Rule of the Road
Write a two to three (2-3) page paper in which you:
- Analyze how the federal act supports and favors your business over large multinational
organizations that build aircrafts (e.g., Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation). - Create an organizational chart that would best support working within the federal contracting
system and explain the value of each position (i.e., internal contracting officer) to your proposed
business.
- Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do
not qualify as quality resources.
Rule of the Road
The American government is the world’s biggest purchaser of services and products.
Purchases by civilian and military installations total almost $500 billion annually (Johns,
2015). Small firms countrywide can and need to make the most of contracting opportunities
since such opportunities could actually be an essential revenue source that would help them
RULE OF THE ROAD 2
in growing, innovating and creating employment opportunities. This paper provides an
exhaustive analysis of how the federal act supports and favours the small business over big
multinational corporations such as Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation which build aircrafts. In
addition, an organizational chart is developed which would best support working within the
federal contracting system and the value of each position to my proposed business is
explained.
Federal agencies by law are required to formulate goals of contracting in such a way
that 23 percent of all government purchases are procured from small businesses.
Additionally, there are contract goals established for small disadvantaged businesses,
businesses owned by women, companies owned by disabled veterans and businesses situated
in HUBZones. These government-wide goals are 5 percent, 5 percent, 3 percent and 3 percent
respectively although they are at times not attained (Government Contracts USA, 2015).
They are vital since federal agencies have a constitutional duty of reaching out and
considering small firms for procurement opportunities. As such, it is up to the small business
owners to market and match their business services and products to the federal agencies’
buying needs (Government Contracts USA, 2015).
Small business contracting is a top priority for President Obama. The President
established an inter-agency taskforce that came up with suggestions for increasing small
business contracting. Moreover, he signed the Small Business Jobs Act that increases the
access of small business to contracting opportunities and levels the playing field (Johns,
2015). It is notable that these initiatives have really made a major difference. Within the last 2
years alone, the number of contracts which have gone to small firms has increased steadily.
In 2014, nearly 23% of all federal contracting funds went to small companies (Johns, 2015).
RULE OF THE ROAD 3
The Office of Government Contracting has the function of creating an environment
for full participation by women-owned, disadvantaged, and small firms in federal government
contract awards. The Office of Government Contracting advocates for small businesses in the
federal procurement (U.S. Small Business Administration, 2015). The mission of U.S. Small
Business Administration (SBA) is to promote and stimulate economic development by way
of providing help to new firms to get started and established businesses to expand and grow.
The SBA could help small firms overcome significant barriers which they typically encounter
when they try to win federal contracts. This is because the U.S. Small Business
Administration works directly with other federal agencies and America’s major federal
contractors to make sure that small firms actually get a fair share of subcontracts and
contracts of the federal government (Government Contracts USA, 2015).
Organizational chart
There are various responsibilities and roles within the federal government as regards federal
contracts.
Internal Contracting Officer (CO): individual who is in charge of negotiating or
directing changes to Period of Performance, Statement of Work, delivery schedule, among
others. The value of this federal government employee to my proposed small business is that
he/she will authorize reimbursement of costs, that is, he or she is in charge of approving
Contracting Officer
Contracting Officer’s
Representative
Inspector Contracting Specialist
RULE OF THE ROAD 4
invoices. On the whole, a Contracting Officer has the role of awarding and administering the
contract to my proposed business. The individual also has the role of terminating contracts,
delivery orders, purchase orders, task orders and modifications. They also have role of
obligating federal finances, and make findings as well as determinations. All these roles are
subject to the Contracting Officer’s Certificate of Appointment (Federal Acquisition Institute,
2014).
Contracting Specialist (CS): with approval of the Contracting Officer, the person
holding this role carries out procedural steps. The value of this federal government official to
my proposed business is that he or she will carry out pre-award functions: the individual
plans the acquisition strategy and prepares solicitation documentation. The individual will
also perform contract award functions: this individual evaluates responses, negotiates terms
of the contract, and prepares award documentation. He or she will also perform post-award
functions: the individual modifies contracts, monitors performance of the contract, and closes
out contracts (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2015).
Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR): the individual in this role performs
specific contract management duties pertaining to technical oversight as well as
administration of a given contract. The value of this individual to my proposed business is
that he or she monitors technical progress. He or she also recommends changes in
requirements to the CO. The COR will ensure that as a contractor, my small business actually
meets the commitments of the contract. The federal employees in this role are typically the
first ones to know when a given contract or program is underperforming (Federal Acquisition
Institute, 2014).
Inspector: the person in this role has value to my small business since he/she has
limited quality assurance responsibility of: determining whether supplies of my small
RULE OF THE ROAD 5
business comply with the legal requirements and requirements of the contract; preparing
correspondence, and reports of investigations or inspections; and making necessary
suggestions for legal or administrative authorities. He or she also has the role of examining
and testing the services or manufactured supplies of the contractor, including intermediate
assemblies, components as well as raw materials. The inspector also inspects materials and
equipment owned by the government which are in the contractor’s – my small business –
hands in order to prevent irregularities such as theft, damage and waste (Federal Acquisition
Institute, 2014).
References
Federal Acquisition Institute. (2014). Contracting Officer’s Representative. FAI.
Government Contracts USA. (2015). Federal contract opportunities for your business.
