BGMT 339: Introduction to Federal Acquisition - Assignment 1: Scenario Essay: Option 2

Assignment 1: Scenario Essay (20%)

You have two topics from which you may choose. You must choose only one topic and respond to the situation making your recommendations to the scenario.

Please note that there is no single answer to this scenario, but you should keep your focus on procurement issues in your response.

APA Standards

Students are responsible for APA only for in-text citations and a reference list. Therefore, students will follow the instructions as stated below

BGMT 339: Introduction to Federal Acquisition - Assignment 1: Scenario Essay: Option 2

University of Maryland Global Campus

Assignment 1: Scenario Essay: Option 2

Every contact given to the contract has set rules and regulations to be followed to the Katter ding the execution of the contract. The contractor should be in constant agreement and compliance with the contract sighed for the contract to be a success. Also, they have to show competence and constant communication and agreement with the contract agencies in charge of the contract to ensure their contract is executed in the expected way or the success expected. In this case, the contracting offer must ensure there is a smooth running of the activities and processes for the contract to be fulfilled and the expected outcome to be reached. All activities including delivery, supply, invoices, and other relevant communication need to be handled with care and seriousness during the agreement something that Easy Corp has failed to honor on its need. This calls for the contracting officer representative to step up and make amends before it's late and ensure the contract runs as agreed upon between the customer and the Easy Corp.

The first challenge noticed is the late submission of the management reports and worse is they are always incomplete. This is the kind of error that the contract manager should not show or do during the contract period. This shows his incompetence and leads to a lack of trust and confidence in the contractor from the customer. It is also a sign of unprofessionalism that might cost the government a lot of money. An invoice is one of the key financial statements that should be keenly handled and addressed during this time. Having complete invoices will help in the proper calculation of the project funds, planning, and resources management like the needed supplies (Gurdeep, 2020). When the contracting manager fails to address this, it poses a challenge for the contracting officer representatives and the teams to make proper arrangements of what is needed during the project. If the invoices keep being submitted late and with errors, there will be a great error in the budgeting and resource management during the contract period and thus cost the effective results of the project. It might also pose a threat to fraud and embezzlement which also will lead to bridging the contract terms and conditions agreed upon and set. With this, there will be a loss of trust and the project might not be completed on time which can also lead to contract nullification.

The late billing will cause a challenge in the schedule of the contract. When the reports are billed late and with the error, the schedule will be disrupted as they have to be redone. And this will also affect the reputation that Easy Corp has already established on their professionalism and work ethics. The contract manager makes it also worse when they are never seen by the employees and the COR. This makes it hard for proper communication to change the errors within the reports and also proper guidance to employees on where to correct or what to do next. Employees lack proper management that would organize, plan for their tasks, allocate the tasks, and evaluate their performance to ensure their efficiency and competence at work. This challenge might also demoralize the employees and make them lose their morale and competence at work. This will cause proper challenges in time management which will lead to the project taking longer than it was expected due to delays caused by poor communication as a result of the manager's unavailability. The ethical customer service in which Easy Corp has been known is damaged as the manager has shown poor customer service with their actions. This can also attract a penalty to the contractor as it violates the contracting requirements under the Penalties for unallowable costs that may arise from late invoices (FAR 42, 2021).

The issues faced at the start of his contract can be termed as a red flag on the hardships the contract might face between the customer and Easy Corp. this challenge can either be solved this early or prolonged and cause further damage to the contract in the future. As for the project, some things need to be done to ensure the two parties involved in the contract do not suffer. The USG needs to ensure they get their results as expected and agreed on in the contract. On the other hand, Easy corps needs to ensure they fulfill the contract according to the agreement. The project manager must start by solving the challenge at hand.

The first challenge is handling the manager. The manager has already shown competence in managing the contract not just affecting the customer, but also the employee and the company as a whole. Calling the meeting with the company CEO, they can find a way of replacing the contract manager to ensure another competent individual is made in charge of the contract to help ease the challenges. With the replacement, the project manager has to set new demands for the responsibility of the manager to ensure they bring on board someone who is with great management skills and is always available for the employees and the COR in case, his presence and consultation is needed on the project progress.

After proposing a new manager and their ability to be available, the project manager should also ensure the new contract manager is competent.

Through this, he can propose the evaluation of the manager in terms of their ability to make and manager reports on timely manger especially the invoices. The company should also know the challenges with the late and incomplete invoices with late billing. This challenge is addressed by the skills, experience, and knowledge of the manager will also save time. It will also restore the trust in the contractor in meeting the contract demands and needs. The new manager should be able to properly guide the employees, mentor them, direct them, organize them and also properly plan their schedules and allocate tasks. Understanding this would ensure employee efficiency and also smooth flow of the project process and activities (FAR 42, 2021).

Another recommendation would be ensuring proper communication channels and means are established during the project. This is both ways from manager to COR and back as well as from manager to employees and back. Giving communication and feedback will properly ensure that the project is handled efficiently and changes are made easily along the way to improve the quality of the outcome. This will also restore the professionalism and customer service ethics of the Easy Cop Company. It will also improve the relationship between the contractor and the contracting agency to ensure they work well for effective results.

The contracting officer should also ensure that the new project manager ensures they are following the contract agreement to the latter. This will lead to proper results between the two parties with either having a proposal. The contracting officer should also be careful when bargaining on the rewards and incentives for the contractor as they have to capture all the challenges witnessed during their contract period with Easy Corp. the performance should be well captured in the contract performance Assessment documents and this would be useful during the reward period. He also has to keep the records for any penalties that may arise due to incorrect and incomplete invoices submitted late (FAR 42, 2021).

In conclusion, contract execution is a process that needs both parties; the customer and the contractor to work hand in hand to ensure is successful. The Easy Corp Company's contract manager has violated the basic principles of the contract and this indeed will cost the company their reputation if not ell addressed and also their change of standing an award for the best control performance as their performance is already tarnished. The project manager together with eth company CEO needs to address the challenge for the contract to run within the specified time and expected way. The COR also needs to be prepared to give a proper performance assessment of the company and the project execution process as a whole.

References

Acquisition. Gov. (2021). FAR Part 42: Contract Administration and Audit Services. https://www.acquisition.gov/far/part-42

Gurdeep K. (2020). How Important Is Invoice Management System In Your Business? jiPanel. https://jipanel.com/blog/72/how-important-is-invoice-management-system-in-your-business