Contracting Officer's Representative (COR Level III) — FAC-COR

This course is for senior Contracting Officer's Representatives working the most complex, high-value, mission-critical contracts, and for those pursuing FAC-COR Level III certification.

Level III CORs handle their agency's hardest contracts — the high-dollar, high-visibility, mission-critical work — and play a role in shaping the acquisition itself. This advanced course builds the senior-level proficiency the FAC-COR Level III competency model expects. CORS will leave ready to recommend acquisition strategies to the team, define the requirements that fill a mission need, develop technical evaluation factors and subfactors that genuinely discriminate between offerors, and ready for the program-management-level work senior CORs are increasingly pulled into. This course goes deep on performance-based acquisitions, risk identification and mitigation, complex modifications, and resolving the problems that surface on large, complicated contracts. And it works through the toughest surveillance and administration scenarios — the ones where there are no clean answers and the COR's judgment is what carries the day. Throughout, this course works from the most current guidance, including how the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO FAR) is reshaping the rules CORs work under.

Here, you don't just learn the "how" — you'll leave understanding the "why," so when a real-world situation doesn't match the slides, you can tell the difference between a rule that flexes and a line that never moves. There is a special focus on the boundary-setting statutes that define what a COR can and can't do (the Antideficiency Act chief among them). And, through advanced case studies and scenario work drawn from real, complex contracts, participants leave with the sharper judgment that senior CORs need to protect their organization and themselves — so much more than just a stack of slides to put in a drawer.

This course is taught by Melinda Milheim, JD, who served as a Contract Specialist and COR for the U.S. Navy and the Department of Health and Human Services / Indian Health Service, where she worked on more than $7.7 billion in federal contracts spanning services, RDT&E, IT, engineering, medical, and major weapon-system programs. She draws on that experience, along with her law degree and MBA studies, to teach acquisition in an engaging and innovative way, breaking down complicated principles into easy-to-understand pieces. An award-winning DAU/WarU (DAWIA and FAI) instructor, she has taught more than 1,000 federal acquisition workforce students across 20-plus agencies.

Best for: senior Contracting Officer's Representatives on complex, high-value, mission-critical contracts, and those pursuing FAC-COR Level III certification or the CLPs to maintain it.

Format: Five-day advanced workshop (40 CLPs), delivered in person or virtually. The course delivers the advanced COR training at the core of FAC-COR Level III, and the 40 CLPs satisfy the full recertification requirement for a Level II or Level III COR's two-year cycle. Check with your agency Acquisition Career Manager (ACM) to confirm how this course applies to your certification plan. Phoenix Canyon, a DAU/WarU Recognized Equivalent Provider, issues every attendee a certificate of completion documenting the training hours and CLPs earned.

You might also consider

• Mind Games & Money Moves: The Psychology of Negotiation — the senior COR's edge: how to read the other side and move a deal when modifications, disputes, and problem performance land on a high-stakes contract.

• Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) Refresher / Recertification — FAC-COR — recertify the smart way: get current on everything that's changed (the FAR Overhaul included), sharpen your skills on real scenarios, and walk away with amazing resources you'll love to use.

• Revolutionary FAR Overhaul — everything you know about the FAR just changed. This course gets you up to speed.

Pricing is set per engagement. Contact Phoenix Canyon to request a quote.