Why be a Contracting Officer – Reason 2
Being a contracting officer (CO) is a unique position. I’ve been asked over the years to describe what it’s like to be a CO. While my opinion may not align with every CO’s perspective, this is my attempt to help people understand why I enjoyed it so much – and why I’ve dedicated my post-government professional efforts to helping people better understand the role of the CO.
Why did I like being a CO? I’ve answered this question many different ways over the years: it was fascinating, interesting, fulfilling, exciting, eye-opening, challenging, frustrating, infuriating, rewarding, maddening, ever-changing and chock full of opportunity (I could go on, but you get the idea). I came up with a huge list of reasons. But that list greatly outpaced the ‘blog-sized’ content I’m targeting so I decided to focus on one reason at a time.
Here’s reason 2: It is Never Boring
Research has shown that one of the biggest factors in successful job performance is engagement. In other words, is the position stimulating and interesting? Does it challenge you day in and day out? By the way, this doesn’t mean it’s always FUN or even that you are working on the tasks that you like to do all the time, as long as it is engaging. For me, it meant that it was interesting work that kept me always thinking. COs are, or should be, always thinking. Ironically, in that respect, it’s like being an entrepreneur. Maybe that’s the reason I’m enjoying what I do now just as much.
As a CO, things are constantly changing. Now, let’s confirm that we are talking about the federal government so let’s not pretend that changes happen quickly at the overall government level. That’s not my point here. We’re not at the OSD policy-level here. We’re at the contract level. Where the “rubber meets the road” as they say.
COs have new situations, new problems, new opportunities to adjust to nearly every day. This is because, at the contract level, the amount of variables in the pre- and post-award processes are enormous, especially when combined. In addition, let’s not forget that external factors like the status of the economy, the federal budget, the health of a particular industry, the maturity of a requirement, and the availability of both government and industry personnel to meet demand will (or should) drive changes in both pre- and post-award activities. How? Let’s go with the low-hanging fruit examples such as: wage determinations, the level of expected (and actual) competition, equitable adjustments, retention rates of incumbent contractor personnel post award, availability of skilled pricing support for cost-type contracts, and so on.
Here’s another easy example, Think about where the economy was four years ago (at the end of 2010) compared to today. The contracts that were awarded in 2010 are expiring in 2015 (and likely being competed now). I’m thinking it’s safe to say that the access to people, capital, resources, skilled personnel, and technology are all very different now than five years ago during the Great Recession. Some are better, some are worse. That’s the point. They changed.
Tie this to the fact that contractors, like contracting officers, are people. That means, that even with the maze of regulations and policies the CO must manage, there are people involved in nearly every step. People have opinions. People have interpretations. People have arguments. There are people doing the work. When we combine a complex network of acquisition variables with the infinite ability of people to interpret and opine on these variables, we end up with a lot of interesting challenges getting to an end state we can all agree on (i.e., a contract).
It’s like you’re always building your Jenga tower while people are handing you their custom-formed pieces that don’t quite fit. It’s your job to make them all fit together – or to convince everyone why they shouldn’t be handing you their puzzle piece in the first place. And that is why being a CO is never boring. It may be maddening at times, but it’s never boring.
If you’re a CO, what are your reasons? To hear more on this topic, check out the “What is a CO?” podcast at http://contractingofficerpodcast.com/.