Preface

The contracting officer (CO), at his or her discretion, may delegate contract monitoring duties to individuals possessing technical expertise or other specific qualifications, to ensure that all contract performance and delivery requirements are met in an acceptable and timely manner. These individuals may be called contracting officer’s representatives, or CORs. This book focuses on the responsibilities of the COR during initial technical requirements definition, preaward technical assistance to the CO, and postaward technical contract administration. This individual may also be referred to as the contracting officer’s technical representative (COTR). Throughout this book, COR is used to refer to either designation.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), in its Guide to Best Practices for Contract Administration, states the following regarding CORs:

The government is becoming increasingly aware of the importance of proper contract administration in ensuring the maximum return on our contract dollars. The COTR plays a critical role in affecting the outcome of the contract administration process. [Emphasis added.]

The technical administration of government contracts is an essential activity. It is absolutely essential that those entrusted with the duty to ensure that the government gets all that it has bargained for must be competent in the practices of contract administration and aware of and faithful to the contents and limits of their delegation of authority from the contracting officer.

The U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, in its December 2005 report to the President and the Congress of the United States, titled “Contracting Officer Representatives: Managing the Government’s Technical Experts to Achieve Positive Contract Outcomes,” stated:

Without question contracting is an appropriate and effective way to accomplish an important share of the Government’s work. The volume of contract spending—$328 billion in fiscal year 2004, up 87% from FY 1997—demonstrates the importance of developing and managing Federal contracts in ways that will ensure the best contract outcomes and the best return on the taxpayers’ dollar. In recent years, the Government has modernized its contracting rules and procedures and improved the management of contracting officers who carry out the business aspects of contracting. However, almost no work has been done to assess agencies’ management of contracting officer representatives (CORs). These individuals provide the technical expertise necessary to convey the technical requirements of the Government, oversee the technical work of the contractor, and ensure that deliverables meet the technical requirements of the Government. Even the best managed contract is not successful if its deliverables fail to meet the technical requirements of the Government.

All federal government contracts have, or should have, three basic objectives:

1.To get what the government needs

2.When it needs it

3.At a fair and reasonable price.

How can the government ensure the successful achievement of these objectives?

The answer lies in three basic areas of responsibility:

1.Clear, precise, and complete definition of the requirements (what the government needs)

2.Selection of the best possible source (contractor) to fulfill the needs

3.Performance of the contract in a manner that accomplishes the three objectives.

The acquisition team, including contracting, technical (or program/project), legal, quality assurance, audit, and finance personnel, has overall responsibility for accomplishment of the government’s objectives, and it is essential to take advantage of the team approach. Further, technical continuity and oversight are extremely important during the contracting process. While the CO is the person of authority, the COR has intimate knowledge of, and technical expertise related to, the contract requirements, and he or she should be involved with the contract from “cradle to grave.” It is essential that the COR be identified right at the beginning of the acquisition process—during the initial definition of the contract technical requirements. He or she should then be responsible for technically coordinating and monitoring the contract action all the way through contract closeout.

Unfortunately, many contracts lack the necessary degree of technical oversight, and as a result, performance problems and cost overruns can arise. My career experiences as both a technical and a contracting person have convinced me that one of the most effective ways to help alleviate performance and cost problems is by implementing a better COR/COTR program for technical coordination and contract monitoring.

The U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board report also stated:

We surveyed CORs from 10 agencies that accounted for 90 percent of the Government’s contracting dollars. Based on the findings from this survey, we make recommendations for agencies to improve the regulatory and day-to-day management of CORs. In particular, agencies need to fulfill the regulatory aspects of managing CORs to include formal delegation of authority, improved COR training, and strategic management of the COR workforce. [Emphasis added.]

Good COR/COTR oversight and implementation programs with structure, uniformity, formalized training, and certification criteria have been desperately needed for the COR/COTR designation process. Significant changes were announced in the September 6, 2011, OFPP memorandum, Revisions to the Federal Acquisition Certification for Contracting Officer’s Representatives (FAC-COR). The memorandum establishes a risk-based, three-tiered certification program with varying requirements for training, experience, and continuous learning. The new requirements were effective January 1, 2012, and apply to all executive agencies except the Department of Defense. Such programs will allow us to realize the significant benefits to be derived from better contract technical oversight by assigning those well-trained COR/COTRs to our contracts on a dedicated “cradle to grave” basis.

I was motivated to write this book in the hope that it would bring this type of attention to the need for better COR/COTR designation programs and improved technical administration of government contracts. I also hope that by using this book as guidance, the acquisition team, especially the COR/COTR, will be able to accomplish its contract objectives in a manner that ensures that the government gets what it needs, when it needs it, at a fair and reasonable price.

PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK

This book is intended to serve as a practical guide for both government and private sector personnel involved in the acquisition process:

CORs/COTRs, task monitors, quality assurance representatives, inspectors, legal counsel, project officers, program managers, and finance personnel can use it as a handbook to get answers and practical advice pertaining to their day-to-day contract technical administration duties and responsibilities.

COs, administrative contracting officers (ACOs), contract specialists, and contract administrators can use it to better understand typical COR/COTR functions and the process of delegating authority and contract technical oversight responsibilities to CORs/COTRs.

Contractors can use this book to gain insight into government procedures, policies, and functions pertaining to overall contract monitoring, particularly those related to COR/COTR roles, authority, duties, and responsibilities.

This book is designed to be used as a handbook to check for answers to specific questions, rather than read from cover to cover—hence the question and answer format. The information provided in the book has been thoroughly researched and edited to be as current and accurate as possible, but it should not be used as a legal reference. Given that government contracting is a dynamic environment that is in a constant state of change, it is imperative that the most current edition of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), agency supplements to the FAR as applicable, and individuals with contracting and legal authority be consulted on all matters related to particular contract or contracting situations.

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK

The content and structure of this book were defined by a detailed analysis of, and correlation to, the Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI) skills and competencies set forth in both the FAI Contract Specialist Training Blueprints, “Training Blueprints For Performing 71 Essential Contracting and Purchasing Duties,” and the FAI COR Workbook, which contains 18 “units of instruction” specifically related to the career development and training of CORs. These publications prescribe the curriculum design “training blueprints” to be used, and tasks to be completed, by contracting professionals and other members of the contracting team, such as CORs, and were developed in consultation with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

The 18 units of instruction from the FAI COR Workbook that were used in the development of this book are directly related to the 20 duties in Appendix A, COR Duties and Tasks, printed in bold. The remaining 12 duties in Appendix A were derived from the FAI Contract Specialist Training Blueprints and other references.

This book is designed to provide the COR with a source of specific information that will help him or her develop the necessary skills to perform the duties and tasks inherent in the COR’s critical role in the contracting process. Appendix A contains a detailed listing of these duties and tasks and can be used as an index to locate specific information related to the COR’s assigned responsibilities. For example, suppose a COR were assigned the responsibility of preparing a technical work package, including a purchase request, to yield the best market response in terms of competition, quality, timeliness, price, and mission needs. If the COR needed more information about developing a work package, he or she could scan the list of duties and tasks in Appendix A and would find among the listed duties for Chapter 3: “Duty: Develop the Work Package for Transmittal to the Contracting Office.” Turning to Chapter 3 of this book, the COR would find a section titled Developing the Work Package, which includes information related to the seven items included in the work package. This section identifies the seven tasks the COR will need to perform to develop the work package and provides specific guidance and information related to the COR’s assigned duties.

Because CORs are usually not contracting or legal people, I have tried to minimize direct reference to and quotation from the FAR. Two reasons for doing this are specifically worth noting:

1.The language of the FAR can be difficult to interpret. The FAR allows a considerable degree of discretion (by necessity) and should be interpreted with the assistance of case law from the courts, boards, and Government Accountability Office.

2.The fact that the FAR changes frequently (again by necessity) compelled me to use a more generic approach, i.e., practical guidance based on experience and common sense. This approach is intended to ensure that this book will be useful for a longer period of time.

“May the FAR be with you!”

Bob Boyd, CFCM
May 2012