Contract Management

Winning a federal contract and running one are different disciplines. Capture is about persuasion; administration is about the record. Nearly every problem that costs a contractor money after award — an unpaid change, a Marginal performance rating, a closeout that drags for years — traces back to something that was not documented at the time it happened.

This section covers the post-award side, plus the vehicles that determine how work reaches you in the first place.

Running the contract you have

• Contract types — FFP, T&M, and the cost-plus family, and which party carries cost risk under each. This determines almost everything else about how the contract must be administered.
• Modifications and change orders — bilateral versus unilateral mods, the Changes clause, in-scope versus cardinal changes, and how to build a request for equitable adjustment that survives review.
• CPARS ratings — the performance record that follows you into every future source selection, and the narrow window in which you can influence it.
• Past performance strategy — turning completed contracts into citable, competitive references.
• Subcontracting plans — when a plan is required, how to set achievable goals, and eSRS reporting.
• Contract closeout — final invoicing, property and patent clearance, and release of claims.

Contract vehicles

Most federal work above a modest dollar value now flows through multiple-award vehicles rather than standalone competitions. Which vehicles you hold often constrains what you can bid more tightly than your capability does:

• 8(a) STARS III — GSA's 8(a) set-aside IT GWAC, with directed task order authority.
• NIH CIO-SP4 — NITAAC's IT services GWAC, with small business and unrestricted tracks.
• GSA Alliant 3 — the enterprise IT vehicle for large-scale integration and modernization.
• OASIS+ — GSA's professional services vehicle, organized by domain.
• NASA SEWP — quote-driven ordering for IT products and product-based services.

A vehicle is an option to compete, not a revenue stream. Each one you hold carries reporting obligations and requires staffed task-order pursuit capacity, so the right question before chasing an on-ramp is whether you can realistically compete for orders once you are on it.

Contract Management Resources

Key Contract Management Areas