Winning the contract feels like the hard part.
It’s not.
The first 90 days of performance is where most contractors quietly lose money, damage their reputation, or create problems they don’t even realize yet.
Not because they don’t care. Because no one taught them how to work the contract.
Here are the seven mistakes that show up over and over again, across small businesses, new primes, and even experienced subcontractors.
Mistake #1: Ignoring Packaging Instructions
Marking and Packaging requirements are not suggestions.
If your contract references preservation methods, barrier materials, marking requirements, or standards like MIL-STD-2073, those are contractual obligations.
What contractors do:
- Assume “commercial packaging” is fine
- Skip reading Section D
- Guess at packaging costs = under estimating the actual cost
- Miss marking requirements or get the marking format wrong
What happens:
- Shipment rejection
- Repackaging at your expense
- Reduction or elimination of profit margins
- Delayed acceptance = delayed payment
This is one of the fastest ways to turn a profitable contract into a loss.
Mistake #2: Not Reading Section G and Section I Fully
Most contractors read the SOW and stop there.
That’s a problem.
Section G tells you how to get paid.
Section I tells you how to stay compliant.
What contractors miss:
- Required invoice format or system (WAWF/iRAPT, IPP, etc.)
- Required attachments for payment
- Clause-triggered actions (notifications, reporting, certifications)
If you don’t read these sections, you are guessing your way through performance. And guessing is expensive.
Some years ago — prior to SAM.gov and WAWF/iRAPT being integrated — I was brought in as a consultant to support a services contractor post-award.
The issue wasn’t capability. It was process.
The office staff had never been trained to actually read the contract.
So they defaulted to what they knew:
printing invoices and mailing hard copies through USPS… directly to the contract’s Issuing Office.
As you can imagine, payment delays followed. Invoices sat. Cash flow tightened.
Accounting was frustrated. The owner was doubting his leap into the government market.
When I came on board, the fix wasn’t complicated — but it required someone to look in the right place.
I went straight to the contract. There it was: the invoicing clause directing all submissions through WAWF/iRAPT.
We pivoted immediately.
- Set up their WAWF/iRAPT access
- Walked the team through the digital invoicing workflow
- Routed invoices correctly to the Pay Office DoDAAC
The result?
Faster processing.
Cleaner acceptance.
And a noticeable, immediate improvement in:
- AR aging
- Cash flow stability
Nothing about their work changed. They just started following the contract.
Mistake #3: Missing Inspection and Acceptance Requirements
Shipping does not equal payment.
Acceptance does.
What contractors assume:
- “We delivered it, we’ll get paid.”
What the contract actually says:
- Who performs inspection
- Where inspection occurs
- What documentation is required
- Whether acceptance is required before invoicing
Miss this, and your invoice will sit or get rejected.
Mistake #4: Invoicing Incorrectly
This is one of the most common and preventable failures.
What goes wrong:
- Wrong system
- Missing documentation
- Incorrect CLIN references
- Submitting before acceptance
Result:
- Payment delays
- Rejected invoices
- Cash flow strain
Your contract already tells you how to invoice. However, most contractors just don’t read it carefully enough or assume their commercial processes apply.
The Accounting Department of a Distributor was having issues with their invoices getting rejected. I was asked to review their WAWF/iRAPT submission.
The error was immediately obvious to me — they were entering their internal part number in the invoice.
This showed they had several issues in their processes:
- The Accounting Department using their commercial practices on government invoices
- The contract’s part number, nomenclature, and CLIN being ignored
- Lack of training for all departments who touch government sales
One of my favorite tongue-in-cheek lines is to tell people that the government doesn’t care if your company calls the part/item “The-Flying-Purple-People-Eater”, just as long as you list it in WAWF/iRAPT by what they call it.
The worst part of the story — the Operations Department obtained sign-off approval of the Receiving Report (RR) in WAWF/iRAPT, meaning the RR was entered with:
- the correct manufacturer’s part number (as listed on the contract)
- and the correct Nomenclature as listed on the NSN.
For those who are not aware of how WAWF/iRAPT works, once the RR has been approved, there is a simple action in the platform to submit an Invoice off of a RR.
All of that data in the RR copies over to the Invoice and the only action left for the Accounting Department is reference their internal invoice number.
That’s it.
Once their Accounting Department was taught the simple function of submitting the WAWF/iRAPT Invoice off the approved Receiving Report:
- their invoices were approved
- and their workload decreased
Mistake #5: Not Mapping Contract Modifications and Deliverables
Contracts change.
Funding changes.
Scope changes.
Schedules change.
If you are not actively tracking:
- Modifications (bilateral and unilateral)
- Updated delivery timelines
- Funding levels
- New or revised deliverables
You will fall out of alignment with the contract.
And you won’t even realize it until it becomes a problem.
Mistake #6: Assuming Prime Contract Flowdowns Don’t Apply to You
This shows up constantly with subcontractors.
What subs assume:
- “That clause is in the prime contract, not mine.”
Reality:
- If it is flowed down, it applies to you.
- If it is referenced, it may apply to you.
- If your work touches regulated areas (cyber, packaging, reporting), you are still accountable.
With NDAA changes coming, flowdowns are evolving — but right now, contractors still get burned by ignoring them.
Never assume something doesn’t apply.
Verify.
Mistake #7: Waiting Too Long to Ask the Contracting Officer a Question
Silence is not safe.
What contractors do:
- Wait until a problem becomes urgent
- Try to “figure it out internally”
- Avoid asking questions to not look inexperienced
What happens:
- Deadlines get missed
- Incorrect assumptions get locked in
- Issues escalate
The government would rather you ask early than fix late.
Professional communication is not a weakness.
It’s risk control.
The Pattern Behind All 7 Mistakes
None of these failures are random.
They come from one root issue:
Contractors shift out of “proposal mode” too slowly.
They are still thinking about winning —
instead of executing.
Execution requires:
- Reading the full award
- Mapping obligations
- Tracking compliance
- Communicating early
- Documenting everything
My Two Cents
Risk doesn’t just live in the proposal, it also lives in the performance.
And the contractors who win consistently are not the ones who bid the best. They are the ones who execute cleanly, get paid without friction, and don’t create problems for the government.
If you are within your first 90 days of performance, this is the window where habits are set.
Get it right now.
Need a Second Set of Eyes?
If you’ve already received an award and want clarity before moving forward, I offer structured post-award reviews focused on:
- Deliverables and compliance
- Packaging and inspection risk
- Clause obligations
- Payment flow
Request a review → Contact me today.
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