registration, CAGE code and UEI, DSBS profile, capability statement, and compliant systems — and you can keep bidding on your own after the program.