Contract receipt, review and distribution to the right parties immediately after award is critical but sometimes overlooked. You don’t want your finance folks hearing of the contract award several weeks invoicing the government should have occurred. Similarly, you want your finance folks tracking the internal contract budget against actuals and contract pricing very early in the game.
There is another piece to compliance that is equally important - preparing a Contract Monitoring Plan against all reporting and deliverables in the contract. Not doing so can result in your company receiving undesirable performance ratings at the end of the contract period. Speaking of that, it’s always a good idea to obtain quarterly feedback from your customer to gauge how you’re performing. I always strive for Excellent performance ratings for my clients. Asking quarterly helps you achieve that goal.
Another critical piece is complying with Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) requirements. Almost every contract over $250,000 has over 60 clauses that require company action, some within the first 30 days.
Lastly, contract closeout is the final step in the process. FAR 4.804 provides excellent guidance on the contract closeout. The challenge I leave you with is this. How organized, comprehensive and systematic is your company contract compliance process? Feel free to contact me via www.benglishsolutions.com for templates for Contract Performance Monitoring Plans, Quarterly Customer Feedback or Contract Closeout.
Barbara English, President English Solutions Inc.
By Barbara English, President
Contract compliance is more than performing services or manufacturing products. It is ensuring your company meets all requirements on its contract. Let me give you a few examples. Your contract may require a quality control plan within the first ten days of the contract. Another example might be reporting of executive compensation.
To ensure you are compliant in all aspects of your contract, establish a Contract Compliance process in your company. Here is a flowchart of the process I use with my clients.
www.wipp.org