National Contract Management Association

Catching Up With Bill Shook: Compliance Counts Because It Works

Leroy Hurt

In January, Bill Shook, attorney for K&L Gates, treated NCMA chapter members to comprehensive overview about the importance of contract compliance and how to do it. I caught up with Bill to get to know him a little better and also picked his brain some more about compliance.

NCMA members will be delighted to know about his commitment to professional development. Asked about the relationship between his activities as adjunct faculty and instructor and his work as an attorney, Bill was emphatic about their benefits. Teaching makes him better at explaining legal requirements to his clients. Those clients don’t have extensive legal backgrounds, much like his students. Bill also appreciates how the experience keeps him grounded, saying, “The students’ questions and answers teach me more about practical, day-to-day matters.”

And he’s committed to NCMA, claiming the organization “is needed now more than ever” because most contracting problems could be eliminated if the parties were more knowledgeable about the discipline. He sees NCMA as critical in building and promoting that knowledge within organizations.

But is having a good compliance program a significant differentiator for firms? According to Bill, compliance is less important to a buyer as a key consideration but is critical to a seller because it affects the cost of performance. If compliance has become part of the routine, it’s less expensive. But it’s inevitable. As Bill likes to say, you can pay now or pay later. So organizations need to understand they can establish their compliance programs right away at a reasonable cost so they don’t have expensive penalties later.

It’s also a good long term strategy for firms seeking government contracts because landing a government contract can be a long term endeavor. Bill said he’s seen too many instances of companies learning the importance of compliance the hard way, incurring penalties after being investigated for noncompliance. This means leadership must recognize the importance of establishing sound compliance programs so they’re applied consistently.

To do this, Bill advises firms to establish it as a daily task, appointing someone to the responsibility for regularly checking compliance. His article, provided as part of his January presentation, is a useful starting point, so we included it with this newsletter. Compliance therefore is a vital long-term process that succeeds because of a consistent daily effort.

Beyond The Bio: Chapters Make NCMA Work According To James A. Nagle

Leroy Hurt

We caught up with accomplished NCMA Fellow Jim Nagle to find out what NCMA has meant for him. For Jim, a lifetime of work in the contract management field includes authoring six books and contributing to nine more, a Life Services Award from the Contract Appeals Bar Association, and the Federal Bar Foundation Award for Distinguished Accomplishment in the Study of Procurement Law. Building a distinguished career in contract law isn’t an overnight effort, so we wanted to learn what role NCMA played over the years.

Seemingly destined for the contract management field, Jim specialized in contract law when he joined Seattle’s Oles Morrison Rinker & Baker, LLP after retiring from the US Army’s Judge Advocate General Corps, having been chief of the Logistics and Contract Law Branch of the Department of the Army Staff and trial team chief in the Army’s Contract Appeals Division. He has since consulted on government contracts, and the Justice Department as well as contractors have used him as an expert witness to explain federal contracting because of his extensive experience in supply and services, international, major system, and construction contracts.

While he had been involved with NCMA for a long time, Jim told us he got more active with the organization and its chapters after coming to Seattle. Over the years of NCMA involvement, he’s become even more convinced of the value NCMA brings to the contract management field and to organizations.

Networking among fellow professionals is one of the hallmarks of NCMA membership and is made possible by local chapter activities.  In Jim’s experience, this is because local chapters are the heart and soul of NCMA. That doesn’t just mean chapters doing things on their own but also chapters interacting with each other and with the national organization. In fact, the national board of directors continually asks what the national organization can do to help chapters. But chapters only work as well as the members are involved. And the rewards of involvement are more than settling for just getting the magazine in the mail but include the development opportunities made possible through the local chapters.

Organizations, too, can have an impact on local chapters. The more employees of an organization that are NCMA members, says Jim, the more likely it is the organization will support the local chapter. So rather than just relying on the resources of individuals, chapters can leverage support from organizations. And organizations can benefit because their competence in contract management increases.