Jump to content

COR Files


Guardian

Recommended Posts

10 hours ago, Vern Edwards said:

I don't think it makes sense to create a job series for COR. It is not a generalist position.

I will not disagree to the point of a debate but I believe this statement to not be a representation of reality at least on the civilian side and I am willing to bet not on the DoD side to some extent.   By experience both real and observed COR's are not selected on their technical expertise except in the construction and parts manufacturing fields.   Otherwise they are head hunted because they have certification and appointed as COR's outside of their program and specialty area.  I believe a read of this thread helps support this reality.

It seems dis-jointed to advocate that a COR have specialized technical knowledge of the item being procured yet the CO who actually procures it does not.

Many agencies including the DoD have bridged the gap of  having a COR that is cognizant of administrative matters versus that of the specialized technical knowledge by having individuals such as technical points of contact, quality assurance support and even the throw-back of sorts to Contracting Officers Technical Representative (COTR) where years back agencies would assign both a COTR and COR.  

FAR 2.101 - 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.   (There is no "and").

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, C Culham said:

By experience both real and observed COR's are not selected on their technical expertise except in the construction and parts manufacturing fields. 

Then, in the words of Bob Dylan, your experience has been "limited and underfed."

In my experience, everyone who has been appointed a COR has been from the requiring activity, and their job has been to make sure the requiring activity gets what it wants.

2 hours ago, C Culham said:

FAR 2.101 - 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.   (There is no "and").

Well, that's just ignorance on your part. Read the entry "and/or" in Garner's Modern English Usage, page 50. Surely, you own a copy. Also see the extended entry on "and/or" in Garner's Dictionary of Legal Usage, 3d ed., p.57-58.

But I'm not going to waste words arguing with you about something you have convinced yourself about. I have stated my opinion. People can take it or leave it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

1 hour ago, Vern Edwards said:

Let me think about it.

You once recommended a book I read and enjoyed, which was GPS Declassified: From Smart Bombs to Smartphones, by Richard D. Easton and Eric F. Frazier.  

I like corporate and technological history.  As the old saying goes, smart people read biographies.  I try to read them too.  An epic biography that explains the technology, politics and history behind the Manhattan Project, as well as the entire life of the enigma that was JRO, is American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherman.  It is near the top of my list of all time best books read.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@GuardianOkay, here are four you might like.

Tunnel Visions: The Rise and Fall of the Superconducting Super Collider, by Riordan, Hoddeson, and Kolb. (2015) It's about one of the great program disasters of the late 1980s - early 1990s, and its full of particle physics stuff. I was a consultant to that program and withdrew after realizing and predicting that it would fail. I was right. It failed about a year after I left. A big setback for American physics, due entirely to mismanagement. It would have taken a Leslie Groves to save it.

The $5 Billion Misunderstanding: The Challenge of the Navy's A-12 Stealth Bomber Program, by James P. Stevenson (2001). About another failed program.

The X-15 Rocket Plane: Flying the First Wings into Space, by Michelle Evans (2013). About a very successful program.

The Linguistics Wars: Chomsky, Lakoff, and the Battle Over Deep Structure, 2d ed. by Randy Allen Harris (2021). A great study of a great science controversy. I have a feeling you would like it.

I have the Oppenheimer book, but won't be able to get to it for a while. Glad to hear you liked it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...