There are many great contracting systems on the market for commercial businesses, but most do not contain the full complement of capabilities necessary for Government Contractors (GovCon). Why look closely at GovCon specific capabilities?
The right contract lifecycle management (CLM) software includes features that improve business system compliance, aid in escaping the tradeoff of lower cost or compliance and provide a secure system that meets federal clients’ expectations.
Many contract management solutions – even among those marketed to government contractors – fail to meet government contractor requirements. Robust search capabilities are necessary to handle the multitude of contracts awards and FAR clause management that are not present in commercial businesses. In addition, clause flow down management is essential to meet the increasing burden of regulations for prime contractors that are passed to the subcontractors. Often commercial contracts systems are not designed to ensure compliance for CPSR audits or create contracts briefs in DCAA format.
Look for a best of breed solution instead of a bolt-on or something layered over another platform to ensure that you’ll meet all federal security requirements. Routing and messaging capabilities to allow stakeholders outside of the contracts’ department to view, edit, and approve contracts adjustments throughout the process. In addition, a GovCon CLM should:
- Offer strong search capability for FAR, DFARS, agency specific clause(s) as well as for unique terms and conditions and SOW requirements
- Handle all federal government award types
- Create instant contract briefs in DCAA format
- Report on all labor category data including qualifications, rates by POP, and discounts
- Easily track changes to value and funding by CLIN/SLIN/ACRN
- Automatically and intelligently generate flow-down clauses
- Generate subcontract agreement and capture all subcontract information
- Generate common agreements such as NDAs and TAs
- Create pre-defined templates of tasks to meet CPSR audit or other contractual reporting requirements
- Include a document repository within the system—not a bolt on
- Easily perform online internal audits or management reviews to verify compliance
- Show Subcontract summaries to manage subcontracting plan dollars
- Route and vet organizational conflicts of interest
- Support integration with other financial and proposal tracking systems
Successful implementation of a new system can be challenging—ensure success by selecting a system that is supported by subject matter experts in GovCon that understand the needs of your business and provide the specific capabilities your organization needs.
Unison’s GovCon contract management suite has been purpose-built to ensure compliance and mitigate risks with must have government contractor-specific features. Manage contracts with standardized workflows that enable scalability and enhance visibility across departments with a FedRAMP Moderate authorized solution.