Overview
This section outlines the Administrative Contracting Officer’s (ACO) duty to monitor, evaluate, and document a contractor's compliance with small business subcontracting plans. It establishes the ACO as the primary oversight authority responsible for providing the Procuring Contracting Officer (PCO) with the data necessary to assess contractor performance.
Key Rules
- Evaluation and Monitoring: The ACO must assist in evaluating proposed plans and actively monitor the contractor’s actual performance against the goals established in the subcontracting plan.
- Data Provision: The contract administration office is required to furnish specific documentation, including historical compliance, progress toward socio-economic goals (SB, VOSB, SDVOSB, HUBZone, SDB, and WOSB), and verification of flow-down requirements to subcontractors.
- Immediate Notification: The ACO must provide "immediate notice" if the contractor fails to meet commitments or fails to demonstrate a "good faith effort" during contract performance.
- Final Accountability: Upon contract completion, the ACO must document whether goals were achieved and provide a rationale if a lack of good faith effort is suspected.
Practical Implications
- Subcontracting plans are not merely administrative formalities; they are active performance metrics that the ACO tracks for use in past performance evaluations and CPARS ratings.
- Contractors must maintain rigorous internal records of their outreach and utilization efforts, as the ACO is mandated to report specific instances of non-compliance or bad faith directly to the PCO.