Reference: DAR 1-201.3

'Contracting Officer' means any person who, either by virtue of his position or by appointment in accordance with procedures prescribed by this Regulation, is currently a contracting officer with the authority to enter into and administer contracts and make determinations and findings with respect thereto, or with any part of such authority. The term also includes the authorized representative of the contracting officer acting within the limits of his authority. ...

Contracting Officers can be a variety of persons who "enter into contracts" and "administer contracts". Contracting Officers could have been temporary and made by appointment or permanent by virtue of position. The courts have historically determined whether a position includes Contracting Officer authority or whether an individual has been authorized in some way as a Contracting Officer.

A typical United States contract form is shown here for the benefit of those who have never seen a contract before, including Personnel Management, Judge Advocates, Management Examiners, Civil Litigators, Federal Judges, Congresspersons and riveters. Notice where the parties to the contract sign the contract. The contract was then signed by the United States and not the Government of the United States. The United States used personal and independent judgment from contract formation through contract completion instead of following orders by the government or anybody else. The signature was not the mark of a bird.

The United States contracts for aircraft are varied and depend on the contract form, specifications and schedule. The contracts can possibly be for engineering effort according to the specifications and for delivering the drawings to the United States. The contracts can possibly be for manufacturing effort according to the drawings and for delivering the aircraft to the United States. Most contracts for aircraft are a combination of those manufacturing and engineering efforts in diverse proportions.

The contract requirements state the objective and the contractor works to reach that objective for the contract price. The objectives for an aircraft contract in production are primarily to deliver the aircraft in accordance with the contract drawings and to complete all of the additional tasks included in the contract within the stated conditions.

The United States is mostly concerned with drafting a contract and maintaining a contract to meet the needs of the United States and with ultimately obtaining the needed items. That is the business of the contracting officer. The contractor is mostly concerned with performing the work required by the contract and getting paid for completing the work. That is the business of the corporation working under contract.

The contractor performs work that must be planned to satisfy the contract requirements. The contractor must decide on the manner to be used for performing under the contract and those decisions can easily make or break a corporation. The contractor must decide on the use of tools, processes, plant and equipment to perform the work and make or buy those resources. The contractor must also acquire the labor and materials required to finally manufacture and deliver the aircraft. Each and every contract varies in the contracting approach to achieving the goals and the contractor also approaches the work in a new way under each and every contract.

The work performed to completion under a contract finally results in the contracting officer making payment for that work at the contract price. The work performed under contract is clearly the contractors business and the final results are the business of the contracting officer. That is a fine line that must be observed and where the government frequently crosses without authority. The conduct of the government is also the business of the contracting officer when that conduct influences contract performance.

The balancing of contractor costs and contract price yields the final profit or loss. The final profit or loss is very important to the corporation yet not important to the contracting officer. The profit or loss can be seen to depend on the decisions made by the contractor in the manner of conducting the work and in actually working. These are commonly known as ingenuity, efficiency and ultimate effectiveness.

The business of the contracting officer is to mind the business of the United States. There are many complications involved with manufacturing aircraft under contract of interest to the contracting officer beyond this simplified description. For example, technical performance could be difficult or impossible to verify in the final product and so process controls during manufacturing are specified. Also, the schedule can involve numerous products and services manufactured and performed sequentially and concurrently producing many partial packages before the work is completed. And then the appropriations and the contract control the nature and amount of activities paid for under a contract. In reality, the work does not always proceed according to the contract requirements or the requirements can change. The questions of engineering changes, defects, repairs and blemishes are numerous. The questions of pricing for those changes are also numerous. The problems of delays, failure to deliver and claims under a contract can also appear. The acquisition of tools and equipment under contract and disposition of material paid for under a contract can also become significant. These are all the business of the contracting officer and can become a large effort for large contracts. Of course, there are many more interests of the contracting officer than the few described here and they are also the business of the contracting officer.

signed:     Jesse Don Hickson III    ,
Contracting Officer
United States of America