Contracting officer representatives keep services, facilities humming

FORT BELVOIR, Va. -

Mike Watts arrives at the McNamara Headquarters Complex in the morning with no assumptions about what the day will bring. If all's well, employees won't give a thought to utilities like electricity or plumbing that he helps keep running as a contracting officer representative who oversees service contracts for Defense Logistics Agency Installation Management.

"If people don't have power, they can't work. And it's our responsibility to make sure tenants have a clean, safe place to come to," he said of those who're contracted to provide everything from custodial and interior pest control services to shredding.

Most employees are familiar with the supply contracts DLA uses to equip troops and some federal agencies. Although less known, service contracts make daily operations possible by allowing DLA to maintain its facilities and provide employees with such services as information technology support. At least one contracting officer representative, or COR, must be assigned to monitor the technical and administrative aspects of contractor performance for service contracts, according to the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

Miranda Hikes and Greg Bozovich are IT business program support analysts with COR responsibilities for DLA Information Operations' Strategic Vendor Management Division. Like others, they handle a mix of supply and service contracts but agreed monitoring service contracts can be more labor intensive. Though CORs don't directly supervise contractors, they do monitor their work and verify completion before certifying invoices and processing payment through the Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

"When we pay an invoice, we're inherently accepting the work, so we have to go through checks and balances to make sure we receive the deliverables we've contracted for. Otherwise, we're just flushing money away," said Hikes, whose contracts include DLA's firewall services and cable infrastructure upgrades.

While most of DLA's supply contracts can be automated, Watts said the human element makes service contracts more complex.

"Especially in facility operations, where we have contracts for operating and repairing things like the heating, ventilating and air conditioning system, there's physical work that has to be done," he said, also pointing to custodial and electrical work.

CORs assist program managers with writing and defining performance work statements that outline the scope and objectives of work to be done, expectations, milestones and deadlines, and communication channels. Each statement is different. While a work statement for a service contract in IT may specify how many times the vendor replaces cables, for example, a work statement for building maintenance might define the results and let the vendor determine the frequencies needed to meet standards.

Service contracts may also be linked to numerous program managers, such as with the enterprise technology services requirement that Bozovich collaborated on. The contract included over 20 program managers, each with large teams that had a stake in the contract's outcome.

"Defining the requirement and facilitating the information and conversations among everyone involved can be difficult. You must come to a unified vision that incorporates various goals," Bozovich said.

Lack of job security in service contracts, which often have one-year terms, sometimes leads to high employee turnover and additional work for CORs, Hikes added. Vendors try to quickly backfill positions so there's no lapse in performance, especially for contracts with just one full-time equivalent employee, but CORs must help review resumes - a task Hikes described as daunting for highly skilled positions.

"Also, a lot of companies don't want to participate in service contracts with just one FTE because they're high risk and low reward for them," she continued.

CORs can sometimes ease turnover by conducting market research to find vendors interested in maintaining service contracts with the government and collaborating with industry to create terms and conditions that make service contracts more appealing, particularly to small businesses in service trades, Hikes added.

Bozovich said bringing new employees into DLA's fold can also be an administrative burden on CORs, who help arrange things like base access, government-issued Common Access Cards, equipment and workspace.

"The reports we have to do, the information we're tracking, the offboarding and surrendering of information for people who just come in and leave shortly thereafter or move on to different contracts - it's a constant cycle," he said. "But staying organized and using established processes help us manage the flow."

Some CORs have previous experience as contracting specialists or contracting officers who maintain warrants authorizing them to obligate money and award contracts on behalf of the government. Hikes started as a contracting specialist in the Air Force, then came to DLA to broaden her experience in acquisition. Bozovich first worked in the Department of Veterans Affairs' contracting office, then transitioned to the Army before planting his feet at DLA.

"What I was doing started to feel like rinse-and-repeat; it lacked interaction. Things here at DLA are more interesting when it comes to finding contracting solutions and unique ways to meet requirements," he said.

Watts has been working on DLA Headquarters contracts for over 20 years. He began as a maintenance inspector for the custodial contract in the late 90s.

"I enjoy knowing not every day is going to be the same. Situations come up, and sometimes they need to be addressed really fast, like when we had a water pipe leak in one of the first-floor bathrooms and water flowed into the building's main entryway," he said.

Or the morning a chicken ran wild in the parking lot.

"That chicken had a very long commute up I-95 - probably 60 miles - after it hid in the engine under the hood of its owner's car," Watts said. He and a coworker helped the contracted grounds crew trap the chicken, and it went home with the employee at the end of the workday.

"That's just proof that every day is a new day of opportunities in this job," Watts said.

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