Contracting Officer's Reference Guide

[Don Mansfield]

Is there a need for a Contracting Officer's Reference Guide (or handbook, manual, etc)? There are Contract Pricing Reference Guides, a Contract Audit Manual, manuals on this and that topic relevant to contracting, but we don't have a single comprehensive guide written for the contracting officer. While the FAR and agency supplements contain some guidance, I don't think they are sufficient. I'm thinking of something that explains topics in laymen's terms, contains examples of how to do things, how to avoid common pitfalls, references to further reading, etc. The guide would be introduced very early in training and become a useful resource on the job. What do you think?

[C Culham]

Don -

Creating and keeping up to date would seem to be a monumental undertaking.

Some agencies have some type of internal manual that functions in the manner you suggest but I am guessing they are not as comprehensive as your vision or in some cases the manual or guide is focused towards the COR. I am just wondering if the effort to create yet another would be value added time spent?

[Don Mansfield]

Carl,

For one person, it would be a monumental undertaking. But what if it were crowd sourced and edited? That is, anyone could contribute to it, but an editor could change a contribution (or reject it if it were garbage). It would be a living document.

[Guest Jason Lent]

The DOD has the Defense Contingency Contracting Handbook and it seems to stay reasonably up-to-date and useful. 15 people in the working group, 3 contributing authors, 1 editor, 2 folks in charge of making the book look pretty, one person in charge of the accompanying website and DVD, and headed up by 3 individuals, so a team of 25.

[C Culham]

Don - Crowd sourced and edited would help I am sure but then my mind quickly heads to Wikipedia where I have had first hand experience in trying to get a contribution, an edit with updated information, through the gauntlet. A model not to follow in my view.

As I think about the idea this also pops into my head - Sounds something like the whole of Wifcon but more condensed and specific?

Carl

[Guest Vern Edwards]

Is there a need for a Contracting Officer's Reference Guide (or handbook, manual, etc)? There are Contract Pricing Reference Guides, a Contract Audit Manual, manuals on this and that topic relevant to contracting, but we don't have a single comprehensive guide written for the contracting officer. While the FAR and agency supplements contain some guidance, I don't think they are sufficient. I'm thinking of something that explains topics in laymen's terms, contains examples of how to do things, how to avoid common pitfalls, references to further reading, etc. The guide would be introduced very early in training and become a useful resource on the job. What do you think?

No, there is no need for such a guide, handbook, or manual. We don't need any more such claptrap. Moreover, production of such a book would be difficult in light of the fact that there is no general consensus on the proper role of the contracting officer, other than what you read in FAR, and even if there were a consensus, there would be too few people qualified to write and maintain such a thing. Crowd-sourcing would get you the product of a crowd. Since when has such a thing ever been of good quality?

What we really need is good textbooks for study. The Cibinic and Nash books are excellent references, but they are not well-designed to be used and read as modern textbooks.

You, Don, should be writing a textbook, instead of spending time at Wifcon Forum answering the same simple questions over and over again. Alternatively, you could edit a volume of essays on the duties of the contracting officer. I'd help.

[mdtpham]

Don-

Yes, I believe that there is a need for it. Are you envisioning something like the Contract Attorney's Deskbook?

[Don Mansfield]

The Contract Attorney's Deskbook is a good reference, but I was envisioning something that also contained a lot of how-to information. For example, how to write a contract modification, how to write a purchase order, how to write a proposal preparation instruction, etc. We all do these things, but do them in different ways. It would be nice if there were some standard practices one could refer to when being tasked with doing something for the first time.

[ji20874]

Please, no! No contracting officer's deskbook! Don't take away whatever discretion I might have now by requiring me and every other contracting officer in the country to follow the same template, especially if it is a poor template (most of them are, aren't they?).

[Boof]

I used to be able to write a beautiful contract in Microsoft Word that I was proud of. Then came our mandatory contract writing system that prints out a horrible document. The only way to get the SOW/PWS onto it is as an attachment. Forget about cut and pasting it into Section C or commercial item section 1. Only comes out as Adobe because the developers did not want to pay Microsoft licenses (my opinion anyway)so you cannot edit it except back in the inefficient system.

We have the GAO, OIG and every other oversight agency telling us how to do our job.

So what good is a how to handbook?

[joel hoffman]

Which phases of contracting (acq planning, pre award, post award, close out) would this desk guide encompass and for what type contracts (service, supply, construction, D-B, R&D, etc.) what size contracts (e.g., purchase orders, other simplified methods or over the various thresholds, etc.), what type of pricing arrangement (FFP, CP, FPI, etc.)? It would seem that anything other than a very basic handbook would be as thick as the FAR and supplements.

I wrote and supervised a couple of rewrites and expansions of contract administration manuals over the years for ACO's and COR's on FFP construction contracts. These manuals also include mods under the few various clauses that ACO's in our organization were authorized to execute but including all the steps for mods and other actions typically required for a field office. The manuals were hundreds of pages thick and had to be updated every few years.

The handbook that Don suggests appears to be a massive undertaking and for what ultimate purpose , breadth of coverage, application to what organization, etc. ?

[dgm]

Don,

I think one with a lot of how-to information and in simple terms would be very helpful and I think most the 1102s I work with would agree.

[Guest Vern Edwards]

The handbook that Don suggests appears to be a massive undertaking and for what ultimate purpose , breadth of coverage, application to what organization, etc. ?

The Government does not have the resources to produce such a thing, much less the resources to maintain it. The Government cannot properly maintain even the FAR. A guide such as Don suggests would take many more people and much more knowledge and skill to produce than the Government has or ever will have.

[Don Mansfield]

ji20874,

Assume the guidebook would not be mandatory--think voluntary consensus standards.

joel,

Assume the guidebook would encompass "Federal contracting" in all shapes and sizes. It would be written for maximum adaptability.

All,

The devil is in the details. I get it. My original question was whether there is a need for such a thing. Assume it could be appear by COB today.

[GeoJeff]

No, not useful. The problem is that too many people in this field don't read, and when they do, they don't understand. Giving them something else to read ain't gonna help.

[uva383]

Don,

I think that this website is essence the perfect reference guide. I'm amazed at the wealth of knowledge to be mined in this forum. Every day I learn something new reading the ideas and discussions that are posted here. While the information discussed is usually at a higher level than some entry level folks may grasp, I think that the community does not shy away from answering or explaining questions when someone new to contracting has a problem or asks questions attempts to better understand a thread.

[Guest Vern Edwards]

ji20874,

My original question was whether there is a need for such a thing. Assume it could be appear by COB today.

If it appears by COB today we've got big problems, because pigs are flying.

[jwomack]

Another 2 to 3 thousand page book that’s outdated by the time it gets to my bookshelf? Why not. You may as well make a buck like everyone else.

But on the Government’s dime? No way. You’d need a whole contracting shop of experts to maintain it. Good luck with getting that approved and implemented.

[Deaner]

I would appreciate such a tool. My agency has a manual that discusses details for various parts of contracting functions, provides examples, explanations, far, IL, statute references, etc. The issue it does have (as suggested in this forum) is that the information becomes irrelevant over time and doesn't get updated fast enough. The other resource I currently have available is a portal that lets you create a folder, upload SSP, evaluation factors, acq plans, market research, lessons learned, etc. for common reoccurring requirements. The issue with this portal, again as noted above, is the information you look at is just a copy of what someone else did. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it is garbage.

In theory, i like the idea. even if it was a Wikipedia type manual; although they get quite a bit of scrutiny; i graduated WSU with a degree in accounting and i used wiki type articles. they actually teach how to use them, further reading in the references, how to write one, and when to ignore what you are reading.

The challenge i face in my organization however is that depending on who reviews my documents, dictates how they are written. there isn't any adaption to peoples writing styles. Outside of legal, best practice, etc. contract specialists where i am have no room to create a document anyway other than the exact way our reviewers have us and all of the reviewers have different preferences, so although i think it would be helpful, I’m not sure my organization would benefit from it.

[joel hoffman]

For the reasons I previously described plus I am in agreement with Vern, I think that such an undertaking would be exhoribantly expensive, unwieldy to develop and to maintain and would be a waste of the taxpayers' money. Additional resources would be necessary to develop and maintain it. The taxpayers aren't willing to pay for the current level of government cost and resourses, let alone adding to the burden.

[DingoesAteMyBaby]

I think it's a great idea, but the best practices reflected in any guidebook are relative to the agency and to the current climate at the agency.

For example, in 2004 NOAA had an Acquisition Handbook and Acquisiton Process Guide

http://www.easc.noaa.gov/apg/APG_Docs/NOAA%20ACQ%20HANDBOOK%20v%203-1.pdf

http://www.easc.noaa.gov/apg/

They were great for what they were at the time, but regimes change, federal procurement policy changes, and after establishing such a voluminous guide it would be difficult to maintain.

I believe it takes an entire universe of knowledge resources, knowledge, problem solving, experience, and continual refresh of the aforementioned through development of good habits to be successful in this business. And honestly, in some agencies, there is not much latitude for doing anything other than follow the prescribed policy to the letter.

[Fear & Loathing in Contracting]

Incredibly challenging for all the reasons stated. I am wondering if a collection of real life scenario's/ war stories might be helpful, but this would be more of a concept training approach, does not meet your needs, and of course gets hit with most of the same challenges...