Welcome to the Contracting AFSC discussion blog. The purpose of this blog is to foster discussion between future Air Force officers interested in the Contracting career field and current officers in Contracting. The views expressed in this blog are solely the opinions of the individual authors and not of the United States Air Force nor the Department of Defense.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Questions
Cadets, post questions here as comments on this post that you'd like to see turned into new threads for discussion.
The contracting career field requires 24 hours of business class credit at the undergraduate level. For clarification and insight on which of your core/majors courses will count toward this requirement, you may have to call Cadet personnel or AFPC contracting to find out if you qualify. My guess is that your mgt and econ class count at minimum.
Cadets are told that, as a Contracting officer, there are great opportunities outside the AF once our commitment is up. In your opinion, is this true, and, for those of us who want to five-and-dive, is there anything we need to do throughout our time as AF Contracting officers to set ourselves up well for such opportunities?
"This is a great AFSC outside the AF" is a bit of a head-fake. True, there are highly-similar functions in the business-world who do business with the gov't, but to do what those folks do, you need A LOT of experience, and much more education (MBAs, JDs, etc). After five years, I personally don't think it matters whether you did contracting, finance, maintenance or intel -- the job opportunities open to you will be the same; primarily because you are USAFA grads and you performed well in your first five years. I believe there are great opportunities for you outside the AF regardless of what your initial AFSC is (and BTW, I am and have been an AF contracting officer for many, many years....)
Regarding the 24 hour requirement, see the original post for the specific AF guidance. Management, Econ, SEM, Soc Sci, Ops Research and Law majors are probably well suited. As for others, it depends what classes you took as part of your major.
What exactly is contracting? What do you do ona day to day basis? Are there different kinds of contracting? What is the difference between contracting and acquistions?
From what I hear, contracting is a great skill outside of the AF, however I don't know what specific steps you'd need to take to get hired-- I am still in the military. My advice on that would be to learn as much as you can to the best ability that you can.
In response to nik- see the day in the life- very general but answers some questions. For the difference between contracting and acquisitions: acq work on a piece of a puzzle to test or get an end result (ex. work on a part of a plan in terms of meeting a certain spec, requirement, or getting something to fit, building or designing a part as part of the rproject timeline to fit with other aspects of the plane). contracting pays and negotiates for those parts- tries to find the best deal-- manages the contractor performance and submittals for contract completion or contract milestones. Perhaps dagnar can expand...
There is always a bit of confusion between "acquisitions" and "contracting." Allow me to elaborate a bit.
"Acquisitions" really is just a general term given to all the folks involved in buying (acquiring) major weapons systems. Sometimes, you may hear people refer to it as "systems acquisition." Same thing.
However, here when you hear people refer to "acquisitions" or "systems ac", what they mean most of the time is REALLY "program management". This is the 63XX career field (AFSC).
There are five primary bases where systems acquisition happens: LA for satellites, Eglin for munitions, Wright-Patterson for aircraft, Hansom for electronic systems and Brooks for medical. At each of these bases are "SPO" or "program offices" where teams of professionals work on buying a particular major weapons systems. On the team, you will find finance-types (65s), contracting officers (us), budget officers, cost analysis, engineers, scientific analysts (and there are more) along with a program manager (the 63). THe program manager is always the team-lead responsible for cost control, staying within budget and monitoring the performance schedule.
As a contracting officer, you can work at the systems-level (above) buying major weapons systems, or you can work (and likely will your first couple of assignments) at the base-level. Base-level contracting involves buying everything you see on a base. Every base has a contractin office--which means you can be assigned anywhere in the world where there is an AF base. At USAFA, the base contracting office purchased the beds you sleep in, the uniforms you are wearing, the contractors (waiters) in Mitchell Hall, the ongoing constructions projects that tear-up and replace the terrazzo, etc. Anything the base needs to spend money on will almost surely have to be approved by a contracting officer. That's you if you are a 64P.
As a contracting officer, you ARE the government--in fact, when you sign a contract, your signature block will say "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA." You have the authority to spend the US taxpayer's dollars, and thus, you need to know the laws, rules, policies and regulations that governs how the money will be spent. One of the aspects of this responsibility is that NO ONE can EVER order you to sign a contract that you don't agree with. Everything you sign is exclusively your responsibility, and you will be accountable for your decision forever. It can be a very fun job, very challenging, and often frustrating because you are the "business man / woman" for the AF. You are the negotiator. You have a responsibility at all times to ensure that everyone is receiving a fair and equitable deal. Business ins complex and contracting is how the AF does business. But as I mentioned earlier in the original post, it takes quite a while to "learn the ropes" and get comfortable with all that there is to know.
In regards to knowing more about contracting before signing up- I had done some research on the job- but it's hard to really understand unless you shadow someone. I like contracting so I am happy with my choice, but there are a lot of things I didn't understand or realize until I started doing the job. You must expect to learn quickly and efficiently, also know that your practice is very important and you get better with time, but you can never really know everything because it is so dynamic.
Are there any resources that 64P people may be able to get ahold of (books, blogs, websites, etc) to get a taste of what we're getting into? I'm sure we'll get all we can handle at the tech school, but just wondering if there might be something to check out before.
Andrew: Th publications that contracting officers use are large and numerous- and are not reading on what the job is like but more like legal grey areas for how to do the job. These are called the FAR. However, I would recommend googling contracting and you may get access to some AF web sites at various bases. Since the most recent firewall, I have had difficulties accessing these on a more detailed basis. You can also go to the AFPC website for contracting info and what the job entails-- www.afpc.randolph.af.mil-- or just google. You are more than welcome to call the USAFA contracting office and see if you can shadow someone or interview their daily activities on questions that weren't addressed in this blog.
There are several schools for contracting-- some are online and many are in residence. As the requirements have changed since I was a 2LT, you may have an online course first and then a resident course-- however you will attand many schoolhouses for courses in your first few years. All are at different locations and you are usually sent to the closest location from your gaining base.
18 comments:
What does the "24 hour course requirement" mean behind the Contracting AFSC?
The contracting career field requires 24 hours of business class credit at the undergraduate level. For clarification and insight on which of your core/majors courses will count toward this requirement, you may have to call Cadet personnel or AFPC contracting to find out if you qualify. My guess is that your mgt and econ class count at minimum.
Cadets are told that, as a Contracting officer, there are great opportunities outside the AF once our commitment is up. In your opinion, is this true, and, for those of us who want to five-and-dive, is there anything we need to do throughout our time as AF Contracting officers to set ourselves up well for such opportunities?
"This is a great AFSC outside the AF" is a bit of a head-fake. True, there are highly-similar functions in the business-world who do business with the gov't, but to do what those folks do, you need A LOT of experience, and much more education (MBAs, JDs, etc). After five years, I personally don't think it matters whether you did contracting, finance, maintenance or intel -- the job opportunities open to you will be the same; primarily because you are USAFA grads and you performed well in your first five years. I believe there are great opportunities for you outside the AF regardless of what your initial AFSC is (and BTW, I am and have been an AF contracting officer for many, many years....)
Regarding the 24 hour requirement, see the original post for the specific AF guidance. Management, Econ, SEM, Soc Sci, Ops Research and Law majors are probably well suited. As for others, it depends what classes you took as part of your major.
What exactly is contracting? What do you do ona day to day basis? Are there different kinds of contracting? What is the difference between contracting and acquistions?
From what I hear, contracting is a great skill outside of the AF, however I don't know what specific steps you'd need to take to get hired-- I am still in the military. My advice on that would be to learn as much as you can to the best ability that you can.
In response to nik- see the day in the life- very general but answers some questions. For the difference between contracting and acquisitions: acq work on a piece of a puzzle to test or get an end result (ex. work on a part of a plan in terms of meeting a certain spec, requirement, or getting something to fit, building or designing a part as part of the rproject timeline to fit with other aspects of the plane). contracting pays and negotiates for those parts- tries to find the best deal-- manages the contractor performance and submittals for contract completion or contract milestones. Perhaps dagnar can expand...
There is always a bit of confusion between "acquisitions" and "contracting." Allow me to elaborate a bit.
"Acquisitions" really is just a general term given to all the folks involved in buying (acquiring) major weapons systems. Sometimes, you may hear people refer to it as "systems acquisition." Same thing.
However, here when you hear people refer to "acquisitions" or "systems ac", what they mean most of the time is REALLY "program management". This is the 63XX career field (AFSC).
There are five primary bases where systems acquisition happens: LA for satellites, Eglin for munitions, Wright-Patterson for aircraft, Hansom for electronic systems and Brooks for medical. At each of these bases are "SPO" or "program offices" where teams of professionals work on buying a particular major weapons systems. On the team, you will find finance-types (65s), contracting officers (us), budget officers, cost analysis, engineers, scientific analysts (and there are more) along with a program manager (the 63). THe program manager is always the team-lead responsible for cost control, staying within budget and monitoring the performance schedule.
As a contracting officer, you can work at the systems-level (above) buying major weapons systems, or you can work (and likely will your first couple of assignments) at the base-level. Base-level contracting involves buying everything you see on a base. Every base has a contractin office--which means you can be assigned anywhere in the world where there is an AF base. At USAFA, the base contracting office purchased the beds you sleep in, the uniforms you are wearing, the contractors (waiters) in Mitchell Hall, the ongoing constructions projects that tear-up and replace the terrazzo, etc. Anything the base needs to spend money on will almost surely have to be approved by a contracting officer. That's you if you are a 64P.
As a contracting officer, you ARE the government--in fact, when you sign a contract, your signature block will say "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA." You have the authority to spend the US taxpayer's dollars, and thus, you need to know the laws, rules, policies and regulations that governs how the money will be spent. One of the aspects of this responsibility is that NO ONE can EVER order you to sign a contract that you don't agree with. Everything you sign is exclusively your responsibility, and you will be accountable for your decision forever. It can be a very fun job, very challenging, and often frustrating because you are the "business man / woman" for the AF. You are the negotiator. You have a responsibility at all times to ensure that everyone is receiving a fair and equitable deal. Business ins complex and contracting is how the AF does business. But as I mentioned earlier in the original post, it takes quite a while to "learn the ropes" and get comfortable with all that there is to know.
Is there anything you know now that you wish you would have known before you chose contracting as your AFSC?
In regards to knowing more about contracting before signing up- I had done some research on the job- but it's hard to really understand unless you shadow someone. I like contracting so I am happy with my choice, but there are a lot of things I didn't understand or realize until I started doing the job. You must expect to learn quickly and efficiently, also know that your practice is very important and you get better with time, but you can never really know everything because it is so dynamic.
Are there any resources that 64P people may be able to get ahold of (books, blogs, websites, etc) to get a taste of what we're getting into? I'm sure we'll get all we can handle at the tech school, but just wondering if there might be something to check out before.
Andrew: Th publications that contracting officers use are large and numerous- and are not reading on what the job is like but more like legal grey areas for how to do the job. These are called the FAR. However, I would recommend googling contracting and you may get access to some AF web sites at various bases. Since the most recent firewall, I have had difficulties accessing these on a more detailed basis. You can also go to the AFPC website for contracting info and what the job entails-- www.afpc.randolph.af.mil-- or just google. You are more than welcome to call the USAFA contracting office and see if you can shadow someone or interview their daily activities on questions that weren't addressed in this blog.
Is there a training school for contracting? Is so, where is it and how long is it?
There are several schools for contracting-- some are online and many are in residence. As the requirements have changed since I was a 2LT, you may have an online course first and then a resident course-- however you will attand many schoolhouses for courses in your first few years. All are at different locations and you are usually sent to the closest location from your gaining base.
I know some AFSC are difficult to get, or in high demand. Is this one hard to get in to?
How long is contracting officer technical training and where is it? I'm prior enlisted, applying for OTS and planning on requesting contracting.
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