The Merit Systems Protection Board has said improving the
management of agency contract officer representatives could
lead to fewer contract problems and better contract
outcomes.
After surveying the COR workforce, which provides day-to-day
technical oversight, appraises deliverables and are often
the first to report contract problems, MSPB found that
contract problems seemed to be reported irrespective of
length, duration, or pricing structure, for example whether
they were fixed-price or for complex services.
However, more problems were reported for expensive contracts
than less expensive ones — 50 percent or more of the CORs
who worked on costly contracts reported having problems,
versus 40 percent or fewer of those who worked on less
expensive ones, MSPB said.
It said that in general, CORs that work on fewer contracts
at the same time, who get involved from the beginning,
perform certain tasks more frequently and have the time to
carry out their work, reported fewer contracting problems
— as did CORs that are formally delegated to their
contracting authority.
According to MSPB’s data, CORs that reported no problems
were more likely to report that contract deliverables were
timely, high quality, complete, or cost effective.
