Vern Edwards

@Sam101 Thank you Sam101. Your answers are clear (a rarity here at Wifcon Forum), and I appreciate them.

With respect to the rule that withdrew the rule, 86 Fed. Reg. 24303, May 6, 2021—the one that Bob posted on May 6—the topic is a very complex legal issue. Reading it is heavy going, but not because the rule is badly written. It struck me as one heck of a great piece of writing. To the extent that it is hard to follow, it is because the law (regulation and case law) is very complex. The explanation is masterful. That writer designed and executed terrific English sentences. Footnotes omitted. Very clear. Someone should mail a copy to the FAR councils. For students of regulation

@Sam101 I have three questions for you: 1. What kinds of things do you buy? 2. What do you mean by "approach"? 3. Is the offeror's description of its "approach" supposed to be a promise or set of promises or is it just information?

"The Impossibility of Comprehending, or Even Reading, All Federal Regulations" https://www.mercatus.org/publications/regulation/impossibility-comprehending-or-even-reading-all-federal-regulations On May 6, Bob posted a notice of rule withdrawal by the Department of Labor. The rule was an interpretation of the meaning of "independent contractor" under the Fair Labor Standards Act. A 40-page proposed rule had been published on September 25, 2020. The 81-page final rule had been published on January 7, 2021, to be effective on March 8. But on March 7, DOL postponed implementation.

Garner, Garner's Guidelines for Drafting & Editing Contracts, 2019, West Academic Publishing.

@joel hoffman I'm sure ji20874 appreciates your input.

The statutory limitations may be interpreted to allow some variations in application. I wouldn't be worried about it. I might check with SBA. Then again, I might not. Why work overtime to find reasons why the agency should not find a way to facilitate a set-aside? Look for solutions.

It's an old practice. I encountered it in my first Air Force source selection, which was in 1975. The idea, as I recall, was that seeing prices might affect technical evaluators' assessments of technical proposals. I don't recall whether it was official policy or just a practice norm. As for policy today, see FAR 15.305(a)(4).

Could you create two line items—an FFP CLIN for management and a cost-reimbursement no fee CLIN (repair as-directed) for the repair work, then apply the limitations on subcontracting clause to the FFP CLIN but not the CR CLIN, with an explanatory memo to file? Treat it as a one-time FAR deviation, if necessary, in order to make a viable set-aside opportunity? Who would complain?

Can you set a contract aside for small businesses if the terms of the contract would be such that no small business contractor could comply with the limitations on subcontracting?

Yes, and part of that culture is appointing people to be contracting officers who are not qualified to be contracting officers on the basis of either personal traits, professional knowledge, or both. Chief Acquisition Officers and Senior Procurement Executives have failed to create cultures of continuous study and learning in their organizations and have allowed Heads of Contracting Activities and Chiefs of Contracting Offices to hand out certificates of appointment to the wrong people for the wrong reasons—in order to mollify discontented workers demanding recognition and promotion and t

@formerfedBut could you have mission success if the contract is poorly designed and drafted, awarded late after a sustained protest, and missing important clauses? Everyone has a role. A CO's role is to design a contract that is both mission-appropriate and compliant with law and regulation; to award it in a timely manner and in a way that does not result in a successful protest; and to administer it in a manner that facilitates problem resolution and mission accomplishment. In order to do those things the CO needs to be a master of concepts, principles, the applicable rules, acquisition

If contracting officers are professionals, as some still say they are, then they don't have customers, they have clients. There is a world of difference.

You get what you educate, train, develop, and appoint. Poor education, poor training, careless development, lax standards of appointment... VOILA! Professionalism is a habit of mind and action. It must be ingrained.

I'm not sure it is an expansion on President Obama's order. I'll read and compare.