Critical Success Factors in Government Contract Management

Abstract

Critical success factors have a direct impact on an organization’s project management and contract management processes as well as resulting outcomes. This paper presents the results of survey-based research on contract management critical success factors, derived from the responses of approximately 400 contracting officers who represent 7 Department of Defense (DoD) agencies. The principal contributions of this paper are to show the similarities in both project management and contract management critical success factors and the implications for the DoD. The overall conclusion is that focusing on these critical success factors can improve the DoD’s management of both projects as well as contracts. The recommendation is that the DoD should focus on the common knowledge areas and processes impacting project management and contract management by addressing the identified critical success factors in the areas of individual competencies and organizational structures and processes.