How NCMA’s Common Language Initiative is streamlining federal contract management

Both government and industry have a vested interest in eliminating barriers to efficiently spending money so agencies can be better stewards of taxpayer dollars...

July 19, 2023 2:11 pm

4 min read

This content is sponsored by NCMA.

The federal government is the largest buyer of goods and services in the world, spending more than $637 billion on contracts in 2021, according to the Government Accountability Office. With that kind of money on the line, both government and industry have a vested interest in eliminating barriers to efficiently spending that money, so that agencies can be better stewards of taxpayer dollars, and contractors can maximize their profits. But the reality is, government and industry aren’t even speaking the same language when it comes to contract management.

“Think about going overseas to countries where you don’t speak the language,” said Kraig Conrad, CEO of the National Contract Management Association. “Now think about that when you’re trying to all work together inside an organization to buy what you need to meet a need. You need to have a singular language that does that.”

That’s what NCMA’s Common Language Initiative aims to accomplish. To do so, NCMA developed the Contract Management Standard (CMS), a comprehensive set of standards and guidelines that provide a common language for the federal government, higher education institutions and industry. It’s a framework that defines best practices, processes and principles in contract management. Created by a neutral third party, the CMS has also been approved by the American National Standards Institute, an internationally recognized organization.

NCMA also developed the Contract Management Body of Knowledge (CMBOK), which provides a standardized and structured approach to contract management. The CMS and CMBOK together form the heart of the Common Language Initiative, which seeks widespread adoption of these standards to foster a cohesive contracting community across the public, private and higher education sectors that enjoys seamless collaboration.

“The long term vision here is that the common language content — CMS and CMBOK — becomes the trusted backbone for hiring and training frameworks across all sectors of contract management,” Conrad said. “What does that mean? It means that universities are teaching from the CMS and the CMBOK. Career guidance professionals will know what the profession is and how to guide someone toward our career. It will mean that internships and apprentice type programs will offer experiences that are specific to the entry points that are needed. And organizations will have a framework from which to hire and understand their ongoing continuing education needs at every stage of their organization’s journey.”

Because efficiencies and cost savings from a streamlined process for the public and private sectors to buy from and sell to one another isn’t the only benefit of the Common Language Initiative; it also streamlines workforce training and development programs so that organizations and contracting professionals know exactly the skills and competencies needed to succeed in federal contract management. That starts in colleges and universities. With the Common Language Initiative, it becomes much clearer to students what they need to learn and how to access the pipeline into federal contract management.

But it also applies across the entire workforce lifecycle. Right now, approaches to training and development aren’t standardized across organizations – sometimes not even within the same organization.

“For example, if you’re in the federal government right now, it’s unlikely that you are going to know a good way for you to grow, for example, to become the chief procurement officer or the senior procurement executive or the head of contracting activity,” Conrad said. “You may have a sense of how you get there, but it may be one sided. Remember, contract management includes buyer and seller perspectives. So having that visibility of the career pathways will help inform not just the individual on their journey, but those mentors and coaches along their way about the different experiences that they should be seeking out to get to their objective.”

However, the federal government is already adopting these standards in its workforce training programs; CMS is already the basis of the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) and the Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting (FAC-C) training program.

Meanwhile, the Common Language Initiative is already beginning to see adoption from major players in the contracting world, including federal contractors Leidos and Lockheed Martin; the University of Maryland; the University of California, Irvine; the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business; and Webster University. The state of North Carolina and the federal district of Washington D.C. have also adopted these standards.

The Common Language Initiative also increases accountability and transparency across the acquisition process, which can help individuals who are only tangentially involved better understand the problems and requirements. When everyone at the table is on the same page, the process is smoother and more efficient.

“So how can someone get involved in this movement? Well, number one, go to NCMA’s website to learn about the benefits and the requirements of being on this journey,” Conrad said. “Secondly, be sure to go read the contract management standard. It’s free. It’s a public good.”