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Vern Edwards' Blog



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Restructuring the Workforce: It is the right thing to do.

Posted by Vern Edwards, 29 March 2010 · 2,020 views

I have long argued that the structure of the contracting workforce is out of balance. Most contracting work is simple and repetitive, and includes a large amount of administrative and clerical work, yet most of the 29,000+ people in the contracting workforce (excluding 1101s) are 1102 contract specialists, with 1105 purchasing agents being a very small mi...



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Ambrose

Posted by Vern Edwards, 18 February 2010 · 699 views

Our webmaster, Bob Antonio, had to put his little dog Ambrose to sleep today. Bob and Ambrose had been companions for nearly 17 years.Those of you who have owned dogs know how painful it is when they die, especially when they've been with you for a long time. I have seen some very tough people break down and cry like babies over the death of a dog. If...



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It's Scary.

Posted by Vern Edwards, 21 January 2010 · 761 views

The opinion pages of the January 12 edition of The Washington Post contained a guest column by Paul C. Light entitled, ?The Real Crisis in Government.? http://www.washingto...0011103255.html In that column he makes an important point: our government is no longer competent enough to guarantee ?the faithful execution of our laws.? Ever...



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A Simple Training Exercise

Posted by Vern Edwards, 05 January 2010 · 1,557 views

Here is an in-house training exercise for new acquisition personnel. The objectives are to: (a) give the participants a good overview of the acquisition process and (B) introduce them to the FAR and to the language of acquisition. These objectives are achieved by requiring the participants to actively engage with acquisition language and concepts. OVERVIE...



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Which way do you see it?

Posted by Vern Edwards, 22 December 2009 · 1,325 views

I teach a class in which the students are given a scenario: They are told that the Government has awarded a firm-fixed-price contract for supplies and that the contracting officer changed the specification immediately after award. They are told about the contractor's original price proposal, the negotiated price, the change, and new price quotes. They...



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The End of Incentives?

Posted by Vern Edwards, 01 December 2009 · 1,865 views

On October 14, the FAR councils published an interim rule about incentive contracts. (FAC 2005-37, 74 FR 52858.) FAR 16.401(d) now requires a determination and findings signed by the head of the contracting activity (HCA) before using any incentive contract. Given the bureaucratic hassle of processing such a formal document, I think we might reasonably ex...



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Impotent Incrementalism

Posted by Vern Edwards, 24 November 2009 · 355 views

Why does anyone think that a long-standing administrative problem can be solved by writing reports, memos, and regulations? In a report issued in September, GAO 09-921, Extent of Federal Spending under Cost-Reimbursement Contracts Unclear and Key Controls Not Always Used, the GAO made the following recommendation to the Office of Federal Procurement Polic...



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The Bean Counter Mentality

Posted by Vern Edwards, 04 November 2009 · 506 views

Warning: This is going to be cranky.In testimony before the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, John Hutton of the GAO said that DOD had to do a better job of tracking contracts. Specifically, he said that DOD had to do a better job of keeping track of "the number of personnel employed on each contract in Iraq and Afghanistan....



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A Cheap, Showy Gesture

Posted by Vern Edwards, 30 October 2009 · 594 views

In a memo released today and addressed to Chief Acquisition Officers and Senior Procurement Executives, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy issued "guidelines" to agencies about how to increase the use of competition and use fewer cost-reimbursement and time-and-materials/labor-hour contracts. Honestly, you have to wonder.The memo begins by r...



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Shortsighted Supervisors

Posted by Vern Edwards, 23 August 2009 · 436 views

Anyone who has conducted onsite training is familiar with the scenario. A student's supervisor lets her attend a training course, but demands that she come into the office before and after class to get a solicitation or a contract modification "out of the door." Sometimes the supervisor pulls the student out of class to attend a meeting or a t...



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Can you explain yourself?

Posted by Vern Edwards, 17 August 2009 · 692 views

In many places, the Federal Acquisition Regulation tells contracting officers to document their conclusions about this or that. The classic example is the requirement in 15.406-3(a)(11) to document the fairness and reasonableness of the contract price. See also FAR 16.103((d):QUOTE Each contract file shall include documentation to show why the particular...



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Thinking About The Tool

Posted by Vern Edwards, 16 July 2009 · 830 views

"Automated" contract writing systems have been around for a long time. I recall early versions, like the Air Force's "AMIS" system, being in use since the late 1970s or early 1980s.DOD's Standard Procurement System (SPS), Procurement Desktop Defense or PD2, has been in use for over a decade and is now in version 4.2. I have never h...



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Do It Yourself Training

Posted by Vern Edwards, 01 July 2009 · 530 views

Training is costly and hard to do well. You have to pay for a knowledgeable instructor who is good at teaching, a decent classroom, and good instructional materials. You also have to pay for the students to travel. When you have all of that you must cram a lot of material into one or two weeks of day-long classroom sessions for 20 to 30 persons.If you?re...



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A Few Good Books

Posted by Vern Edwards, 30 June 2009 · 438 views

I just received a catalog from a prominent publisher of books about contracting. I know that such books are expensive, but these prices are stunning: $559.59 for a treatise on contract costs; $214.00 for a ?guidebook?; $92.00 for a book about default termination; $543.00 for a treatise about negotiation and sealed bidding. Other publis...



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Another Thought About IDIQs

Posted by Vern Edwards, 26 June 2009 · 440 views

Don Mansfield and I discussed my recent blog entry about IDIQ contracts last night, and Don offered an interpretation of the Indefinite-Quantity clause that I want to share. Don suggested a different interpretation of the first paragraph of the Indefinite Quantity clause, FAR 52.216-22. which reads as follows:QUOTE (a) This is an indefinite-quantity contr...



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Those Pesky IDIQ Contracts Again

Posted by Vern Edwards, 22 June 2009 · 4,282 views

In a recent thread in the Wifcon discussion forum, a member asked if a task order issued under an Indefinite-Delivery Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract can contain an option that permits extension of the order beyond the contract expiration date. Here is the question:QUOTE [T]he requiring activity wants to put a task order in place that has a base year...



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A Little Touch of Harry

Posted by Vern Edwards, 17 June 2009 · 786 views

In his June 17 column in Government Executive, Brian Friel asked managers to think about what kind of communicator they are:QUOTE As a manager, what kind of communicator are you? Are you a face-to-face type of person, preferring to have employees stop by your office to touch base? Or are you more of a phone and voicemail boss, managing via your cell phone...



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Correction

Posted by Vern Edwards, 17 June 2009 · 278 views

In my recent "management fiasco" entry, i reported that the intern retention rate at the organization I visited was only 20 percent. I have been corrected. The rate was 25 percent.I feel so much better. Don't you?



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A Management Fiasco in the Making

Posted by Vern Edwards, 16 June 2009 · 363 views

During a recent visit to a federal agency contracting shop, I was told that the retention rate among contracting interns has thus far been twenty percent. Twenty percent! Although the rate is lower than I expected, I am not entirely surprised.I talk to a lot of contracting interns. What strikes me about them is that they are they are well-educated by...



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The Files

Posted by Vern Edwards, 08 June 2009 · 461 views

Bureaucracy has been a pejorative term for a long time.QUOTE The terms bureaucrat, bureaucratic, and bureaucracy are clearly invectives. Nobody calls himself a bureaucrat or his own methods of management bureaucratic. These words are always applied with an opprobrious connotation. They always imply a disparaging criticism of persons, institutions, or proc...



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