As a contractor on a federal project, how often do you interact
with the agency's contracting officer? Given the state of
today's understaffed acquisition workforce, the answer is
probably not very often, if at all. Instead, you more often find
yourself dealing with a varied cast of characters during contract
performance – including CORs, COTRs, and resident engineers.
While these government representatives can act with the authority
of the CO under many circumstances, there are certain times when
only the CO will do.
One example of a communication that must go directly to the CO
is a written claim for time or money under the Contract Disputes
Act. In fact, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims recently issued a
sharp reminder that claims that are sent to anyone other than the
CO will not be considered. In the case of TPL,
Inc. v. United States, the Court found it lacked
jurisdiction over a claim not first raised with the CO. In other
words, a claim not properly submitted
