Contract Management Competency in the United States Marine Corps: An Assessment of MCSC, ECPs, and LOGCOM

Abstract

In April 2020, the DoD senior procurement executives established a new contracting competency model and a single, entry-level certification program for the DoD contracting workforce. The new competency model is based on the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) Contract Management Standard (CMS). This new DoD contracting competency model serves as the basis for training the contracting workforce in the new DAWIA Back-to-Basics certification. The competency model can also be used as the basis for assessing the contracting workforce’s contract management competency. The purpose of this research is to present the findings of three competency assessments using the new DoD contracting competency framework. The competency assessments were conducted on the contracting workforce at the Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC), the Marine Corps Expeditionary Contracting Platoons and Regional Contracting Offices (ECP/RCO), and the Marine Corps Logistics Command (LOGCOM). The research seeks to identify any gaps in contract management proficiency and knowledge, and to provide the USMC contracting leadership with recommendations to fill these gaps. This research will answer the question: How do the competency assessment results compare across the MCSC, the ECP/RCOs, and the LOGCOM? Based on the competency assessment results, recommendations for competency development are provided to the assessed organization.