A Contracting Officer's Representative is a government employee formally designated by the CO through a delegation letter to monitor contract performance and act as the technical point of contact. The delegation letter specifies the COR's responsibilities, authorities, and limits — and explicitly states that the COR has no authority to modify the contract or commit additional funds. CORs typically come from the program office and combine subject-matter expertise with surveillance training. CORs require formal certification under DAWIA Level I or II depending on contract complexity.
The COR's day-to-day functions include receiving and reviewing deliverables, conducting surveillance against the QASP, accepting or rejecting work, processing invoice approvals, maintaining the contract file from the technical perspective, and providing input to the CPARS evaluation. The COR is the contractor's primary working interface — most communication on a typical contract flows through the COR rather than the CO. The COR can answer technical questions about scope and approach, can provide informal guidance, and can document performance issues in the contract file.
For contractors, working effectively with a COR is operational gravity. The COR's perception of contractor performance shapes the CPARS rating, which shapes future past-performance evaluations. The discipline is to treat the COR as the technical interface and the CO as the contractual interface — taking COR direction on technical matters, but escalating anything touching scope, schedule, price, or terms to the CO before acting. Conflating the two roles is the most common source of uncompensated effort.