Letter: More COTRs needed

A reader writes that both fixed price and cost-plus contracts could benefit from contracting officer representatives.

Regarding "McCain and cost-plus contracting"

I agree with some of the comments about the use of fixed price versus cost-plus contracts.

One of the real problems with both contracts is that there are not enough positions where the contracts have dedicated contracting officer representatives (COTRs). These positions help to police the contracts and contractors to help ensure that expenses are controled.

Even though the extra positions would cost us on the GS side, the cost savings on the monitoring of these contracts should more than cover the additional expense. As of now, most of these positions are just additional duties and so the monitoring is not always a priority to them — just additional work!

Christine Peterson

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