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  2. Instead of "descope," the proper term of art is "deductive change." See Government Contract Changes (August 2023 Update), by Nash and Feldman. § 4:15, Deductive change vs. convenience terminations § 16:16 Separately priced contract items See also, Person, 01-08, Briefing Papers 1: "Deductive Changes" (2001)' See also, Nash et al., Administration of Government Contracts, 5th ed., "Deletion of Work Through Termination for Convenience, Changes, or Other Clauses," pp. 1071-72.
  3. Yesterday
  4. I wish the word “descope” would disappear from 1102 vocabulary. Are we talking about a (1) a change order under to the Changes clause; (2) a partial termination under the Termination clause; or (3) something else?
  5. This topic is subject to Rule 17. The OP needs to respond to others' questions by Friday or it will be locked.
  6. I saw sec 809 authorizes a pilot program “…to explore the use of consumption-based solutions to address any defense need, hereafter ``anything-as-a-service'', that is feasible to provide users on-demand access, quickly add newly released capabilities, and bill based on actual usage at fixed price units.” For those not familiar with the concept, it allows a quicker and more efficient was of acquiring and managing IT. It means the government just needs to identify requirements in terms of speed, storage, access, and security. Then industry proposes solutions. The winner is selected and the government pays on a consumption basis. There’s no need to identify hardware, specific software, security packages, communications, etc. One major potential glitch is acquisition people need to learn quickly how to buy this stuff. The learning experiences with things like cloud, technical services using LPTA, and Agile showed the need for better understanding upfront.
  7. I had forgotten how dificult doing this analysis was/is. However, I finished it about an hour ago. It appears at Analysis of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2024 It now sits with the other NDAAs since 2002 (with the exception of FY 23) here: NDAAs from 2002 thru 2024.
  8. Last week
  9. I wonder where the idea of an acquisition-related “bootcamp” originated. Seems like an interesting keyword to search by. The Air Force has/had a Contracting Officer Study Group (COSG), but it is not a week long.
  10. Can you specify your requirement in more detail? What do you mean by "prepare"? What do you want attendees to learn? There may be a course that meets your need, but that is not entitled as a "bootcamp" for KOs or KO candidates.
  11. I've done an extensive search of trainings offered by the services, 4th estate, and commercial providers. I've found nothing. Again, this wouldn't be to replace all of the experience and skills required to develop a KO, but rather to provide a basis for the fundamentals.
  12. I do not know of any commercial course that is advertised as a contracting officer"bootcamp", and I am in the acquisition training business. But there may be one of which I am not aware. I presume that you have done an online search. But I gave the response that I did because I do not think any week-long course taught by anybody can "prepare" anyone to be KO. But that's just an old man's opinion. Good luck with your search. Someone here will offer you some better info.
  13. As much as I appreciate the answer, it really doesn't address the question. I wasn't seeking advice on how to be a KO, but rather if there is a bootcamp type course. Intent being that it would be a starting place to prep KOs for the role. Based on the response, I'll assume that it's not something you're aware of at this time.
  14. A weeklong course will not prepare you to be a KO. Not a real KO. But in today's workforce you don't really need much to prepare you to be appointed a KO. Agency managers talk about KO knowledge, but it is mostly just talk. The are not insincere; they are not able. To be a competent KO you must know: concepts, principles, rules, processes, procedures, and techniques pertinent to the acquisition mission. But you cannot learn those things in a week. You must read books and articles. Many, many of them. Over the course of many years. Begin with concepts. Conceptual knowledge is crucially important and underlies everything else. What is a "contract"? If you had to get up before an audience of trainees and teach them the concept of contract in American law, how long could you talk? Fifteen minutes, an hour, a half-day, a week? Interrogate yourself, make a list, then go learn what you need to know. At home. With books. You will never be finished. Never! That's why people talk about "lifelong" learning. Start with a good book about contracts. There are lots of them. Start a professional reading group of 4 or 5 colleagues. Others here will offer different opinions.
  15. You may find nuggets in this discussion in WIFCON to help you further add substance to comments made to your queston above.
  16. Maybe we can categorize contractor FFP assumptions into two buckets for this discussion? Proposal Pricing Assumptions. Assumptions an offeror makes as part of developing its firm-fixed-price proposal. Performance Assumptions. Assumptions an offeror makes which condition or limit its offer, provide an excuse for non-performance, and so forth. pconner, what kind of assumptions are you talking about?
  17. @pconnerWhy do you want to include your assumptions in the contract? What legal effect do you think that would have?
  18. Please join federal government contracts attorneys Nicole Pottroff & Greg Weber for this informative webinar on SBA certifications hosted by Catalyst Center for Business & Entrepreneurship. Participants will get an overview about the Small Business Certifications including: Woman Owned Small Business and Economically Disadvantaged Woman Owned Small Business 8(a) Business Development Program HUBZone (Historically Underutilized Business Zone) Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business We will discuss how to get certified, how long it may take, regulations, changes, updates, and tips and tricks on how to be prepared. Please Register here. The post Webinar! Small Business Certifications, March 20, 2024, 10:00-11:00 am CDT first appeared on SmallGovCon - Government Contracts Law Blog.View the full article
  19. Thanks formerfed, that is exactly what I thought. It has been hit or miss with this particular client so wanted to confirm.
  20. There isn’t. It’s negotiable. In fact, assumptions often are included but subtlety overlooked. Offerors make assumptions in proposals and contracting officers then incorporate technical proposals as part of the contract. It’s a sloppy way of doing business but quite common.
  21. We would like to include our assumptions in a new FFP contract with a federal agency. We are getting a lot of pushback from the CO and COR on our request. Are there any known clauses or other provisions that prohibit these from being included?
  22. Happy Friday and happy, early Saint Patrick’s Day. We hope you have some fun things planned for the weekend. Here, in Lawrence, Kansas, preparations are underway for the annual St. Patty’s Day parade. It seems the whole town comes out to celebrate and it’s a very fun and festive spectacle. I think more than anything, people are just ready to get outside to enjoy the warmer temperatures. Before you head into your weekend activities, here are a few articles on what’s happening in the federal government contracting world. Enjoy the weekend and don’t forget to wear green! Top Government Contracting Events for 2024 GovCon Index Snaps 4-Day Win Streak but Marks Another Winning Week Shreveport Man Convicted in Recent Trial Pleads Guilty to Additional Charge of Theft of Government Funds Biden administration requests $3B for federal AI application development, procurement and integration in 2025 budget Statement by GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan on the President’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Contract losses have defense contractors saying no to their biggest customer: the DOD Navy civilian worker, contractor indicted in alleged bribery scheme Argus Information & Advisory Services Agrees to Pay $37M to Settle Allegations that it Misused Data Obtained Under Government Contracts OMB Announces Pilot to Better Leverage Federal Acquisition to Strengthen America’s Critical Supply Chains Incurred cost submission best practices for government contractors Women-Owned Contracting Trends for 2024 Defense Contracts: Better Monitoring Could Improve DOD’s Management of Award Lead Times The post SmallGovCon Week in Review: March 11-15, 2024 first appeared on SmallGovCon - Government Contracts Law Blog.View the full article
  23. You may find this WIFCON webpage reference useful for the future. A read of "Services Rendered Beyond the Fiscal Year" will help verify Vel's response. https://www.wifcon.com/bonafidecontents.htm
  24. Is anyone aware of a contracting officer bootcamp style training program? Looking for something like a weeklong course that prepares KOs by reviewing pertinent material required to be successful (fiscal law, CICA, pre and post award, protests, etc.) and for the warrant board. I checked the usual places, but didn't find anything like this. Greatly appreciate any recommendations.
  25. No. The replacement of the roof is a single undertaking and is considered a non-severable service because the benefit is not received until the work is complete. If the need is for the replacement of the roof, and it is executed this FY, it is a bonafide need for FY24 even if it takes longer than a year to perform.
  26. Anything might work if the parties understand and agree to it. The key is the ability to define terms and agreememt on definitions. Thus, in order to conduct a transaction for the purchase of "effort" the parties should define it and agree to a method of measurement. But in competitive procurements the government likes to enter into contracts without discussions. Agreement without discussion is an interesting idea. Socrates died in 399 B.C. The government doesn't seem to have learned much since then.
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