Assessment of Army Contracting Command's Contract Management Processes (TACOM and RDECOM)

This research builds upon the emerging body of knowledge on contract management workforce competence and organizational process capability. In 2003, the Contract Management Maturity Model (CMMM) was first developed for the purpose of assessing Department of Defense (DoD) and defense contractor organizational contract management process capability. The CMMM has since been applied at Air Force, Army, Navy, and defense contractor organizations. During the period between 2008 and 2009, assessments were conducted at three specific Army Contracting Command (ACC) contracting centers using the CMMM. These organizations included the Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) Contracting Center, Joint Munitions and Lethality (JM&L) Contracting Center, and the National Capital Region (NCR) Contracting Center. In 2010, the CMMM assessments were conducted at the Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) and the Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) Contracting Centers. The primary purpose of this paper is to summarize the assessment ratings, analyze the assessment results in terms of contract management process maturity, and discuss the implications of these assessment results for process improvement and knowledge management opportunities at the TACOM and RDECOM contracting centers. The paper also will provide insight on consistencies and trends from these assessment results to DoD contract management. Finally, the paper will discuss the assessment results in an attempt to characterize the current state of practice of contract management within the ACC.