Taking the next step to improve contract compliance

  • Published
  • By Joe B. Wiles
  • 71st Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Vance's support contractor, CSC Applied Technologies LLC, can earn an extra $2 million per year if its performance is above standards and of value to the government. Developing an objective way to determine how much of that $2 million is awarded is the next step in improving contract compliance as a core competency at Vance. 

"You have to have a very clear objective for the contractor to achieve," said Maj. Paul Davis, a member of the Quality Assurance Standardization and Evaluation office at Vance. "Then you have to have a very clear measure of when achievement is above that standard." 

The $2 million is available in six-month increments, spread out over the 19 operating areas CSC supports at Vance. The money is given in what is called an award fee. Until now, it was left to the individual quality assurance evaluators to determine how much to give the contractor. 

There are currently 44 QAEs monitoring the contractor on tasks ranging from aircraft maintenance to cleaning rooms in billeting. Major Davis' task is to develop a way for the QAEs to objectively award the money while motivating the contractor to perform above standard but not encourage waste. 

It became clear that Vance's award fee process was in need of improvement during an award fee briefing held last April here. Attending via telephone was the contracting commander at Air Education and Training Command, Lt. Col. Renee Richardson. 

"By the time the briefing was over, Colonel Richardson made it clear we needed to accomplish the process in a better way," said Major Davis. And it wasn't just Vance - the process needed improvement throughout AETC. 

Major Davis used the custodial contract at billeting as an example to illustrate how the process should work. 

"The QAE inspects rooms at billeting once a month. He uses a standard that is based on Air Force instructions; the contract standard, which is usually based on a commercial standard like that used at a Holiday Inn; and the contractor's quality control plan," said Major Davis. 

"A second component would be the customer comment cards which rate customer satisfaction from 1 to 5," he said. 

A corner stone of contract compliance is understanding the contract, said Major Davis. "How can you ask the contractor to comply with a contract you don't understand yourself? If you don't understand the contract, how can you recognize performance above the standard?" 

Knowing the contract is just one piece of the tremendous amount of information QAEs must have at their disposal, said Major Davis. "When the contract directs compliance with an Air Force instruction, the QAE must know that instruction. When it directs compliance with the law, environmental for example, they have to know the law. 

"There are thousands of tech orders, contractual requirement and contractor's quality control programs that the QAEs have to know," Major Davis said. "Fortunately, many of them have built up that body of knowledge over a 20-year military career." 

Major Davis' objective is to make the QAEs' lives a bit easier by establishing clear, objective standards for determining the size of award fees given to the contractor. "We have to do that for every contract function on base," he said.