Monitor Work of the Contractor

Monitor work of the contractor is an activity within contract administration. It means overseeing how a contractor performs a contract, including compliance with the contract's terms and conditions, and receiving the deliverables the contract requires.

The Government of Canada uses this wording in its generic matrix of responsibilities between Public Works and Government Services Canada and client departments for goods and services procurement. It describes an activity, not an acronym. NATO contracting documents use functionally equivalent language for the same function.

Where the wording appears in the Government of Canada supply manual

The phrase sits under the heading "4 - Contract Administration" in the responsibility matrix published in the annexes to Chapter 1 of the Supply Manual on CanadaBuys. It is listed as activity 4.1.1 and reads: "Monitor work of the contractor, including compliance with the terms and conditions of the contract; and receive the contract deliverables." You can read the matrix in the Supply Manual Chapter 1 annexes.

The matrix assigns each activity between the lead procurement organization and the client department using responsibility codes. It is a generic allocation for goods and services procurement, so the split of duties on a particular contract follows from how that contract is set up.

Monitoring work compared with invoice verification

The same matrix lists invoice verification and cash-flow monitoring as a separate activity, 4.1.2. That separation shows that monitoring contractor work is related to financial administration but is not the same thing. Monitoring looks at whether the work is being done in line with the contract and whether the deliverables arrive. Invoice verification deals with payment and cash flow.

Two parts of the Canadian wording define the scope of monitoring:

• Compliance: the work is checked against the terms and conditions of the contract.
• Deliverables: the contracting side receives the items the contract requires the contractor to provide.

How NATO contracts assign the same function to the COTR

NATO procurement does not use the Canadian phrase, but it assigns the same function to the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR). NATO contracting guidance refers to the COTR as the NATO representative who monitors the contractor's work and schedule. That guidance appears in the Bi-SC procurement regulations document.

NATO solicitations set out how this works in practice. A NATO Allied Command Transformation request for proposals requires the COTR to review the contractor's work at least monthly, or more often if needed, as shown in RFP 022024. Another solicitation, IFIB 019037, requires the contractor to submit a monthly report detailing progress against the Statement of Work and makes written COTR approval of reported work and deliverables mandatory.

Suppliers who bid on NATO opportunities can find current notices on the NATO procurement opportunities page.

What it means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

Once a contract is awarded, the contracting side oversees your performance, checks it against the terms and conditions, and receives your deliverables. Plan to perform the work as the contract states and to deliver each item in the form and at the time the contract requires.

• Read the terms and conditions and the statement of work as the standard your work will be monitored against.
• Build deliverables and any required progress reports into your delivery schedule.
• Support the customer's review and acceptance of your work, since receipt of deliverables is part of the monitoring activity.
• Keep delivery records separate from invoicing records, because invoice verification is a distinct administration activity.