Government Furnished Property Acceptance Onto DOD Contracts
Laurence Roberts, CPPM
Raytheon, WFF
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I have been working in the DOD Property world for roughly 20 years having worked various types of contracts in some unique environments such as Kwajalein, Guam and Kuwait. All had unique characteristics to each contract. Working transition inventories can be exciting and frustrating at the same time. Working and Partnering with numerous Government GPA’s during transitions is critical and working with out-going contractors can be challenging. It is critical to set up a transition plan prior to execution with specific time lines and identifiable outcomes. Pre transition meetings and strategy sessions can be very useful and highly recommended. These pre meetings provide the perfect opportunity to identify what outcomes are expected during the transition as well as any manpower requirements needed to support transition goals. When I came aboard our current contract, we had numerous sites that were covered within the scope of the Warfighter contract. We also had a situation where three separate contractors were handling the work prior to transition. This brought into play multiple mindsets and history associated with how each contractor interpreted the specific FAR requirements within their legacy contracts. There were situations where Government Property was being handed over to the contractors for utilization without contract mods or clear transition documentation such as DD1149’s. This caused negative issues with various FAR Property outcomes from Acquisition through Disposition.
First thing we worked was to develop an internal process/procedure on how Government property was to be accepted onto the contract and communicate this process throughout the contract as including our Subcontractors since in some cases they were manning our sites. This process was coordinated with all parties including Contracts, Logistics and Subcontractors.
Second, we worked this effort with our Government customer to assure that we met a common goal which was to assure compliance with FAR and Contract requirements.
The end result was that we added verbiage to all future contract submittals that requires Government personnel at sites (when adding scope to the contract), to provide specific FAR 52.245-1 Property data with DD1149’s through contracts channels for add-on to contracts (MOD’s).
As an example, we transitioned a Kuwait Base Operations Contract into our current Warfighter contract. In analyzing the best process to utilize for this transition effort we had to consider the following:
1.Amount of Property, 10,000 lines valued at over $8m).
2. Condition of current property, large amt of property in SUBK hands with prior contractor having weak records such as lacking record data elements, etc.).
3. Amount of time available for Transition (90 days??).
4. Type of Property (many vehicles with associated test equip that needed evaluation of past maintenance actions).
5. Partnering efforts available with Gov’t and legacy contractor.
6. Assure the Property database is set up to accept the data through some kind of flat file or download capability so as to make sure there is no delay in assuming accountability of the property.
In analyzing the above we came to the conclusion that a 100% inventory was required. We developed and partnered a plan with the Government GPA and prior contractor to meet the 100% inventory within the transition time frame. Remember, once the contractor accepts the property, they also accept any risk associated with the property so it is in their best interests to conduct a thorough inventory. If the prior contractor had at least satisfactory results with their property system and if we had assumed their existing system/database including complete records then we may have considered a random sample type of inventory of only the high value items (usually 80% of the value is buried in 20% of the items).
We determined that daily reviews were required to go over any needs or issues. These daily review meetings also provided a continued focus on the requirements, goals and needs that arose during the transition.
We developed a transition checklist to identify all the tasks, manpower requirements for each task and developed a time frame to complete the tasks (see attached). This transition checklist/plan was partnered with the Government GPA and prior contract transition team.
In discussions with the transition teams we determined that a DD1149 would be the best document to track the transfer of property from the Government to the Warfighter contract. Other documentation like spreadsheets, DD250’s, etc. could be utilized but the DD1149 was the most familiar to all and provided the correct to and from fields as well as providing the areas to capture given item data such as P/N, S/N and cost.
Government HAND-RECEIPTS were not considered as they should only be utilized for transfers between Government entities and not contractors. Hand receipts do not obligate the contractor to be accountable for the property as the Government entity hand receipting the property would still be accountable for the property, not the contractor (be sure that Government property being furnished to contractor flows through contracts channels for proper acceptance).
Once all transition inventories have been completed, disposition items identified, and all parties have blessed all final documentation then the DD1149 is completed with sign-off by releasing Government personnel and sign-off by accepting Warfighter contract personnel. The signed off documentation is then forwarded through contracts channels for proper addition to the Warfighter contract via a contract MOD as required by FAR 52.245-1.
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Attached is a sample copy of a Transition Checklist and Plan:
When faced with a similar situation, there are several things one must do:
· Establish a plan that meets your requirements and is aligned with your company objectives
· Clearly identify compliance requirements
· Establish a collaborative environment
· Ensure all input receives proper consideration
· Establish a plan that reasonably projects expectations to management
· Update management on progress
There are also several things that you should NOT do:
· Don't establish a schedule that can't be met
· Don't identify value added/cost savings that can not be validated
· Don't compromise requirements for a "quick fix" or cost considerations
· Don't create management expectations that can not be met
Summary
The Transition Checklist identified has been utilized on numerous contracts with great results for both the Government and Contractor. These tools can be modified to meet specific contract requirements but provide some basic guidelines to follow when conducting transition inventories and assuring that GFP is properly added to your contract.
Bio
Laurence Roberts is a CPPM and is currently working as a Senior Property Consultant with Raytheon, Warfighter Focus out of Orlando, Florida. His 20 year career in property management consists of working on DOD contracts located in Kwajalein, RMI, GUAM Navy BOS and various contracts within CONUS with Lockheed Martin and now Raytheon Technical Services Comp. I have been a member of the North Atlantic chapter of the NPMA since 2000.
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