bob7947

Over the past several weeks, I have been updating this site.

This past weekend I updated the Legislation Page for the 117th Congress, 2nd session (the current one).  I will correct the heading to the page soon.  It will be updated each weekend to present the most current contracting marvels of the U. S. Congreess.  Also, the Public Laws page was updated this weekend.  I now notice the the LII had left it with some dead links at the top which I will correct.

Earlier,  I updated the Regulations page and the massive FAR Research Page.  I continue to update Wifcon.com pages.

My efforts were spurred on by H-2-H and then by Michael Caine in the movie Interstellar where he quoted lines from Dylan Thomas.  I'm 73 now and I took it to heart.  My goal is to update the entire site, then teach myself a new software suite, and finally turn the non-discussion part of the site into something current.  As Dylan Thomas wrote

Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night

H. R. 8007:  Introduced on 6/9/22 to prevent price gouging at the Department of Defense.

H. R. 7694:  Introduced on 5/10/22 to modify the requirements relating to the evaluation of the subcontracting plans of certain offerors.

We are blessed with so much information at our fingertips now.  As President Eisenhower read his address, I noticed him looking at something to his right.  I wondered if he was using a Teleprompter.  Here is the answer from wikipedia.org -

"On January 4, 1954, Dwight Eisenhower was the first President to use a teleprompter for a State of the Union address. Jess Oppenheimer, who created I Love Lucy and served for its first five years as its producer and head writer, developed the first "in-the-lens" prompter and was awarded U.S. patents for its creation."

So, he may have been using a Teleprompter.

Then I began wondering if President Eisenhower added his own personal notes and changes to his transcript.  Was there something he felt was important enough to change?  We have that too.

President Eisenhower's Annotated Farewell Address

This morning, I was introducing someone to President Dwight D. Eisenhower's warning about the "Military Industrial Complex."  The warning was given on January 17, 1961 in President Eisenhower's farewell address to the nation.  The quote above was also from the address and deals with research.

I've never listened to the address before today.  That was my mistake.  The address lasts about 16 minutes and it is important.

I looked last night in the e-Cfr and the updates were not made there either.  Then again, look at the OFPP site and some of the memos, letters, etc., haven't been updated for 20 years or so.

RETREATING FROM REFORM: “We Have Met The Enemy, And He Is Us!” by Vernon J. Edwards

I've read some comments on the UK's proposed procurement legislation and, to some extent, the comments reminded me of our 1984.  Remember, the UK is starting over after they left the EU.  Here are some comments from the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition.

You will see references to the "Green Paper."  

Formerfed:  If you post the solicitation #, please link it so others can see it or if you post the solicitation #, I can find it and link it.

Initial comments on the UK’s Procurement Bill: A lukewarm assessment

Courtesy of SSRN

There is a piece of legislation making its way in the United Kingdom's Parliament.  It's called

A Bill to Make Provision about Procurement.

It can be tracked at Parliamentary Bills, UK Parliament.

Feel free to check it out and "perfect" it as you see fit.

I thouught the lead-in to this COFC opinion was amusing.  

Seventh Dimension LLC v. U. S., No. 21-2275C, May 11, 2022.

"This case requires the Court to answer the question of whether, and under what circumstances, the government may cancel a Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) part 15 procurement and start over from scratch. The facts are reminiscent of “a game of Lucy and the football from the world of Charles Schulz. Plaintiff, Seventh Dimension, LLC — after successfully achieving its desired outcome in two successive protests — was the last offeror standing in this contractor edition of Survivor. Although Seventh Dimension’s proposal was highly rated, and offered a competitive price, Defendant, the United States — acting by and through the U.S. Department of the Army, Special Operations Command (the “Army” or “USASOC”) — decided to pull the plug on the show, cancelling the procurement following a two-year process. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1491(b), Seventh Dimension challenges the Army’s decision to cancel the solicitation for Army Special Operations Forces (“ARSOF”) training support as arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise contrary to law. The parties filed cross-motions for judgment on the administrative record pursuant to Rule 52.1 of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”)."

CONTRACTING PROCESS INTERTIA: The Enduring Appeal Of The Essay-Writing Contest by Vern Edwards

On the Home Page, I post only the Federal Acquisition Regulation requests for information because they are used in comments for the FAR.  From memory, DoD posts the most requests for information but since they are one Department I do not add requests on their supplements.

Everyone:

I've locked this topic, not because of any post in this topic, but because of the reality of the last several posts.

I will be 73 years of age in a few months.  Other regulars are older than I am.   Because I am writing this, it means that the update of the Home Page is being delayed because I am the one who does it.  I will be up late again.

Don't worry about me.  I don't do much around here.  But others do and they all have been contributing to this community for many years.  

I want to thank all the contributors for the efforts they make here  This site, with all of its current flaws, was created in 1998 with one purpose--to help other members of the contracting community by gaining knowledge.  You have done that!

If you believe in something, you cannot quit because we're not done yet.

Thank you.

I merged the 2 topics of the same name and deleted the first post of the "author."  It appears that the merge routine was successful.

Whenever I see Carl Vinson, I think of P.L. 87-653.  Others may call it The Truth in Negotiations Act or TINA.  If you are old enough, you may, like me, refer to it as 87-653.   In searching for news tonight, I found the article on the USS Carl Vinson.  It is about the 40th commissioning anniversary of the Vinson on March 13.

Since Carl Vinson was instrumental in 87-653's enactment, I felt it important to post it.   

This Executive Order may have been issued late in the day because I haven't seen much on it.  It is on the Home Page and here:  Executive Order on Advancing Economy, Efficiency, and Effectiveness in Federal Contracting by Promoting Pay Equity and Transparency.

The New Limitations on Subcontracting:  New Rules, New Uncertainties.  By Vernon J. Edwards.  

This is Vern's article about the case.

COMMERCIAL ITEMS: Confusion In Court.

These items will be posted on the Home Page for tomorrow.  So Tonight I'm posting it here too.

Government Contractor Agrees to Pay Record $48.5 Million to Resolve Claims Related to Fraudulent Procurement of Small Business Contracts Intended for Service-Disabled Veterans.

Read the DOJ wording for the one below.

Texas company convicted for supplying potentially tainted rocket fuel to NASA.  

I don't know if I'll find anything else but I'm not done with my review yet.

I found the COFC opinion that was appealed to the Federal Circuit.  it is

JKB Solutions and Services, LLC. v. U. S., No. 19-1390C, October 16, 2020. 

Does anyone believe that the COFC read the clause?  

This is from NPR.  It is from the author of Flying Blind and is about 36 minutes.

'Flying Blind' author says Boeing put profit ahead of safety.

There are around 500 max planes flying now.  To my knowledge, none crashed since they were allowed to fly again.  However, the damage is done in consumers' minds.

Boeing decided on development of a software program that took the controls of the Max out of the pilots' hands and sent the pilots--and passengers--on a series of 10-second roller coaster rides until the pilots were unable to compensate for the faulty progam and crashed into the ground at over 500 mph.  Boeing was at fault.  The FAA approved the MAX and MCAS as it was originally set up.  The FAA is at fault and someone needs to evaluate how FAA conducts tests.  No crash test dummies need apply.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency put the Max with the larger engines through its paces even without MCAS on and it was stable during the tests.

Boeing and FAA failed all of us because they gave Communist China the opportunity to be the first country to ground the Max after the two crashes.  They didn't enjoy that much, I'm sure.

Thank you Mathew.  I watched Downfall: The Case Against Boeing.  Boeing made a business decision.  Instead of building a new design, Boeing, like EUROplane, decided to modify an earlier platform.  

Read Air Current's Boeing's MCAS on the 737 Max may not have been needed at all.

I found a new report that is hot off the press.  It is called:  DoD: State of Competition within the Defense Industrial Base.

It was announced at the White House today in a Fact Sheet entitled:  Department of Defense Releases New Report on Safeguarding our National Security by Promoting Competition in the Defense Industrial Base.

In the report something called a Procurement Business Intelligence Service Competition Analysis Scorecard may exist somewhere in DoD.  I found it mentioned at p. 3 of the DoD report.  I found this toolbox (I'm sure you know how much I love the term scorecards and toolboxes.)

The first contracting law that I found was in 1792.  Since then there have been many perfections to the process by law, regulation, etc.  What we have is Procurement Process Perfection Proliferation or pee-pees for short.  (If I say pee-pees out loud my dogs will want to go outside and do something.)