8856 Career Guide
8856: Contracting Officer
Career transition guide for Marine Corps Contracting Officer (8856)
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Top civilian roles for 8856 veterans, with average salary and market demand data.
Contract Specialist
Skills to develop:
Procurement Manager
Skills to develop:
Compliance Officer
Skills to develop:
Project Manager
Skills to develop:
Purchasing Agent
Skills to develop:
Salary estimates from VWC career data
Hidden Strengths
Cognitive skills your 8856 training built — and where they transfer.
Procedural Compliance
As a contracting officer, you rigorously follow the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and other government regulations, ensuring every contract adheres to strict guidelines and legal standards.
In the civilian world, this translates to a strong ability to understand, implement, and enforce complex policies and procedures, which is invaluable in highly regulated industries.
Resource Optimization
You assess a contractor's ability to economically manufacture a product, preparing and administering contracts through operational and central systems contracting programs, ensuring the best value for the government.
This skill directly translates to optimizing resource allocation, managing budgets, and identifying cost-saving measures, critical for improving efficiency and profitability in any organization.
Adversarial Thinking
You evaluate bids and proposals, negotiating terms and conditions to protect the government's interests. This often involves anticipating potential challenges and risks from contractors and developing mitigation strategies.
This sharpens your ability to identify potential risks, anticipate challenges, and develop robust negotiation strategies, making you adept at problem-solving and protecting an organization's interests.
After-Action Analysis
You evaluate contractor performance post-award, identifying areas for improvement in contracting processes and contractor management for future contracts.
This provides you with a keen eye for identifying areas of process improvement, assessing the effectiveness of strategies, and implementing lessons learned, crucial for continuous organizational development.
Non-Obvious Career Matches
Compliance Officer
SOC 13-1041.00You've been rigorously adhering to the FAR and other regulations, giving you a solid foundation for ensuring companies comply with industry-specific regulations and internal policies. Your attention to detail and understanding of legal frameworks make you a great fit.
Project Manager
SOC 11-9199.11You've been managing contracts from start to finish, which is essentially managing a project. Your skills in negotiation, resource optimization, and risk assessment are directly applicable to overseeing projects and ensuring they stay on track and within budget.
Purchasing Manager
SOC 11-3061.00You've been assessing bids, negotiating contracts, and managing vendor relationships. This experience translates directly into sourcing, negotiating, and procuring goods and services for a company, making you an invaluable asset in supply chain management.
Training & Education Equivalencies
Contracting Officer Education Program (COEP), Marine Corps University, Quantico, VA
Topics Covered
- •Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)
- •Contract Law
- •Cost and Price Analysis
- •Negotiation Techniques
- •Contract Administration
- •Source Selection Procedures
- •Government Procurement Policy
Certification Pathways
Partial Coverage
Requires study of the Contract Management Body of Knowledge (CMBOK), focusing on commercial contracting principles and best practices not always emphasized in government contracting. Review specific domains like contract law in the private sector and risk management from a business perspective.
While the MOS provides strong foundational knowledge, additional study should focus on recent updates to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and changes in government contracting policies.
Recommended Next Certifications
Technical Systems Translation
Military systems you've used and their civilian equivalents for your resume.
| Military System | Civilian Equivalent |
|---|---|
| Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) | Corporate purchasing and procurement regulations |
| Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) | Industry-specific procurement compliance standards |
| Standard Procurement System (SPS) | Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) procurement modules (e.g., SAP Ariba, Oracle Procurement Cloud) |
| Procurement Automated Data and Document System (PADDS) | Document management and workflow automation platforms (e.g., DocuSign, Adobe Sign combined with workflow engines like Microsoft Power Automate) |
| Wide Area Work Flow (WAWF) / Electronic Data Access (EDA) | Electronic invoicing and payment systems (e.g., Tungsten Network, Coupa) |
| Joint Contingency Contracting System (JCCS) | Emergency procurement and vendor management software |
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