Contracting Supervisors Receive a Closer Look

They are a vital but underappreciated cadre in the government -- contracting officer representatives.

They are federal employees who perform contracting duties as an additional, often ad hoc, part of their jobs. There's no good tally of how many CORs, as they are known, work in government, and little data on the training they receive, even though the government spends $350 billion annually on increasingly complex products and services.

These concerns prompted a study that was recently released by the Merit Systems Protection Board, an independent agency chaired by Neil A.G. McPhie that monitors the federal workforce. In recommendations sent to the White House and Congress, the board has recommended that the government find ways to identify and track CORs, improve their training opportunities and recognize their "strategic value."

CORs mostly work in program offices across government, reviewing contractor invoices (and often determining whether contractors should be paid), giving technical directions to contractors and ensuring that their work complies with contract requirements.

They are not to be confused with contracting officers, who handle the business aspects of contracting and are supposed to guarantee fair and open competition for vendors. CORs typically serve as the program and technical experts on contracts -- the engineers and scientists who oversee day-to-day work by contractors on major weapons, cleanup of nuclear waste sites and the development of cutting-edge technologies.

CORs are, by and large, a well-educated and well-paid group, according to responses from 1,426 CORs surveyed by the Merit Systems Protection Board. The survey found that 35 percent had a master's degree, PhD or other advanced degree and that an additional 42 percent of CORs had a bachelor's degree. More than 80 percent earned $57,000 or more per year, and about half had more than 20 years of experience as government employees. Slightly more than half of the survey respondents held engineering jobs.

The survey found that 52 percent of CORs worked on contracts valued below $1 million, 24 percent worked on contracts worth $1 million to $5 million, and another 24 percent worked on contracts valued in excess of $5 million.

A significant proportion of the CORs told the Merit Systems Protection Board that their contracts failed to meet at least one of these goals: quality, timeliness, completeness and cost. Only 52 percent of the CORs said their contracts met all of the goals at the same time.

"Not only does this mean that many contracts did not achieve their intended outcomes, it may also mean the agencies' ability to effectively accomplish their missions was diminished," the study said.

The study also questioned whether some agencies are doing enough to support CORs so they can crack down on waste, fraud and abuse, and the board recommended that agencies ramp up training for CORs.

"Barely half of surveyed CORs strongly agreed or agreed that their agencies ensured that they got the training they needed in their technical area or general competencies. Our CORs tend to work in highly technical and scientific fields that change rapidly and thus require regular training to maintain currency in a particular discipline," the study said.

Some agencies, such as the Defense Department, are trying to address the problems outlined in the study.

John Gray , a contracting supervisor at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, said the Air Force has been moving since 1994 to change the role of CORs. Air Force CORs can take university courses to earn certificates and learn how to audit and manage contracts and how to interview contract workers about their job performance, he said.

His Langley office has about 45 people acting as CORs, juggling nine contracts that include weapons systems, commodities and support services, Gray said.

Still, Gray said, he could not disagree with the merit board's recommendations that call for clear standards, more training for CORs and more contract oversight. "We can't improve our efficiency and effectiveness if we don't know what is going on," he said.

On the Job

Lurita Doan , the president's choice to run the General Services Administration, has been confirmed by the Senate and sworn into office. She is the agency's 18th administrator and the first woman to hold the position, the GSA said.

Kathleen Watson has been named the acting director for the Defense Security Service, which has struggled to keep up with the demand for security clearances. Watson has worked for 20 years in the intelligence community, and had been working as a lawyer in Defense's office of general counsel providing legal support to the office of the defense undersecretary for intelligence.

Stephen Barr's e-mail address isbarrs@washpost.com.