Contractual Agreements: Analyzing the Assignment of Agreement Officers for other Transaction Authority Agreement in the Air Force

Abstract

The USAF has been charged with accelerating the pace of acquisitions and have found Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreements as one procurement instrument that can be used. However, there may be a problem that the individuals assigned to be agreement officers (AO) that are managing non-Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) contracts such as OTAs may not be from the proper career field, or have the necessary education background, or years of experience, or even status as a procuring contracting officer (PCO). The purpose of this research is to conduct an analysis of the demographics of a sample population of Air Force AOs. I will specifically analyze career field, level of education, years of experience, and PCO status, of that sample AO population. This research will analyze data from one MAJCOM within the USAF. The data fields analyzed include career fields, educational background levels, years of experience, and PCO status. The dataset found that the MAJCOM is only assigning contracting civilians as AOs; this means that a FAR-trained workforce is managing non-FAR-based contracts with minimal training. Additionally, it takes many AOs 10 years of work experience before they attain a college business education, limiting business acumen. The USAF should consider non-contracting civilians, and military in contracting, as AOs. Furthermore, USAF should provide training on generally accepted contract management principles and concepts, as well as business management training.