Contract experts discuss cost, pricing techniques

By Daniel P. Elkins, Mission and Installation Contracting Command Public Affairs OfficeJune 23, 2015

Contract experts discuss cost, pricing techniques
Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Gabbert provides opening remarks to members at a cost and price workshop June 23 at the Mission and Installation Contracting Command on Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston. Seventeen members made up of contract specialists, con... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas -- (June 23, 2015) Contracting professionals from across the command are meeting here June 23-25 for a cost and price workshop conducted by headquarters officials at the Mission and Installation Contracting Command.

Participants in the workshop are contract specialists, contracting officers, cost and price and procurement analysts. They represent the command's three contracting support brigades at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston and Fort Hood, Texas, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as well as the field directorate office at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia.

Annette Logan, a contract specialist at the MICC headquarters who is helping facilitate the workshop, said the workshop will cover use of recently developed MICC pre-negotiation objective memorandum and price negotiation memorandum guides.

"Training will focus on documentation of price reasonableness for non-competitive contract awards including contract modifications. The training will also address documentation of contract actions conducted under simplified acquisition procedures," Logan said. "Additionally, it will cover documentation of price reasonableness for competitive contract actions including the process and documentation for cost realism when awarding cost contracts."

Raul Guerra, a cost and price analyst at the MICC headquarters, said the workshop also includes an overview of applicable regulations and cost and pricing techniques. Hands-on participation based on case study scenarios will cover a significant portion of the workshop.

He added that organizers plan to use this week's feedback from the case study scenarios to perfect sample documents for practical application across the MICC.

Cost and price analysts are responsible for evaluating contractor proposals and providing recommendations to contracting officers as to the reasonableness of the costs associated with elements of a contract proposal. Elements evaluated may include material, labor, contractor overhead and profit to ensure taxpayer dollars are used most efficiently.

Headquartered at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, the MICC is responsible for providing contracting support for the warfighter at Army commands, installations and activities located throughout the continental United States and Puerto Rico. In fiscal 2014, the command executed more than 37,000 contract actions worth more than $5.6 billion across the Army, including $2.4 billion to American small businesses. The command also managed more than 633,000 Government Purchase Card Program transactions in fiscal 2014 valued at an additional $783 million.

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Mission and Installation Contracting Command

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