Becoming a Government Contracts Administrator

The job of a government contracts administrator is to look into the matters of government contracts as well as direct the activities that are related to the purchase and sale of material, equipment, products, and services. Contracts administration is a new field that involves the scope and research of data and information. The person is also expected to examine the requirements of the performance and deliver the schedules on time. Government contracts administrators must make an estimation of the costs of the material as well as take care of the production and equipment to guarantee completeness and accuracy.

The responsibilities of government contract job administrators incorporate the following tasks such as:

• Preparing the bids
• Processing the specifications
• Testing and progressing the reports and other exhibits that may be required
• Reviewing the bids from the other firms for conformity to the requirements of the contract
• Determining the bids that are acceptable and the ones which are not
• Negotiating the contract with the customer or the bidder

There are multiple levels of the government contract job and some of them are the entry levels that require little experience. The other levels of the government contract job incorporate the executive level and these jobs require years of experience.



The senior level government contract administrators must have post secondary education as well as second language skills at times. In fact, there are a lot of positions pertaining to a government contracts administrator that require at least a bachelor's degree. The education is generally supposed to focus on a related field of study such as business or political science. If you are into a senior level job of a government contracts administrator, you may require having a degree in MBA or for that matter a JD or Jurist Doctor, which actually depends on the position, skills of the applicant, and the company they are working in.

The skill sets of the administrator of the government contracts can be divided in the negotiation as well as miscellaneous skills.

The negotiation skills take into account negotiating the details of the contract that is required for favoring the company of the employees. This is the reason as to why the companies are in search of the government contracts administrators who have negotiation skills that are honed for a proven rate of success.

The miscellaneous government contracts skills include the following:

• Problem solving
• Project management
• Stress management
• Working in coordination with the others
• Making quick decisions

The administrators for a government contract job must have a thorough training in dealing with legal government contracts as well as documents. Thus, the government contracts administrator requires knowledge of the law that pertains to different types of contracts, the industry you are required to work for, as well as the organization or company. Training in the relevant field can be gathered in the local colleges in your neighborhood that offer associate courses.

Experience in the field of government contracts administration is helpful as it acquaints you with the details of the government contracts job. If you are joining on the entry level, you are likely to require at least a year of experience with working with the contracts. If you are joining as a government contracts administrator at the executive level you may require a decade's experience with the contracts administration, reviewing the contracts as well as sub contracts. Each of the positions of the government contracts administrators is a different one, with the required experience depending on the company, rank, and other details.

The employment outlook of the government contract job is good with the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics predicting that the global career prospects are likely to improve until the year 2014. In fact, with the years of experience growing, a government contracts job has good prospects in upper management positions.

The average median salary of the government contracts administrators on an annual basis is between $67,000 and $80,000. This can be enhanced with years of experience with which you can get better opportunities.

The government contracts administrators require working with contracts as well as having a good knowledge about the various aspects of state, federal, and municipal contracts and their requirements. If you want to have a good job in the field of government contracts administrator positions, prepare your resume accordingly.