Broadening Your Contracting Perspective: Tools, Techniques, and the Value of Networking

I’m all for leaning into your strengths and doing what you do best in Contracting and Acquisition. I don’t believe you have to be “well-rounded” and work in areas that aren’t suited to your work personality or strengths, but you do need to be open to the very real fact that there may be other ways of getting your work done that are not only legal but would be a better way for you if you knew about it.

I came into Contracting through the Copper Cap internship—three years of being rotated through different types of Contracting, including production contracts, R&D, pricing, and supplies and services at the base level. The idea was that I’d graduate from the internship with the basics I’d need to excel in any of those specialties, and I’d be “well-rounded.” I would find my strengths and discover the type of Contracting I liked and understand the challenges in each. And I did.

I also held my breath for three years because I had to sign a mobility agreement. When it came to promotions, though, employees who had worked for different agencies, even within the same city, seemed to have a leg up on those of us who never moved.

My mobility agreement was never activated, and I didn’t have babies until immediately after my internship ended because my then-spouse’s career wasn’t going to allow him to move with me. There were times after that that I was assigned, pretty much against my will, to the kind of Contracting work I despised because I was considered an asset to be placed where I was needed, something my Gen Z mentees balk at, and I envy that they do. There were local assignments I took as “career broadening,” however, and some I loved and some I didn’t. They did broaden my point of view, though.

I’m a fan of becoming familiar with all of it and then really leaning into what you love. But yeah, there’s a problem with that.

One of the areas I’ve been most able to help people over the last decade has been in showing them that there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. I’ve explored so many Contracting tools and techniques that I’ve been able to show others a precedent for, as well as show them the pitfalls you don’t find written in the FAR or any official guides.

The most common thing I hear, initially, is that “we’ve never done it that way,” which somehow translates to “so it can’t be done that way.” I have talked to Contracting Officers who swore they couldn’t use a particular authority because they didn’t have the right color of money when the authority didn’t dictate specific funding and the funding they had was a perfect fit for fiscal law. Why did they believe this? Because they’d seen only one kind of funding in all their previous adventures with that authority. I’ve given this example to other Contracting Officers who responded with, “What?! You can use R&D funding? I’ve only ever seen O&M used for that!”

I’ve had a Competition Advocate insist that J&As were required for something being bought under a particular statutory authority they had zero experience with—because they had zero experience with it and had no idea that a simple D&F would suffice and is the leading practice. Then again, that’s what happens when someone gets to that level within the organization’s leadership and has never done anything “unusual” or “innovative.”

I’ve talked with Contracting Officers with decades of experience, top of their game, but insistent that they had to make a contracting process look a particular way because that’s the only way they’d ever seen it within their organization, even though most other organizations use different, faster, easier methods.

All the experience in the same organization, same location reinforces the “only one way” mentality. Yes, the very thing I needed—the ability to not have to choose between pursuing my career and having a relationship and family—can be a hindrance to trying new things because we stick with those devils we know.

The best way to combat the “only one way” mentality?

1. Professional social media (like LinkedIn) and online forums where other Contracting Officers across many, many organizations share what they do or ask for feedback from others currently or previously in Contracting. Even just lurking can give you an awareness of what’s going on outside your silo.

2. Curated forums or groups that meet monthly or quarterly to discuss either wins or consternation in a particular area, such as Other Transactions or Commercial Solutions Openings. I usually see these within a particular larger organization across multiple geographic locations, but the ones that invite Contracting Officers and Agreements Officers from other agencies bring a much broader perspective.

3. Access to Contracting experts who can talk about their experiences in a particular situation or with a particular Contracting technique or look at how you’re using a Contracting strategy to suggest, politely, other paths available to you that you haven’t considered. These can be accessed through FFRDCs, for example. I’ve also seen CRDAs used to get feedback from altruistic experts at zero cost.

These three ways can be valuable to you as an individual or as an organization. For #1, anyone can observe or participate through social media and online forums, but you’ll probably need organizational leadership to help you develop curated forums or gatherings in #2 and to secure an expert through a contract or agreement under #3. The one thing they all have in common, though, is that collaborating and networking with other Contracting Officers is always going to be a win, either in learning how to do something different or in learning where the pitfalls are.

#acquisition #contracting #procurement #contractingofficers #1102