Contracting Officer Podcast

SlidesKnowledge & Insights From Contracting Officers

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Episode 108What is the ‘Performance Zone?’

Original Air Date: November 20, 2016 Hosts: Kevin Jans & Paul Schauer

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Formatting notes

• Hyperlinks: Blue font indicates hyperlinks – presentation must be in ‘Slide Show’ mode to activate the link

• Red bold font indicates a point of emphasis

• Green bold font indicates CO’s personal comment or perspective

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Introduction

• It’s like getting the aircraft to level off at cruising altitude…

• Awarding the contract (or winning it) is one thing

• Performing well is quite another.

• The rest of the story is what happens AFTER contract award…what happens when we leave the acquisition time zones and now it’s time to perform...

• However, the plane rarely “levels off”

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When does the Performance Zone happen?

• Acquisition Time Zones (from Podcast Episode 003)

• Requirements Zone

• Market Research Zone

• RFP Zone (proposal zone)

• Source Selection Zone

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• Execution Time Zones (from Podcast Episode 084)

• Kick Off Zone

• Performance Zone

• Re-compete Zone

• Wrap-up Zone

FAR Time

• “Contract performance” appears 35 times in the FAR• The most interesting is in FAR Part 2: Definitions under the definition of

‘acquisition’ • “Acquisition” means the acquiring by contract… by and for the use of the

Federal Government through purchase or lease…Acquisition begins at the point when agency needs are established and includes the description of requirements to satisfy agency needs, solicitation and selection of sources, award of contracts, contract financing, contract performance, contract administration, and those technical and management functions directly related to the process of fulfilling agency needs by contract.

• No wonder we all downplay it as less than glamorous. The Government buried it in the definition of “acquisition;” Performance is not even defined

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What happens in the Performance Zone?• Acquisition is over, it is time to get (or give) what was competed

• The Honeymoon is over, it’s time to get to work!

• Performance needs to be

• To the specified requirement,

• On time, AND

• On budget (whether FFP or Cost)

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What happens in the Performance Zone?• No ‘grace’ for small business. That’s a head start - Head start is over.

• No mercy after contract award

• It’s time to deliver

• Risk of perception to small businesses…

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What happens in the Performance Zone?

• From: End of “transition” (soft date)

• To: Start of “Recompete Zone” (soft date)

• NOTE: Performance Zone actually runs the LENGTH of the contract

• Relative length: should be the majority of the contract (50-80%)

• Why:

• Both sides are ready to Deliver, Deliver, Deliver (And to obligate (or collect) funds)

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What happens in the Performance Zone?

• What:

• Government wants to just turn on the switch and the light comes on

• Industry wants to make the light come on AND get paid

• MODS! So many mods!

• Oh, and maybe funding and ACRNs are a new adventure(!)

• Requirements creep… Negotiation is HUGE part of contract performance

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What happens in the Performance Zone?• Who:

• Contract Specialist, COR, and/or in theory just keeping it going

• Contract managers on industry side

• Financial reporting on cost type contracts

• Government and industry Program Managers and users are most active

• Industry Lead is running the boat “on plane”, or at least is trying to

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Why is the Performance Zone important?

• Like prospecting in sales, or like flossing in dental hygiene…contract performance matters over the long term

• Past Performance starts now... take it seriously

• “Performance leads to Past Performance”

• “Past Performance leads to the next proposal”

• “The next proposal leads the next contact”

• In other words, Performance is the bridge to the next contract.12

Why Should Government Care?

• Did we get what we expected?• Was it within budget? (or the contract price)• Was it on time?

• How do we know?• Performance Metrics?• SDSs – Service Delivery Summaries• SLAs – Service-Level Agreements

• DCMA example of how contract to admin can be very different from contract awarded

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Why Should Industry Care?

• Same reasons… plus:

• This is why the other zones exist, why the Government built requirements, why the Government released an RFP:  To buy something  

• Performance is how we get paid

• It’s how we build past performance, and prepare for future work

• It’s where we found out “for reals” if we can agree to this

• Past performance is built now!14

Requirement

Market Research

RFP

Source SelectionHoneymoon

Performance

Wrap-up

Re-Compete

Appearance

Reality

Wrap-up

Requirement

MarketResearch

RFP

Source Selection

Honeymoon

Performance

Re-Compete

Summary and Take-aways

• Stand out by focusing on performance

• Performance is the bridge to the next contract

• The goal is to be “on plane…”

• Customer satisfaction is built and maintained here

• Too many examples of winning an award but failing to perform

• Too many examples of requirements changing during performance

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Contact us

• We are on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook

• We also started the Government Contracting Network Group on Facebook. Join us there!

• Send your topics to paul@Contractingofficerpodcast.com

• For Community support, contact Shelley Hall at shelley.hall@skywayacquisition.com

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