Contract Specialist 101
Federal Contract Specialists play a crucial role in the federal government’s procurement process. It is their job to create and manage contracts that the government enters into with private companies. Contract Specialists are a part of the United States’ Acquisition System, which refers to the processes and systems that the government uses to acquire the supplies and services it needs. In order to carry out their duties, Contract Specialists are responsible for a variety of tasks, such as gathering information about companies, drafting Federal Acquisition Regulations (FARs), and determining which type of contract is best for a particular situation. Contract Specialists must be trained in the field , as they must know all of the rules pertaining to contracts and how to enforce them with regards to both the government and the private companies with which the government contracts.
A Federal Contract Specialist must also have an understanding of the needs of the government when it comes to particular goods and services. In contracting for the United States, they must be able to identify the best companies to meet the contracting needs of the government and help to ensure that the work is done in a timely and cost-efficient manner. Contract Specialists must be familiar with the specific niches of contracting that the government is involved in, ranging from rare goods to complicated services.
Essential Roles and Responsibilities
The day-to-day duties of a contract specialist can vary depending on the specific role held and the industry in which the individual works. Generally, the primary responsibilities of a government contract specialist include the following:
Preparation of Proposals
Contract specialists are responsible for preparing proposals for government contracts. They must be familiar with the rules and policies that guide the government’s purchasing practices, as well as the specifications and requirements of specific contracts. The contract specialist will review and analyze information generated during this process to determine the strategies to be implemented in order to win the contract.
Negotiation
Contract specialists are responsible for negotiating the terms of contracts entered into with suppliers and vendors. In addition to negotiating schedule and price, this process requires the individual to bargain for the assurance that the supplier will conform to the terms and conditions of availability, quality and technical assistance. It is also necessary that the contract specialist place emphasis in the negotiations on strategizing ways to minimize costs. Contract specialists also may participate on behalf of their agency in the negotiation of awards between contractors and other agencies.
Relationship Maintenance
Once a contract has been entered into, the contract specialist must maintain relationships with the suppliers and vendors to whom contracts have been awarded. This includes coordinating and communicating with the different agencies in order to ensure that contract requirements are being met.
Necessary Qualifications and Competencies
A contract specialist in the federal government is required to have at least a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with a minimum of 24 semester hours in business, accounting, finance, economics or related fields. Post undergrad work can count as both upper level undergraduate and graduate courses. Another way to meet this requirement is a master’s degree in management, business, public administration, business administration, industrial management, marketing, accounting, law, or industrial engineering. The Federal Acquisition Institute accepts four years of qualifying experience in lieu of the bachelors degree. This experience can be a combination of professional, internship, and/or additional study in fields identifiable with the field of contracting. This experience must include one year at the GS-11 or equivalent level. Experience in the field of procurement, business, business management, contracting or purchasing is a plus.
While a bachelor’s degree is the minimum requirement for a contract specialist in the federal government, contracts specialist must also obtain and maintain a level III certification through the Federal Acquisition Institute. Other training requirements include 24 continuous learning points every two years. Continuous learning activities include attending workshops, conventions, training, etc.
Key skills for a contract specialist in the federal government include attention to detail; negotiation capabilities; strong analytic skills; effective written and verbal communication; experience in procurement rules and practices; ability to explore creative solutions; interpersonal and relationship building abilities; use of tact; and superior problem solving capabilities.
Career Path and Prospects
The usual career route for a contract specialist is to move up within the GSA’s hierarchical structure. GS levels start at 1 and typically move up to 15, with 15 being the highest. The levels are determined by things like pay scale and complexity of duties. Within the position of contract specialist, you can have different levels like GS-11, GS-12, GS-13, GS-14, etc. A contract specialist usually enters at a lower GS level then can be promoted as they gain more training and experience. The GS levels cannot increase more than one level in a year.
To advance up the GS scale as a contract specialist, you need the following: 1) at least one year of experience at the next higher grade; 2) meet the specific educational requirements for the GS level; and 3) go through the required promotion procedures that your agency has to promote employees.
For a contract specialist, this means being promoted to GS-12 several times and then to GS-13, GS-14 and ultimately GS-15, the highest one can go within this position. It is important to know that there are several levels of GS and the higher one moves up the ladder there is more responsibility, including more management, supervision and guidance over junior level specialists. Working as a contract specialist is a timing sensitive occupation that requires a great deal of experience and training.
There are other options for contract specialists as they advance up the GSA scale. You can qualify for lateral moves into other occupations. For example, an experienced 1102 employee can lateral into anything from an 1105 to an 0510 to an 0801. But in order to lateral, you’ve got to satisfy the minimum qualifications and the posting requirements.
There is also vertical movement available. This means moving into management where there are GS-14 and GS-15 positions.
Challenges in the Life of a Contract Specialist
Contract specialists, particularly those employed by the executive branch of the federal government (hereinafter referred to simply as "contract specialists"), are confronted daily with a complex and often contradictory set of rules and regulations. The Contracting Officer’s (CO) Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), FAR supplements (Department of Defense FAR Supplement (DFARS), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acquisition Regulation (HSAR), etc.), Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA), Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS), Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), etc. all must be continuously navigated when performing the myriad of duties entailed in contract administration. Combined with widely varying and sometimes contradictory agency-wide guidance evolving from the tender career path, these edicts can be mind-boggling. Those individuals that master this regulatory web, the follow-on deadlines, deliverables, and responsibilities for the particular commodity line managed, and every other nuance associated with their job become integral members of the CO’s contract administration team. However, becoming a valuable member of that team with a long career ahead, requires more than an encyclopedic knowledge of the regulations . Contract specialists are also faced with the continuous need to think strategically about the contracts they administer. They must analyze, digest, and evaluate complex interplays between the regulations, past performance, best practices, and the impact of the government’s actions upon future procurements of the same commodity. To put it in layman’s terms, contract specialists understand that to become a reliable source of information for the CO, they have to assimilate great amounts of diverse data and give them a coherent context that the CO can rely upon in evaluating the risks both being presented and avoided whenever a decision is required. Furthermore, the CO’s due diligence requirements require the contract specialist be prepared to fully support their conclusions for Conference, Audit, Congressional testimony, and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Similarly, contract specialists are often called upon to explain complex situations and past decisions to public officials, Congressmen and Senators, the government and even the press, all whilst maintaining confidentiality when required by regulation and the FAR. In short, contract specialists must be master administrators of their contract line, shrewd tacticians for the CO, and capable spokesmen who answer for the organization.
Contract Specialist Influence on Government Operations and Performance
Within the context of operations, Contract Specialists are responsible for the execution of producing the products and services necessary to accomplish the agency mission. Getting what the government has purchased or provided in a timely manner is just as important as making the purchase in the first place. If the agency has made sure that the money is available for the necessary procurement but does not have in place an appropriate contract specialist to carry out the actual work of either acquiring or acquiring the outsourcing of the necessary products and services to accomplish that agency’s mission, the failure is just as complete as if there was no budget at all.
To understand the impact of the absence of a contract specialist, it is necessary to use an analogy from the private sector-that of a contractor or builder engaged to perform a task. The client (the government) requires the contractor (the contract specialist) to deliver certain products and services. When the federal agency fails to document its requirements and specify budgetary authority for the contract specialist, the result will be ineffective and inefficient execution of the agency’s mission.
The Future of Contract Specialists
The future of the federal government contracting field is poised for significant evolution, as technologies rapidly change and spending priorities shift in response to economic, political, and social developments. The field has already seen a marked trend toward digitalization and automation, making the role of a Contract Specialist more crucial than ever.
As more contracts are awarded to technology companies, whose intangible assets are easier to quantify than physical "stuff," the emphasis on proper contract documentation will increase. With less focus on collective inputs such as hours worked or units produced, the demands on Contract Specialists will shift from monitoring behind-the-scenes compliance and enforcement to being directly involved in negotiating the terms of contracts. A proactive, hands-on approach will ensure that contracts meet the changing needs of federal clients, while improving agencies’ ability to provide whatever oversight on which they believes is necessary.
Government spending priorities point toward a greater reliance on contractors with specialized expertise in particular fields. This indicates that the number of contracts awarded to sole proprietorships will grow significantly, making it harder than ever for Contract Specialists in large agencies to keep track of them. The prediction is that these contracts will, over time, tend toward one of two extremes: either going to solo companies with a rare combination of knowledge, skills and experience, or to larger firms with lots of skilled workers to handle the workload. From a compliance perspective, this will put pressure on large firms, because tracking compliance issues at a big company is much harder than doing the same at a smaller one. Regulations require that large firms have a Compliance Program in place , preferably with some carefully vetted ethical training programs for those who are in charge of implementing and monitoring that program. Likewise, Contracts Specialists and Compliance Officers will increasingly share the work of monitoring compliance at larger firms, which ensures that those larger companies will be fully accountable for what they do. With that said, smaller companies will be easier to deal with and the work easier to review.
The growth of the gig economy also plays into this. Many senior Contract Specialists are likely to leave their career tracks and enter consulting. We expect to see more companies providing compliance advice and consulting services, and this will have a major impact on the quality and nature of services provided by outside consultants. Any agency that chooses to heavily rely on external consultants is likely to find itself subject to greater scrutiny by OIG offices and GAO, because of the flexibility those contractors can offer. We also expect to see younger contract specialists and other employees move in and out of the federal sector, as they make use of the internet and other tools to select which tools impact their careers. That may reduce the productivity of the staff, since that staff will have a number of different roles over their careers. In addition, contracting regulations get more complex all the time, making it hard for an employer to bring anyone up to speed. All of these factors point to a shift in favor of "high maintenance" contract specialists, with the emphasis on building relationships and acting as consultants and advisors to the agencies for which they work. This reduces the government’s reliance on contractual controls to monitor a company’s adherence to its contractual obligations.