You have won a Government contract, now what?
You have received the award letter from the Government advising that your proposal was chosen and you are the successful offeror. Congratulations! Successful contract management begins immediately after you receive the letter and the new contract for review and signature. Let’s discuss some of the steps that will help to ensure that your contract is managed successfully.
Request a Contract debrief – You should always request a debrief. The debrief request must be in writing and received from your company by the Government within 3 calendar days of receipt of the notice that you won the award. As no proposal submission is perfect, the debrief will provide an opportunity to review errors and mistakes with your submission, and will assist with creating lessons learned for future proposal submissions.
Schedule an internal kickoff meeting – An internal meeting to review the award should be scheduled ASAP. During this meeting a single POC for Contracts and the Program should be established.
Read, Review and Compare – Read the contract award in its entirety and compare your proposal submission to the contract documents to ensure critical areas such as the Statement of Work, Contract Deliverables, Period of Performance, Special Requirements, Invoicing Instructions, Contract Type, Contract Value and Funding are accurate. If any errors are found within the contract award they should be addressed with the Contracting Officer immediately in writing. (The Contract Award documents should be read and understood by Contracts, Finance, and the Program Manager at a minimum). Notes should be taken during this the internal kickoff meeting to document any questions or items for clarification which will be raised during the kickoff meeting with the customer.
Schedule an external kickoff meeting with the Customer – The kickoff meeting with the customer should be scheduled as quickly as possible to ensure that any questions or misinterpretations are addressed and to make certain that you and the customer are on the same page. Any ambiguous dates in the statement of work for contract deliverables such as “due on the 2nd Tuesday each month”, should be made as specific as possible and the interpretation of calendar days vs. business days should also be addressed to ensure that there is a firm understanding on actual due dates. During this meeting you should also establish dates for monthly or quarterly Program Management Reviews which should happen throughout the entire period of performance.
In Part II, we will discuss Program Management Reviews, Problems during Contract Performance and how they are addressed and Contract Closeout.
Constance Jackson is the owner of Jackson Contract Solutions, LLC. Constance has more than 20 years’ experience working with small and large Federal Government Contractors, and Federal Agencies providing proposal management, contract management, training and acquisition planning.