ARMY AL&T
its internal procedures to award the contract, and the available funding is obligated at that time to cover the anticipated costs of the contract. Te local contract unit either generates a task order on an existing contract vehicle or writes a new solicitation and eventual contract award.
As a contract is executed, a background process occurs to ensure the contract is completed to standard within the terms and condi- tions of the contract. A designated government representative, also known as a contracting officer representative, monitors contract performance and ensures that the contractor adheres to the terms and conditions of the contract. When the terms and conditions are fully met, the contracting officer reviews the contractor’s invoice and submits payment to finance. Finance then pays the vendor using the originally set aside amount.
Following payment, the contracting officer then verifies that the vendor was fully paid for the services rendered. Te government tends to award large contracts for commodities such as fuel and obligate a large amount of funds in advance. Tese funds are attached to these contracts and cannot be used for any other requirements until it is fully paid out. Te obligated contract funding is checked for consistency after final payment, and any unspent funds are returned to the U.S. government for other requirements. Tis background process is referred to as contract closeout. If all of these processes take place, then a contract- ing officer completes an administrative action to close out the contract. Closed contracts are archived for a period of six years, as required by law, in case a vendor submits a future claim, which is a written assertion from a vendor seeking relief, monetary or otherwise.
Tis system in place worked for normal steady-state operations. Following the collapse of Afghanistan, the requiring activity redeployed and had no need for new goods or services. ACC-A was then charged with both identifying which contracts were still needed and which ones needed to be closed as soon as possible to avoid incurring additional costs to the government. ACC-A also had to identify which contracts were fully performed and which vendors were owed money for services rendered.
THE CONTRACTING UNIT ACC-A was originally located in Bagram, Afghanistan, but because of the changing situation through the summer of 2021, the command relocated to Qatar and performed over-the-horizon support from there. Te team was comprised of Department of the Army civilians and Soldiers.
Following the collapse of the Afghan government, the mission of ACC-A changed from executing contracts for emerging require- ments to quickly closing out the contracts that were in place supporting over 20 years of war. Because of this situation, the Army had to take immediate action to ensure that all vendors were paid what they were owed by the U.S. government and close all available contracts as soon as possible. Because of this unusual situation, the small 15-member team had to work together to develop novel processes and procedures to get after this unique problem set.
PROBLEMS, PROBLEMS Te first problem we faced was to determine how many contracts were remaining to close out. Te headquarters of Army Contract- ing Command, located in Huntsville, Alabama, was instrumental in doing research into digital contract files across 20 years to determine workload. Tis research resulted in the identification of over 30,000 contracts requiring closeout. An automated close- out script for contracts over 6 years old was executed by Army
IN THE KNOW
Master Sgt. Kerry Dubose, ACC-A contracting officer, provides a detailed, hands-on demonstration of contracting systems to the Defense Security Cooperation Management Office – Afghanistan director, Brig. Gen. John Reim, in February.
https://asc.ar my.mil
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