Defense Contract Management

Every project, to some extent, involves the outsourcing of supplies or services in support of the project’s objectives. This outsourcing involves the planning, awarding, and administering of procurement contracts. As projects become more complex and technologically advanced, the degree of outsourcing supplies and services in support of the project also increases. It can be said that contracting is the language of defense acquisition projects (Rendon & Snider, 2019). Defense acquisition project managers, both on the buying side as well as on the selling side, use contract management processes, concepts, and terms to manage and describe the activities and events that occur in defense acquisition projects. This chapter presents an overview of contract management processes, concepts, and terms that are used by defense acquisition project managers, defense organizations, and defense contractors in managing defense acquisition projects. The focus will be on the contract life cycle, encompassing pre-award, award, and post-award phases and activities, as performed by both buyer and seller organizations. The primary goal of this chapter is to present contract management as not only an essential business function (Burt, Petcavage, & Pinkerton, 2010) but also an essential part of project management (Kerzner, 2017) and specifically, an essential part of defense project management (Rendon & Snider, 2019). Although the focus of this chapter is on the contract management processes, concepts, and terms used by the ministries of defense and their contractors, our discussion is equally applicable to any organization, government, or industry that contracts for supplies and services needed for accomplishing the organization’s mission.