Bringing in Contracting Experts to Help

I see a lot of Government organizations who don’t understand that they need Acquisition expertise, let alone Contracting expertise. It’s funny how often I hear them say later that they didn’t realize how much they needed to consider Acquisition/Contracting in their planning. I also often see people who’ve merely touched a contract in some capacity, other than Contracting Officer–usually never having worked in a Contracting office itself but maybe down the hall–being pushed forward to help the Government solve some kind of problem in the role as a “Contracting Expert.”

That MIGHT be fine if they’re showing up to talk to technical-minded folks in the Government who aren’t yet strategizing, but if there’s a “Contracting person” in the room, that expert is going to come across as an imposter and get eaten alive by an actual Contracting Officer with both experience and confidence.

I’ve been on both sides: first as a Contracting Officer with “experts” brought in to tell me what they thought I should be doing yet couldn’t define IDIQ or SBIR — and later as a Contracting SME brought in to help Contracting Officers in the trenches with a new concept or tool.

Almost always, there will be some resistance from the Government Contracting Officer, probably because of how this “help” was presented to them. Tell a Contracting Officer you’re bringing in an expert to help them because they don’t know what they’re doing or never fast enough and yes, they’ll be defensive. I know I was whenever that happened to me–and then really mad when that person could not answer any actual questions about contracting and clearly had only been contracting-adjacent and never read the regulations or statutes I had to live with.

When I was the helper brought in later in my career, I always tried to be very respectful of the Contracting personnel, and it usually took them about 45 minutes with me in person to relax and understand that I wasn’t there to tell them they were idiots or what to do but instead to brainstorm with them and give them confidence in things they hadn’t tried yet. I was there to be their secret weapon to fast-track them to something new and, many times, to defend them to the Program Office because they were doing exactly what the law required and to nudge them, if needed, in how to streamline their processes with precedents and examplars I could offer them.

But I also had the experience and knew my stuff. I came from the same kind of background and experience, and we found common ground easily. They were also usually very bright people, and it didn’t take much to fill in the gaps for them. Some of them, I would definitely have liked to have worked with long-term, but all they needed was a day or two and the ability to call me once or twice.

Contracting at this level is not something you can learn in 6 months. Or even a year or two. It’s a complex set of tools and rules, and you need the experience to know which you can break, which you can bend, and which you’re stuck with. If you’ve never pored over the FAR for hours looking for a way to justify something unusual and truly innovative or dug through case law looking for a precedent to try something risky, you don’t know what YOU’RE missing–but that Contracting Officer will know what you’re missing. They’ll roll their eyes at you the minute you leave the room, too.

I suggest:

1. If you’re bringing in experts to help your Contracting personnel, present it positively, such as “This expert used 10 USC 4023 to solve a problem similar to ours so I want her to come in and talk about her lessons learned, and you can quiz her on other options while she’s here.” (NOTE: I don’t do this anymore–don’t call me!)

2. If you’re the expert, no matter how stellar you are and how unaware your customer may or may not be, be respectful. They live with this project every day, and there may be issues with the program management team or customer that you’re not aware of–but need to uncover. Never join the technical team in beating them up, even if it seems warranted. That’s the quickest way to get a chilly reception and ears unwilling to hear anything you have to say. Oh, and the first thing you want to ask when you enter the room is “Where are the Contracting folks? I want to meet them!” because if no one in a room of 75 people represents Contracting, that’s another can of worms to be aware of and is going to tell you where some of the disconnects are.

3. If you’re the Government Contracting Officer/team, when the expert is introduced, before you ever present them with any information about your project, ask them about their experience in Contracting, particularly if they’ve ever held a warrant and the types of efforts they’ve worked on as a Contracting Officer. Not as a buyer. Not as someone in the room with a Contracting Officer. You want to know if they’re bringing actual experience to the table or just filling a position on the team sent to help your organization.

4. If you’re the organization sending in experts, for heaven’s sakes, make sure to send in the right people. Acquisition and Contracting experts aren’t interchangeable with other SME’s. Don’t lose credibility because you substitued an available person for an expert. They’re gonna know.