Experienced contractors will often check with their contracting officer to ensure that some piece of work or business practice is acceptable.  The reasoning is that the CO’s word is the official word on a matter involving a government contract.  While this is a good general practice, more than one company has found itself in trouble, even though “the CO said it was ok.” There are multiple lessons contractors can learn from this.  One is that CO’s are people, too, and sometimes make mistakes.  Another is that if you know or believe a certain action to be out of bounds it likely is, whether or not the CO approves. If your company persists in a questionable action there is a good chance that it will eventually encounter a CO who does know the rules and takes a dim view of past practices.  Now, the company will be viewed as an entity that “got away” with something, a situation that usually doesn’t end well for the contractor.  GSA Schedule contractors are familiar with this reality.  The agency routinely conducts Contractor Assessment Visits (CAV’s) to check on contractor compliance with requirements such as Price Reductions Clause compliance, Trade Agreements Act adherence, proper payment of the Schedules’ Industrial Funding Fee, and more.  Each company gets a report card at the end of each assessment.  While companies may think, with good reason, that this is an indication of how well they’re complying, neither GSA’s own auditors nor the Department of Justice see it that way.  Contractors also can’t rely on the CO to remember or support a previously-approved action when an IG or other oversight official starts asking questions.  The CO will often forget the specifics of the situation or say that they would have come to a different conclusion if they’d known all of the facts.  The bottom line for contractors is to ensure they know what’s allowed and what isn’t and, when they go to the CO for an answer, that they get a response in writing.