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The Wifcon Forums and Blogs - 25 Years Online

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About this blog

This blog is managed by Bob Antonio, the Owner of Wifcon.com. It includes link to news items on contracting and the blogger's comments

Entries in this blog

Yes Virginia, You Are Honored with a Plaque

Each year about this time, I read an editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church that was published in The Sun on September 21, 1897. The editorial is in response to a letter written by eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon.  Now, this entry is not about the contents of the editorial but I will add my favorite part of the editorial: Mr. Church's prose is beautiful.  He died in 1906 and Virgina died in 1971.  Check out the brief description of the two in Wikipedia.  In her letter to The Sun, Virgini
bob7947

bob7947

4

Wifcon.com: My Legacy; My Albatross

Shortly after we celebrate our country's independence on July 4, 2013, Wifcon.com will end its 15th year on the internet. With much help from the Wifcon.com community, I've raised a growing teenager. When I started, I was 49 and my hair was so thick that I often shouted ouch or some obscenity when I combed it. Wifcon.com has existed in 3 decades and parts of 2 centuries. During that period, I've updated this site for every work day--except for the week or so when I called it quits. I remember th
robert_antonio

robert_antonio

30

Wifcon.com Begins Its 14th Year

Some time ago, I received an e-mail from a Wifcon.com user. The user said that Wifcon.com was my legacy to the contracting field. I never intended for Wifcon.com to be my legacy to anything. In July 1998, I wanted to be part of the internet and the first thing that came to mind was "federal contracting." So, I started with daily contracting news and soon began building a portal for federal contracting information. My goal was to build something that people would use, and as I built the si
robert_antonio

robert_antonio

6
Why Not an Insider: Leslie Anne Fields as Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy

Why Not an Insider? Lesley Anne Field as Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy

I only add the quote about Gene Dodaro to show that Actings can effectively manage organizations.  He's been running GAO for 12 years now.  I was relieved to see that an insider was finally made the Comptroller General.  Someone that knew the agency, someone that could hit the ground running, someone that could get the job done.  That's enough about Gene, this entry is about the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and its next Administrator. I'm feeling a little nasty this morning because

Why GAGAS Should Make You Gag

For those of you who are not familiar with the auditing world, GAGAS is the acronym for Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards and it is written and maintained by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Compliance with GAGAS is mandatory for an auditor during the conduct of an audit and a memo noting compliance with GAGAS should be in the auditor's assignment folder for each audit. Although I was a member of the auditing community during my career with the GAO, I also viewed myse
bob7947

bob7947

5

When The Rule Is Mandatory, It Means Mandatory!

You're travelling on your own for the government and you found a way to save money but you're subject to the Joint Travel Regulations as well as the Federal Travel Regulation. What do you do? You went ahead and saved the government money and were proud of yourself. Unfortunately, your finance office stiffed you when it came time for payment. Its time to learn about rules that are mandatory. See the case at cbca.gsa.gov. (it is only 2 pages.)
bob7947

bob7947

0
Dinosaur

When The Last Dinosaur Turns Out the Lights!

In the middle of July 2023, Wifcon.com will begin its 25th year online, if I'm still alive and functioning.  I'm Bob Antonio, I'm Wifcon.com, I'm 73 years old now, and I started Wifcon.com in 1998, before many of you were born.  I'm well but I am mortal.    Over the years, I've met a handful of you in person including Vern Edwards, Ralph Nash and Joel Hoffman.  Others I've met by accident include a Procurement Executive at the Department of Commerce when I was a member of the workaday world
bob7947

bob7947 in Dinosaur

5

We Did It, Let's Quit!

Last week, I posted an article on the Wifcon Forum in which Dr. Mark J. Lewis, the Director of Defense Research and Engineering for Modernization provided some thoughts about defense projects.  The article was entitled Risk Aversion Impedes Hypersonics Development.  Within the article was a 44- minute video that includes, in part, his discussion of the race for hypersonic weapons systems.  I listened to the video and found it interesting.  The article itself started with this quote: I liv
bob7947

bob7947

15

Unilateral Or Bilateral, That Is The Answer

We've all seen this before. The government and contractor sign a contract with a base period and several 1-year options. Sometimes, the 1-year option periods even mirror the government's fiscal year. A nice little puppy. Then, the harsh realities of government take over and our little puppy grows into an unwieldy mongrel. Such is life in federal contracting and here is a story about one such dog. On February 27, 2009, the Army National Guard and Glasgow Investigative Solutions, Inc. (GIS)
bob7947

bob7947

0

Two Days To Remember

The government has plenty of rules involving time. In certain circumstances, an offeror has 10 days to submit a protest. On the other end of the process, contractors have so much time to submit a claim or to respond to a contracting officer's final decision. Here is one case involving time limits: On April 26, 2012, EPSI submitted a certified claim to the SBA contracting officer seeking $135,013.27 from the SBA for increases in the minimum wages during EPSI's period of performance fr
bob7947

bob7947

0

The Sovereign Has Not Consented To Be Sued

In Estes Express Lines, Inc. v. U. S., No. 11-597C, January 15, 2013, the Court of Federal Claims said: "For the government to be sued on a contract pursuant to the Tucker Act, there must be privity of contract between the plaintiff and the United States." "This is so because the doctrine of sovereign immunity precludes a suit against the United States without its consent and because, under the Tucker Act, the United States has 'consent[ed] to be sued only by those with whom it has privity
bob7947

bob7947

0

The House and Senate Committees on Contracting and Assistance

I had planned to write a detailed article about my plan for the above committees. However, I'm never going to get to it. So, I'm going to try a series of quick posts to get my thoughts published. Don't tell me that these committees will never be formed. I know they won't. Committees and subcommittees are entities run by politicians for politicians. However, I can dream. You can see from the titles of my proposed committees that they would deal with federal contracting and federal assistan
bob7947

bob7947

0

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Contract Analysis

One of our colleagues sent this to me and I am posting it for you. Even Bilbo Baggins has a contract attorney to watch over him. "I, the undersigned, [referred to hereinafter as Burglar,] agree to travel to the Lonely Mountain, path to be determined by Thorin Oakenshield, who has a right to alter the course of the journey at his so choosing, without prior notification and/or liability for accident or injury incurred." "The aforementioned journey and subsequent extraction from the Lonely Mo
bob7947

bob7947

1

The Guy Lacks Initiative

I've been reading some discussions from the Contracting Workforce Forum.  As some of you know, I abhor the use of management phrases like "cool kids organizations."  What the hell is a "cool kids organization?"  Is it an excuse for something?  I spent my working career listenting to the latest meaningless phrases like that.  I was around when the words Human Capital became popular.  The words Human Resource preceded it.  If you look at the definition for capital and resource, you will see they a
bob7947

bob7947

3

The Government's Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing

The long-standing principle that the federal government had the same implied duty of good faith and fair dealing as any commercial buyer was put in jeopardy by a 2010 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Precision Pine & Timber, Inc. v. U.S., 596 F.3d 817 (Fed. Cir. 2010). There a panel of the court adopted a narrow rule seemingly limiting application of the principle to situations where a government action was “specifically targeted” at the contractor or had the ef
Ralph Nash

Ralph Nash

3
fpif-ft

The Fixed-Price Incentive Firm Target Contract:  Not As Firm As the Name Suggests

The Fixed-Price Incentive Firm Target Contract:  Not As Firm As the Name Suggests At the end of 1976, I met the Director of the Procurement Control and Clearance Division of the Naval Material Command in Arlington, Virginia.  The Director was a legend of the contracting community and any significant Navy contract had to be approved by his office prior to award.  I was there because of a controversy involving a contract to acquire a new class of nuclear cruisers.  Th
bob7947

bob7947 in fpif-ft

1

The Contract for "Pook Turtles"

No, they are not candy; no they are not turtles. However, they did have an iron shell. Pook Turtles were designed by Samuel M. Pook and were the "City Class" of armored gunboats that sailed the Mississippi and its tributaries beginning in early 1862. They were called Pook Turtles because people thought they looked like turtles. The seven ships were the USS Cairo, Carondelet, Cincinnati, Louisville, Mound City, Pittsburg, and St. Louis. The recovered remnants of the USS Cairo now rest at the N
bob7947

bob7947

7

The Contract File

As many of you know, I was an auditor for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) for over 33 years. About 32 years of that was spent reviewing the contracting practices of federal agencies. To enhance my ability to review federal agency contracting practices, I picked up an M. S. in Procurement Management in the 1980s. I wasn't your typical auditor. I had an extensive knowledge base in my field of work―federal contracting―and much of my time was spent with my face in agencies' contract files
robert_antonio

robert_antonio

4

The Congressional Budget Office Compares Apples And Oranges

The Army plans to develop and procure a new Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) that will do two things: 1) operate as a combat vehicle and 2) transport soldiers onto the battlefield. The GCV would replace the current Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) believes that implementing the GCV program would cost $29 billion–in 2013 dollars–between 2014 to 2030. The CBO did a report that compares the Army’s plan for the GCV with four other alternatives. Although none of
bob7947

bob7947

1

The Case Of The Reluctant Subcontractors

In the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia, a recent opinion was issued in which 3 hospitals wanted to avoid being labled as government subcontractors to avoid the Department of Labor's rules covering subcontractors. The hospitals had contracts with UPMC Health Plan to provide medical services and supplies to individuals enrolled in its program. UPMC contracted with the U. S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to provide coverage for federal employees in the Federal Employees
bob7947

bob7947

0

Termination For Convenienience: Not As Convenent As One Might Think

In 2010, the U.S. Central Command's Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, had a requirement for security services to facilitate investment and commerce in Iraq. This blog entry deals with the 2 competitive solicitations and contracts that led to a case before the Court of Federal Claims (COFC). Unfortunately for Tigerswan, the awardee of the 2 contracts under the solicitations, the contracts weren't rewarding--at least for the contracted items. (TigerSwan did claim damages of $
bob7947

bob7947

0

Sometime In Your Career . . .

Sometime in your career, you will be faced with a decision that will affect the way you perceive yourself. It may be an immediate career changer or it may be one of those little decisions that help to define your career. You will know it when you encounter it and you will think about it before you take action at least the first time. There will be rules designed to lead you in your decision, but in the end, it will be your decision. Your choice may be as easy as right or wrong or it may be in va
robert_antonio

robert_antonio

4

Some Thoughts On "FPIF Math"

As we all know, federal agency budgets are being cut. Those cuts will work their way into contracting programs. Of course, that made me think about the abuse of the fixed-price incentive firm target (FPIF) contract. Almost a decade ago, I posted an article I titled The Fixed-Price Incentive Firm Target Contract: Not As Firm As the Name Suggests. The abuse I mention there requires a special skill and an understanding of what can be done with the FPIF. These skills were at their peak in the
robert_antonio

robert_antonio

0

Rebates And Discounts In Food Service Contracts

"The Subcommittee’s investigation of food service contracts has revealed systemic deficiencies in the transparency and oversight of contractors’ rebate and discount policies. Chairman McCaskill asked Office of Management and Budget Director Zients to review the Subcommittee’s findings and issue guidance to federal agencies to address these deficiencies. She also requested that OMB consider how the federal government can better leverage its buying power through the strategic sourcing of food serv
bob7947

bob7947

0

Protester Wins Substance Of Protest; Still Loses

In Lockheed Propulsion Company; Thiokol Corporation, B-173677, June 24, 1974, GAO issued its bid protest decision on the Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) Project for the Space Shuttle Program. This decision was issued before the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had its first SRM and before it had its first Space Shuttle. One part of the Lockheed protest dealt with the proposed costs for ammonium perchlorate (AP), a major part of the propellant in the SRM. Two offerors, Lockheed an
bob7947

bob7947

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