temporarily beyond the workload capacity of an organization's employees. Because of the very nature of such contracts, however, they provide the opportunity for abuse and/or abrogation of the traditional checks and balances in DOD Contracting. For this reason, it is desirable for each contracting activity within MICC DOC Ft. Belvoir to have policies and procedures established toward assuring that control of task order contracts remains within the contracting activity. No regulation or procedure, however, can be substituted for the common sense, diligence, and the firm and proper application of authority by the Contracting Officer. Task order contracts must be managed in a manner to prevent the appearance of personal services, employee-employer relationship between Government and contractor employees, co-mingling or co-locating Government and contractor employees in ways which induce personal service relationships, and organizational conflicts of interest. The intent is that the Government does not tell the contractor to make Government decisions, and that the Government does not require or allow the contractor to perform tasks inherently Governmental in nature. Only the Contracting Officer is authorized to issue task orders that obligate monies. The COR is responsible to the Contracting Officer and is limited to the responsibilities and authorities set forth in the appointment letter. The COR shall maintain a written workload plan to be utilized in task order management and control under the contract. This plan shall be placed in a separate manila folder, identified, and made a part of the COR file. Instructions to Contractors Prior to commencement of performance, the Contracting Officer/COR must ensure that the contractor is instructed as to: a. Authority, responsibilities and limitations of the COR. b. Clear understanding of the contract terms and conditions. c. Applicable security requirements. d. Clear understanding of inspection, acceptance, and invoicing procedures. The above can be accomplished by the Contracting Officer arranging a post-award conference, or otherwise, with all interested parties. Monthly COR Reports On an established date of each month, usually the 15th, or sooner if determined by the Contracting Officer, the COR must certify, in writing, that to the best of the CORs knowledge and belief: a. That a review of the tasks assigned indicates no instances of personal services.
SECTION X: COR DUTIES - SERVICE CONTRACTS Instructions to Contractors Prior to commencement COR must ensure that the contractor is instructed as to: a. Authority, responsibilities and limitations of the COR. b. Clear understanding of the contract terms and conditions. c. Applicable security requirements. d. Applicable engineering provisions. e. Clear understanding of inspection, acceptance, and invoicing procedures. The above can be accomplished by the Contracting Officer/COR arranging a Post Award conference with all interested parties. Contractor Inspection Records The contractor is required by the contract clause, "Inspection of (FAR 52.246-4) to provide and maintain an inspection system acceptable to the Government covering the services to be performed under the contract. The "Inspection of Services-Fixed Price" clause further requires the contractor to keep complete records of contractor-performed inspection and to make such records available to the Government during the term of the contract. As a minimum, the contractor's records must indicate the nature of the observations, the number of observations made, and the number and type of deficiencies found. The inspection records must also indicate the acceptability of the services and actions taken to correct deficiencies. The COR must ensure that the contractor complies with this contract requirement. COR Suspense System The COR must establish a suspense system to advise the Contracting Officer of the contractor's failure to complete performance or delivery in accordance with the contract schedule. COR reporting of contractor failures should not wait for the monthly report. Notifications to Contracting Officer The COR must promptly inform the Contracting Officer of the following: a. The exact date the contractor began performance. b. Incidents of unsatisfactory performance by the contractor, specifying the applicable paragraph of the contract has been violated by the contractor and the circumstances surrounding the violation with names, dates and places.