MichaelJonReed

Thank you for sharing your experience. I appreciate your help to broaden my perspective.

Vern, I'm honored that my post caught your attention. Thank you! I would guess you've heard this before, but among the current crop of 1102s, many like to say, "You're not a real 1102 until Vern Edwards replies to your post on Wifcon." The history you shared reminds me very much of the work environment in which I started, a Department of Veterans Affairs regional contracting office. The senior contracting officers in that time and place oversaw teams of specialists, much as you describe. Most of the work was still paper-based at that time, with hand-written, red ink corrections that literally bled off the pages produced by inexperienced 1102s. I was one of them, still grateful today for all that I learned within that crucible. In any case, it's an honor to have caught your attention. I hope that all is well with you and yours. Thank you for your massive contributions to our career field. Best and highest regards always, sir!

Thank you for your interest in my post. Your questions make me hopeful that you've got experience that can help. I'll answer your questions, grateful for whatever insight you can provide. You asked if in my opinion, I have CS who should not have a warrant. No, in my opinion I do not; however, the teams I oversee are just a portion of the overall organization (140 people on my teams, out of 750 total). My teams handle: IT systems and equipment (ranging from $1 million to $100 million), real property leasing (700 locations, CONUS, typically less than 20,000 sf), international programs (up to $250 million), education center support (construction <$10 million, support services up to $50 million), field support (up to 20-year, $500 million and higher). Currently, we employ a mix of approaches; however, senior leadership seeks consistency, in particular driving toward a model where officers review and sign for specialists. I hope those answers provide the additional context you need. Thank you again for your interest!

Background Our leadership is concerned that we have too many warrants, too many people signing their own work. Audits indicated the number of warrants contributes to increased risk; however, the auditors provided no insight as to what the proper number of warrants should be, given our workload. I am now charged with reducing the number of warrants, implementing a workflow wherein (number of) contract specialists prepare and submit their work for review and signature by (smaller number of) warranted contracting officers. Request I realize that the definition of "viable workload" varies. One 1102 may work full time on a single contract, compared to others that write (and/or administer) hundreds of contracts each year; however, in your experience, when reviewing and signing contract specialist work, how many contracts should contracting officers be able to handle each year? Do any of you have experience you can share, insights that can help me better plan the ratio of contract specialists to contracting officers, criteria to help determine staffing requirements and thereby best plan reasonable workload balance? Do any of you know of any research studies on this topic that I might read in order to help inform better decisions? I appreciate any advice you can share. Thank you!