Contracting Fundamentals
What is the misappropriations act?
What is A law applicable to DoD personnel managing appropriated funding (taxpayer resources). This act, also known as the "Purpose Statute," requires that appropriated funds be used only for the objects (purposes and programs) for which appropriations were made. Congress has the "Power of the Purse," and the Constitution specifically references use of appropriations ("No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by Law").
What requirements must be met to exercise an option?
When exercising an option, the contracting officer shall provide written notice to the contractor within the time period specified in the contract.
What is the Service Contract Act?
The McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act requires contractors and subcontractors performing services on prime contracts in excess of $2,500 to pay service employees in various classes no less than the wage rates and fringe benefits found prevailing in the locality
What is a design-build contract?
Design-Build is a construction delivery method that provides owners with a single point of contact for both the design and construction phases of a project.It works best when owners need a single point of responsibility and want to reduce delays and disputes. Infrastructure, Commercial construction, projects were time is a factor or there are budget constraints
What are the two methods to terminate commercial contracts?
Termination for Convenience and Cause
What are the 5 appropriations categories, and what are their purposes?
What is a cure notice?
Cure notice. If a contract is to be terminated for default before the delivery date, a "Cure Notice" is required by the Default clause. Before using this notice, it must be ascertained that an amount of time equal to or greater than the period of "cure" remains in the contract delivery schedule or any extension to it. If the time remaining in the contract delivery schedule is not sufficient to permit a realistic "cure" period of 10 days or more, the "Cure Notice" should not be issued.
What is a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP)?
The QASP is Government developed for performance based contracts and is used for managing contractor performance assessment by ensuring that systematic quality assurance methods validate that contractor quality control efforts are timely, effective, and are delivering the results specified in the contract or task order.
What is the Davis Bacon Act?
The Davis–Bacon Act of 1931 is a United States federal law that establishes the requirement for paying the local prevailing wages on public works projects for laborers and mechanics.
What is the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT)?
$250K
What are Inherently Governmental Functions? Provide an example
What is one that is so closely related to the public interest as to mandate performance by Federal Government employees.
To illustrate— A contracting officer’s authority to obligate Government funds on a contract represents discretionary decision-making and an outlay of taxpayer dollars. This responsibility and authority belongs to individuals who are employed by the U.S. Government and who execute their duties in accordance with the code of ethics for government service. Conversely, a contractor is primarily motivated to serve the interests of his or her private sector employer, and is presumed to have a lesser obligation or motivation to guard the public trust. Performance of custodial services, for example, by a contractor is not considered an IGF because it does not require decisions directly affecting the public welfare or expenditure of public monies.
What is incremental funding?
The phasing of total funding of programs or projects over two or more fiscal years based upon levels and timing of obligational requirements for the funds. This differs from the full funding concept where total funds for an end item, program or project are provided in the fiscal year of program or project initiation, regardless of the obligational requirement for the funds.
What are Government Furnished Property and Government Furnished Equipment?
'Government-furnished property' means property in the possession of, or directly acquired by, the Government and subsequently furnished to the Contractor for performance of a contract.
What are liquidated damages?
Liquidated damages are used to compensate the Government for probable damages. Therefore, the liquidated damages rate must be a reasonable forecast of just compensation for the harm that is caused by late delivery or untimely performance of the particular contract.
What is a tailorable clause? Provide an example.
A tailorable clause is a contract clause that can be modified (tailored) by the Contracting Officer to align the Government’s requirements with customary commercial practices, so long as the tailoring is permitted under the FAR and does not conflict with laws or mandatory terms. This tailoring is typically allowed in commercial item acquisitions under FAR Part 12.
Example:
FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions—Commercial Products and Commercial Services is tailorable. For instance, the Inspection/Acceptance paragraph can be tailored to reflect customary commercial warranty practices or delivery acceptance standards.
What are expressed and implied warranties?
Express warranties are specific promises made by a seller to a buyer, either orally or in writing. In the absence of communicated guarantees, an implied warranty may come into force. Implied warranties are unwritten guarantees that a product or service should work as expected.
What is a severable vs a non-severable service?
Severable services” means services that are continuing and ongoing in nature—such as help-desk support, maintenance, or janitorial services—for which benefit is received each time the service is rendered.
(b) “Non-severable services” means work that results in a final product or end-item and for which benefit is received only when the entire project is complete, such as systems design, building conversion, or environmental study.
What is the difference between a personal and non-personal service?
A contract under which the personnel rendering the services are not subject, either by the contract’s terms or by the manner of its administration, to the supervision and control usually prevailing in relationships between the Government and its employees. For nonpersonal services; the government hires a contractor for the work task outcomes, not for the individual contractor employee.
Personal Services: A contract that, by its express terms OR as administered, makes the contractor personnel appear to be, in effect, Government employees. Authorized personal services are experts, consultants, medical and dental services.
What are Performance and Payment bonds?
Payment and performance bonds work together. A payment bond ensures subcontractors, suppliers, and laborers are paid, while a performance bond ensures project completion. Together, they motivate quality work.
What is a Commercial Item Determination?
A Commercial Item Determination (CID) is the formal documentation made by a Contracting Officer stating that a product or service being acquired meets the FAR 2.101 definition of a commercial product or commercial service.
A Contracting Officer determines that a cloud-based software subscription is a commercial service because it is sold competitively in substantial quantities to the general public and is provided under standard terms.
What are constructive and cardinal changes?
The Court defined a constructive change as when the Contracting Officer, without a formal change order, requires the contractor to perform work that the contractor regards as being beyond contract requirements. In such cases, the contractor may elect to treat the contracting officer’s directive as a constructive change and pursue an equitable adjustment.The Court noted that a cardinal change is “a substantial deviation from the original scope of work that changes the nature of the bargain between the parties.” Further, the Court stated that it is such a fundamental change that the parties cannot redress the change under the contract.
What is the difference between multi-year vs multiple year contracts?
A multi-year contract means a contract for the purchase of supplies or services for more than 1, but not more than 5, program years. Such contracts are issued under specific congressional authority for specific programs. A multi-year contract may provide that performance under the contract during the second and subsequent years of the contract is contingent upon the appropriation of funds, and (if it does so provide) may provide for a cancellation payment to be made to the contractor if appropriations are not made. The key distinguishing difference between multi-year contracts and multiple year contracts is that multi-year contracts buy more than 1 year's requirement (of a product or service) without establishing and having to exercise an option for each program year after the first.
What is a Corrective Action Request? Give an example of its use
A Corrective Action Request (CAR) is a type of change request that documents a problem with a product or process and requests the root cause of a nonconformity be removed.
Issue: Workflow delays and disruptions due to ongoing network connectivity issues in the office.
Correction: The connectivity problems are momentarily fixed by restarting the router.
Corrective Action: To avoid reoccurring issues, look into the main source of the network connectivity issues. This could entail changing the firmware on the router, refining the network settings, or, if needed, replacing malfunctioning network hardware.
Repair Procedures: Perform a comprehensive evaluation of the network infrastructure to find any out-of-date parts or setups that are causing problems with connectivity. To increase stability and dependability, make the required replacements or upgrades, such as replacing old hardware or changing network configurations. Establish a regular maintenance schedule as well to keep an eye out for possible network problems and take action before they get worse.
What are differing site conditions, and how are they handled?
Differing Site Conditions (DSCs) refer to unexpected physical conditions at the construction site that differ materially from what was indicated in the contract or what is normally encountered. The FAR (FAR 52.236-2) defines two types:
How they are handled:
What is a combined synopsis and solicitation? Which FAR part authorizes its use?
A combined synopsis and solicitation is a single public notice that both announces the Government’s intent to buy and serves as the actual solicitation for offers. Instead of issuing a separate synopsis (FAR Part 5) and then a solicitation, the contracting officer issues one document that covers both requirements. The purposes is to reduce the time required to solicit and award commercial contracts
FAR 13.105(b) and FAR 12.603