bob7947

During my career, which ended years ago, I reviewed thousands of contract files from one end of the country to the other end of the country--with at least one stop in Rock Island. I remember beginning my reviews with the Price Negotiation Memorandum, Business Clearance, Results of Negotiation, etc. Sometimes there were pre and post versions of the document. We have active posters who are senior people in contracting with Heads of Contracting Activities here too. If you go back to the Poll about the age of Wifcon Users, you will see a fairly even distribution of members' within the age group categories that I used. This, of course, gives me an idea. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) directs that a record of negotiations be prepared. However, it may not discus the importance of documenting the negotiation completely--I did not look for explanations. Since the main purpose of this site is/was educational when/since I created it about 20 years ago, I think it may be helpful for the senior members to explain the importance of documenting the negotiation to the less senior members. I'm sure this is part of your job and you have explained it before but this is an opportunity to reach a larger audience. From your experience, why is the document important. If you have examples from your career, that may drive home the significance of this document, please use them. You will be enlightening others with your response--at least I am hope so. I've posted the FAR requirement below: There are a number of knowledgeable contracting people here.

I read this a while back. Here's How Your Watch Can Prove That 2 + 2 Doesn't Equal 4.

The settings for the Polls Forum prevented Members from creating polls. It may have been caused by an update to the software but I don't know why it was set that way. I was not aware of this and have changed the settings so that any Member can conduct a poll in the Polls Forum.

Please take a moment and respond to this poll. It doesn't matter if you read or do not read decisions and opinions. It provides information to me to help with this site--which is larger and more time-consuming than a discussion board. Thanks.

If you work in the area of contracting, you may have heard about Bid Protest and Contract Dispute decisons and opinions. The Government Accoutability Office (GAO) and the Courts issue decisons and opinions on Bid Protests while the Boards of Contract Appeals (BCAs) and the Courts issue decisons and opinions on Contract Disputes. By far, most Bid Protest Decisions are issued by GAO while the Courts issue a much smaller number of opinions. Likewise, the BCAs issue a larger number of Contract Dispute decisions while the Courts issue a smaller number of opinions. I've written a multiple choice question in which you can choose which decisions and opinions that you read. If you don't read decisions and opinions, you can check that box, instead. All those who respond will be anonymous to the public.

Vern: Your PM inbox is probably full. Please check it and empty it, if needed.

The second rule in the Terms of Use is: I noticed that we are naming politicians. However, I still believe the discussion is about the reliability of our news media. Let's keep it that way! All "news" oulets are biased to some degree. We all are in some way. Whenever I read something from a web site, I look for the "about" tab and see what they say they are about. At times, they will give names of officers of their organization that you can check. I do that to judge the direction of their bias. If you must read the news, try to read an assortment of news from other countries. My list of news outlets include news from Siberia, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, India, France, Greece, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and of course, the United States of America. Some countries that do not use English as their first language will let you convert into English. I need to add a news site from Russia and Canada but I remember reading the Montreal Globe and Mail. Maybe I'll add a Toronto outlet to offset Montreal.

Matthew Fleharty: The second link you provided in your latest post warns readers that the site contains malware. Of course, that may be part of this topic. If it isn't, could you please test the link and remove it.

I went back to the Oxford online dictionary to find out what they define as fact If we accept that, the Sun as the center of our solar system became fact when Galileo proved it. Then I looked for their first definition of real Hmmmm. According to those definitions written by a human(s), reality and fact may be two different things. I'm too old for this stuff.

Vern: Between about 300 to 200 BC, Aristarchus claimed that the Sun was the center of our solar system. Centuries later, Copernicus wrote that the Sun was the center of our solar system. A century later, Kepler believed that the Sun was the center of our solar system. At about the same time, Galileo proved the Sun was the center of our solar system. After centuries more, religious authorities finally accepted that the Sun was the center of our solar system. However, if the theory that the Sun is about 4 billion years old is true, it was a fact that the Sun was the center of our solar system billions of years ago. Of course, that would be billions of years before humankind existed, as it is theorized. Facts are not dependent upon humans for their existence. Facts simply await humankind's capacity to discover them. At least that is my theory. Now, I have no idea why the Easter Bunny hides all those chicken eggs in our yards. Maybe it is a chicken in disguise as a bunny. I just don't know.

Vern: I was puzzled by this. A fact does not require agreement to make it a fact.

Pepe: Our use of words can betray us. It's Democratic Party.

Below is Rule 2 from Terms Of Use: I have completed my review and have deleted posts dealing with the discussion of an entity. I also removed a citation to an old IG report. Feel free to discuss Section 846.

I edited the original post to remove a proper name.

We'll probably see it in the NDAA then.

Three of the 4 sponsors are on the Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce of the House Committee on Small Business. I assume that over this year, there will be a markup in the subcommittee and the probability that it is reported to the full committee. If the sponsors can gain support in the full Committee and report it out of Committee, then it may find its way to the NDAA. A Small Business Committee bill has a better chance of attaching itself to an NDAA, then an individual sponsor's bill.

I'm going to start posting selected non-NDAA contracting legislation so that you may comment on it. This is the first. There is a press release to go with it here.

Carl: If you go down to 1.6 of the HHSAR, you will see a use of COTR and a mention of project officer's appointed by program managers . . . I think it mentioned project officer's acting as COTRs too. It takes some effort to figure it all out. Then HHSAR's part 2 defines COR. I think these supplements contain a mixture of the past and near present ideas.

I am providing the following items from the FAR and HUD's agency supplement. The first is from the FAR and discusses an aspect of the FAR System. I think it is self-explanatory. After reading all 3 excerpts, please answer the following question. Do you believe the HUDAR is in compliance with the spirit of the FAR system. Yes or No? The following quote is from the FAR The following quote is from the FAR and defines the COR. The following is from the HUD FAR supplement.

Yeah. My scenario was defective. It's still early in the morning and I didn't sleep.

My ideal case, at this point, would assume something similar to the following: contract manager not defined in any agency supplement and not defined in the contract, defnition of contrating officer's representative (COR) as defined in the FAR, contracting officer, work performed by the contractor at the direction of the contract manager, suit brought by the contractor claiming the contract manager was not a representative of the contracting officer because it was not a COR as defined in the FAR, there is nothing in the contract, etc. It doesn't matter to me that a case is won or lost. What is important is that a case is brought based upon an individual acting as a COR but with a different title. At this point, a case does not matter. It will take me a good amount of time searching for titles and defnitions in FAR supplements. However, there is some hope when you look at the FAR definition of COR that includes a COTR, Carl's 2011 OFPP memo that thinks COTR is gone from the FAR, and FAIs thoughts. I need to show disharmony exists which I am sure it does. There are different title holders acting as CORs out there as this topic shows. I need more than the proliferation of titles. Some day, I might be able to prove there is a detrimental effect of this but that is somewhere in the distant future at this point. And I may never get that far.

I was asking for information about the titles as my original post mentions. Since it is for my own research, I didn't think anyone cared about that. As you realize, titles are nothing more than that---titles. However, they are a good starting point to begin a search--and that is the reason I menioned them in my original post. As you explained, definitions and authorities are what is important. Those definitions may be in FAR suplements and authorities may be spelled out in solicitations. Those sources are free and online. Additionally, years of BCA and court cases are online for free. So, there are documents out there to pursue research on Wifcon.com's budget. I already know my initial steps. Any information provided in this topic, may reduce the time it takes and lead me to further research. The titles I listed in my original post were from memory, as I stated, and date back to the 1980s. While I was looking at the contracts and contract files from that era and from an assortment of agencies, I realized that the different title-holders were performing either the same or similar function. I seem to remember back then that COTR was used more often than COR but that was a long time ago. Many things have changed since then. Back then, it was a victory finding an agency with a COTR, GTR, COR, Project Officer, etc. handbook. What I am looking for in my research is a lot of different titles, performing the same or very similar functions, and causing problems in the contracting process. Any type of disharmony will keep the research alive. I expect I will be done in a year or so, if I feel it is worth continuing.

Yes, I know. Yes, I know. No it doesn't it does exactly what I wanted it to do.

Here is Section 846.

Carl: Part 2 of the FAR includes this definition: “Contracting officer’s representative (COR)” means an individual, including a contracting officer’s technical representative (COTR), designated and authorized in writing by the contracting officer to perform specific technical or administrative functions. The OFPP document from 2011 stated: The term "COTR" is being changed to "COR" to align with the Federal Acquisition Regulation which now incorporates a definition for Contracting Officers Representative andf includes designation of a COR as part of a Contracting Officer's responsibilities. The FAR's definition of Contracting Officer is: “Contracting officer” means a person with the authority to enter into, administer, and/or terminate contracts and make related determinations and findings. The term includes certain authorized representatives of the contracting officer acting within the limits of their authority as delegated by the contracting officer. (emphasis added by me) So a COR or COTR, might become a CO, if the individual is acting within the limits of their authority. Maybe we need another acronym, say CARP-CO, for "certain authorized representatives of the contracting officer acting within the limits of their authority as delegated by the contracting officer. " so as not to get anyone confused. What do you think? Carl: I just saw you included the acronym: GAR which is also a type of fish. I am seeing real possibilities for my suggested acronym CARP-CO.