There are three types of COR
certification standards:
Type A: fixed price, low performance risk requirements.
Type B: other than fixed price, low
performance risk requirements.
dards for COR certification and
the different types of COR (A, B,
and C) courses. This subsequently
resulted in many CORs attending
courses that did not fully certify
and prepare them to monitor and
provide contract oversight of com-
Army leaders must embrace OCS and ensure that the
COR puts forth the appropriate energy and effort to the
mission.
Type C: unique requirements that
necessitate a professional license,
higher education, or specialized
training.
Each COR level requires a different menu of courses (online
and resident) to meet certification
standards. The COR certification
standards identify technical competencies, experience, and minimum
training needed for successful performance as a COR.
During R–CAAT leader interview sessions, most unit leaders indicated they were not fully
aware of the DOD and DA stan-
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During my tenure as a COR, I
recommended level I and level II
CARs. A level I CAR was issued for
infractions or violations that could
be corrected on the spot, and level II
CARs were recommended for infractions that required a more detailed
and extensive corrective action plan
from the contractor. Although I did
not recommend one during my tenure, a level III CAR can be issued for
the most egregious violations of the
PWS.
The CAR is an administrative action initiated by the COR and vetted
by the contracting officer or ACO,
the Defense Contract Management
Agency representative for the con30 Army Sustainment
plex contracts.
In addition to observations and
insights regarding the levels of
COR training, there are a few more
institutional COR training-related
OILs. All leaders need COR familiarization or awareness training. It should be integrated into
professional military education for
officers, warrant officers, and noncommissioned officers.
COR training must focus on the
Quality Assurance and Surveillance Program, performance work
statement development, COR audit, corrective action reporting, and
corrective action plan development.
tract, and the contractor. If the infraction cited in the CAR is validated, the CAR is officially issued to
the contractor. The contractor then
develops a corrective action plan to
correct the deficiency and mitigate
future infractions.
Remediation and Audits
The other CORs and I addressed
minor issues with contractor performance through the contractors’
management team for immediate
remediation. Knowing and using the
contractors’ management team afforded us a less punitive tool to deal
with minor contractor performance
issues. Over time, the process worked
well and fostered a partnership with
the mutual understanding that pre-
Operational Training
The Army Contracting Command,
through the Expeditionary Contracting Command and its contracting
support brigades, established additional COR courses in theater to
provide training to meet theater-specific contract support oversight requirements. One of the key lessons is
that to be effective and theater specific, COR training must be geared
to operations and tailored to meet
the anticipated duty description of
the COR within a particular theater—not conducted using a cookiecutter approach.
Customized Army Contracting
Command contingency contracting training, conducted by a contracting support brigade mobile
training team, was instrumental
in certifying CORs and preparing
a unit to assume significant hostnation trucking contract management missions.
Materiel
The DOD and DA developed and
implemented several tools to aid requiring activities and CORs in performing duties and responsibilities. In
March 2011, the DOD directed the
serving government resources and
accomplishing the assigned mission
were the top priorities.
We used regular COR audits as a
key formal process to systematically verify contractor performance. In
addition, we conducted continuous
informal contract surveillance, which
provided additional opportunities to
verify that the performance metrics
outlined in the PWS were being met.
Army War Reserve Deployment System
I had to learn and understand the
functionalities of the information
systems that the contractors used
to execute their contractual requirements to effectively perform my
COR duties. The Army War Reserve
Deployment System (AWRDS) was