Inaugural Call for Papers: The W. Gregor Macfarlan Excellence in Contract Management Research and Writing Program

MCLEAN, Va., Aug. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Contract Management Association (NCMA) is pleased to invite the submission of high-quality papers in the inaugural solicitation for the W. Gregor Macfarlan Excellence in Contract Management Research and Writing Program.

Papers may be submitted for consideration in one of three categories: graduate research, professional research, and undergraduate paper writing. Theoretical and empirical papers relevant to the practice of contract management are welcome. Papers may be presented from a variety of basic disciplines, such as business, finance, marketing, management, accounting, management information systems (MIS), public administration, economics, business education and related fields, as long as the research is relevant to the contract management field.

Submissions are solicited in, but not limited to, best practices, ethics and integrity, workforce issues, performance-based acquisition (particularly performance metrics), contract performance incentives, inter-agency contracting (public contracting), e-commerce, e-procurement, technology- enabled contract management, outsourcing and privatization, and innovative practices.

One first-place winner will be selected for each category (papers may be considered in only one category each). The winner in each of the two research categories will be awarded a $5,000 prize, and the papers will be published in the Journal of Contract Management. The winner in the undergraduate writing category will be awarded a $1,000 prize, and will be published in Contract Management magazine. Authors of all first-place papers will be invited to present their papers at World Congress 2007, to be held April 22-25, 2007, at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas, Texas.

All papers must be received by 11:59 pm Eastern time, on December 31, 2006, to be considered. Papers must be submitted by e-mail addressed to macfarlan@ncmahq.org. Each submission will be acknowledged by e-mail; if acknowledgment is not received within seven days, contact NCMA.

Papers must be submitted in PDF format. Winning and honorable mention submissions will be edited and designed for publication by NCMA.

W. Gregor Macfarlan served the contract management profession for more than 40 years, as a researcher, author, mentor, and teacher. He once served as NCMA's national president, and held numerous volunteer leader positions with NCMA and the Washington, D.C., Chapter. Macfarlan was one of the most respected and beloved people ever to serve the contract management profession. Still active in the profession at the time of his passing in 2005, he was a senior research associate at LMI Consulting, Inc., in McLean, VA.

More information, http://www.ncmahq.org/publications/articles/macfarlan.asp