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Length or Size of FAR over time?


BrettK

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4 minutes ago, BrettK said:

BTW, the most interesting thing I learned about the FAR in terms of word count, having counted all years that were electronically available to me, was that it was not a linear expansion as I expected. There were some years parts were replaced or removed casuing a decrease from the prior year. It was much more of a jagged trend that eventually made its way upwards from 1995 - present.

Word count, in and of itself, is not a very important problem. Complication, complexity, and lack of clarity are much more important problems. If I had a choice between fewer pages and clearer text, I'd take clearer text.

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8 minutes ago, BrettK said:

Feel free to DM or email me. I'll put on a bulletproof vest just in case it gets ugly.

I'll send a message to you at Wifcon mail. It won't be ugly. The paper isn't bad. It's just more of what we've heard a hundred times, with slightly different emphases.

I swear, I think I'll puke on my keyboard if I read innovate, innovation, or innovative in one more white paper. And I don't think technology will solve our problems. It has already made our old problems worse. But if technology is what you're selling...

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9 minutes ago, Vern Edwards said:

Word count, in and of itself, is not a very important problem. Complication, complexity, and lack of clarity are much more important problems. If I had a choice between fewer pages and clearer text, I'd take clearer text.

Really interesting idea. So I ran an older version of the FAR through Gunning Fog readability index. According to that non-scientific reading, the old FAR was written at the 16.55 level (college senior to college graduate).

The most recent FAR is written at 14.32 (college sophomore to junior).

From a reading index level, it is less complex now. I'm sure that doesn't track with your findings.

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1 hour ago, Vern Edwards said:

Did you run the entire FAR or just a part? If you ran the entire FAR, you probably got a lower number than if you ran particular parts. Try running Part 13, Part 25, and Part 31 and tell us what you get for each.

Here is the data I got for the parts you mentioned. Still looks like a decrease in Gunning Fog for each:

Part 13

1995: 13.98

2022: 13.69

 

Part 25

1995: 13.51

2022: 13.25

 

Part 31

1995: 16.55

2022: 15.41

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16 minutes ago, Vern Edwards said:

52.215-10 --- 20.9 very difficult to read; the highest level of difficulty

So in order to understand Price Reduction for Defective Certified Cost or Pricing Data the reader is expected to have, what, two PhDs?

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I tried getting a score for this, but it came back as undefined:

Quote

If an emergency or unanticipated event interrupts normal Government processes so that proposals cannot be received at the office designated for receipt of proposals by the exact time specified in the solicitation, and urgent Government requirements preclude amendment of the solicitation, the time specified for receipt of proposals will be deemed to be extended to the same time of day specified in the solicitation on the first work day on which normal Government processes resume.

This was the excerpt from FAR 52.215-1 that I used for The Plain Language Writing contest a few years ago.

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I just checked FAR 52.215-1 as a whole, and the Gunning Fog result was 18.1, difficult to read, college graduate level.

For more on computerized readability tests see https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dennis-Fisher-3/publication/15614441_How_reliable_is_computerized_assessment_of_readability/links/0046352e889c94bea9000000/How-reliable-is-computerized-assessment-of-readability.pdf

 

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3 hours ago, BrettK said:

So in order to understand Price Reduction for Defective Certified Cost or Pricing Data the reader is expected to have, what, two PhDs?

I have used that contract clause, 52.215-10, as the basis for a reading test in classes for more than 15 years. In a typical class of 25, in which one-third to one-half of the students have graduate degrees, mostly MBAs, but also some law degrees, maybe one or two students get the right answer for the right reason. I have put experts to the test, and most have answered incorrectly.

Professional reading is a professional skill.

 

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  • 2 months later...
On 10/21/2022 at 7:43 PM, Vern Edwards said:

I have used that contract clause, 52.215-10, as the basis for a reading test in classes for more than 15 years. In a typical class of 25, in which one-third to one-half of the students have graduate degrees, mostly MBAs, but also some law degrees, maybe one or two students get the right answer for the right reason. I have put experts to the test, and most have answered incorrectly.

Professional reading is a professional skill.

 

I believe I ran into this via one of the classes often advertised at the top of this page.  As I recall, it was in the form of a scenario - and I was called upon to present my opinion of that scenario in front of the class.  As I presented, a number of classmates poked at my logic, suggested alternatives, just said I was wrong, etc.  In the end, my fellow students did not agree with my assessment of the scenario.   And where I feared I was being fed into the buzz saw of failure, it was instead a proud moment for me when the teacher (not you) told me I got it exactly right - the reasoning, the math, and the resulting opinion.  

I don't have fancy degrees and don't really do this stuff for a living, but...I can diagram a sentence.  They told me that someday it would come in handy!   

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And to add to the original (interesting) conversation:

While the growth of pages and words are one measure of complexity, I find that the number and degree of edits are what really drives challenges in maintaining compliance against a changing FAR.  Simply put, next year's FAR could have the same number of pages and words but be wildly different via re-writes, deletions/additions, etc.  

Measuring that is difficult and would depend on exactly how such changes are reported/captured.   But it might look like:

  • # of words, sentences, pages, clauses or sections that have changes, or
  • % of words that have been replaced or added vs. what stayed from the year before.  

If the last one could be pretty revealing - how long does it take the FAR to be 'turned over' (where the cumulative number of changed words > the total words in the FAR) - 30 years?  More? Less?   Is the rate of change increasing/decreasing/steady?   Is there any trend in the nature of the changes, say from wholesale re-writes to minor tinkering (like to update thresholds or references)?   My gut tells me there's a steady-to-rising increase in the changes YoY, and that the changes are more of the 'tinkering' type over time.    But I really have no idea.     

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51 minutes ago, jayandstacey said:

I believe I ran into this via one of the classes often advertised at the top of this page.  As I recall, it was in the form of a scenario - and I was called upon to present my opinion of that scenario in front of the class.  As I presented, a number of classmates poked at my logic, suggested alternatives, just said I was wrong, etc.  In the end, my fellow students did not agree with my assessment of the scenario.   And where I feared I was being fed into the buzz saw of failure, it was instead a proud moment for me when the teacher (not you) told me I got it exactly right - the reasoning, the math, and the resulting opinion.  

I don't have fancy degrees and don't really do this stuff for a living, but...I can diagram a sentence.  They told me that someday it would come in handy!   

Ah, the defective subcontractor cost or pricing data case! Out of a class of 25 it is unusual for even one person to get the answer right for the right reason. I have given that scenario to defective pricing experts, and most of them get it wrong on the first try. And lawyers don't do better than others.

Well done!

33 minutes ago, jayandstacey said:

how long does it take the FAR to be 'turned over' (where the cumulative number of changed words > the total words in the FAR) - 30 years?  More? Less?   Is the rate of change increasing/decreasing/steady?

To get an idea of what is coming, see https://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/dars/opencases/farcasenum/far.pdf

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