BBA 4326 Unit VIII Assessment

BBA 4326 Unit VIII Assessment

QUESTION 1

Two of the steps in creating a world-class contracting organization are to hire, train, and retain outstanding contract management talent and to provide customized contract management training to achieve professional certification. Is this repetitive? If a company hires world-class contract management talent, does it also need to provide additional contract management training?

With the countless number of buying and selling transactions occurring via contract every day within business, it is essential for every organization to have a well trained, educated, certified, efficient, and cost-effective contract management staff on hand. Step number one within creating a world class contracting organization is to hire, train, and retain world-class contract management talent (Garrett, 2015). The goal within this step is to hopefully hire “well educated, highly trained, and properly motivated people who provide expert knowledge and skills to facilitate the legal, ethical, efficient, and compliant transaction of products, systems, professional services, and integrated solutions between buyers and sellers” (Garrett, 2015, p. 289). While it is important to hire individuals with past experience in carrying out each of these aspects, for contract management professionals, continuous learning cannot be understated. Training can become repetitive in nature as people will come and go and laws or procedures will change. It is critical for these professionals to stay well informed of new laws, regulations, technologies, products, and services that may have an impact on their respective area of business responsibilities. Providing appropriate and timely training to contract management personnel is key to both their success and the success of the organization and is also often directly linked to their retention within the organization (Garrett, 2015).

“Most contract management personnel require advanced and customized training for their unique industry, especially for those involved in highly complex and regulated U.S. Federal Government Contracts and related subcontracts,” (Garrett, 2015, p. 294) and this is where step number five comes into play. While hiring individuals with professional education, training, and certification is extremely important, these aspects alone are not enough. Having knowledge is helpful, but being able to apply this knowledge via demonstrated skills within real-world circumstances is the overall goal. Therefore, “contract management education, training, certification, continual learning, and performance assessments must all occur within an organization in order to optimize contract management performance results” (Garrett, 2015, p. 296).

Reference:

Garrett, G. A. (2015). World class contracting (6th ed.). Riverwoods, IL: CCH.

QUESTION 2

How do joint ventures and limited liability companies differ in the context of contractor teaming agreements for government contracts?

Joint Ventures represent a form of limited purpose partnership agreement where each party involved is jointly and severally liable to both the customer and to third parties. A Limited Liability Company, or LLC, is a form of business that provides the owner(s) of the organization with the limited financial liability afforded to corporations with the tax advantages of a partnership. From a government perspective, joint ventures allow the government to secure the desired resources of two or more firms simultaneously in order to perform the work they require, and may even result in the government obtaining the work for a lower price. However, joint ventures may be viewed as lacking a clear and concise point of contact for matters related to the agreement, in return creating issues pertaining to who is really in charge and who has the authority to make decisions to ensure that work is properly performed (Garrett, 2015). On the other hand, the “LLC is considered by both buyers and subcontractors to be a positive teaming arrangement, because the owners of the LLC share the same liability to customers and third parties as do shareholders in a major corporations” (Garrett, 2015, p. 264). Unfortunately, the structure within an LLC can lead to division among owners, which can lead to delays within critical decision-making processes. Additionally, the government can become confused as to who is in charge when there are multiple owners and may face difficulty in conducting evaluations on past performance of individual parties within the LLC after its initial formation (Garrett, 2015).

Reference:

Garrett, G. A. (2015). World class contracting (6th ed.). Riverwoods, IL: CCH.

QUESTION 3

In Step 2 of creating a world-class contracting organization, what is the difference between a top-down organization contract management capability assessment and a bottom-up individual contract management knowledge assessment?

Step number two within creating a world class contracting organization is to conduct a comprehensive contract management assessment. Buying and/or selling products, services, and solutions brings a specific set of challenges that requires a comprehensive approach to both managing the contracting organization itself and the related contracting workforce. With this is mind, it is essential to conduct both a top-down organizational Contract-Management capabilities assessment and a bottoms-up individual contract management knowledge assessment. The top-down assessment enables organizations to evaluate and benchmark their respective contract management performance through the use of tools such as the Contract Management Maturity Model (CMMM) and the Contract Management Maturity Assessment Tool (CMMAT). The results of the top-down organizational assessment provide organizational leadership with valuable knowledge and data that can be used for actionable, targeted, process improvements. The bottom-up individual contract management knowledge assessment utilizes tools such as the CMMM, CMMAT, and the Individual Contract Assessment Tool (iCAT) and allows organizations leaders to quickly, cost-effectively, and objectively assess both individual and organizational knowledge an performance gaps. Once these gaps are identified within the assessment, leadership is then able to affect change by focusing on those specific initiatives which include new policies, procedures, process changes, training, and targeted coaching to name a few (Garrett, 2015).

Reference:

Garrett, G. A. (2015). World class contracting (6th ed.). Riverwoods, IL: CCH.

QUESTION 4

What is one of the biggest challenges contractors and subcontractors face when performing contracts with the U.S. government?

According to Garrett (2015), due to the fact that the U.S. federal government is a very demanding entity, serving as a federal government contractor is not an easy business to operate within. Reasons for this include the fact that contractors generally are tasked with selecting and managing multiple subcontractors, and that contractors must also comply with countless laws, regulations, policies, standards, specifications, and also face a growing number of government audits, reviews and investigations. “One of the biggest challenges government prime contractors and subcontractors encounter is that U.S. federal government agencies do not always know what they want, when they need it, and/or how many they will need” (Garrett, 2015, p. 275). An essential element to creating a cost effective and efficient supply chain is knowing how much of a particular product or service a customer will want and when they need to have it. For many known and unknown reasons however, the U.S. government does a poor job of supplying this information, in turn creating much frustration among contractors. Contractors are forced to deal with constant changes related to quantity, quality, and delivery schedule (Garrett, 2015).

Reference:

Garrett, G. A. (2015). World class contracting (6th ed.). Riverwoods, IL: CCH.