Feldman,
S. W. (2013). Government contract guidebook(4th, 2013-2014 ed.). Eagan,
MN: Thomson Reuters, Westlaw.
Go to
Acquisition Central’s Website and explore the Federal Acquisition Regulation
(FAR) page, located at http://www.acquisition.gov/far/index.html. Familiarize
yourself with the structure and location of specific FAR sections.
Conclude
whether or not the FAR effectively creates standards that will allow government
contracts to meet the government’s mandate that procurement create cost savings
for the public, as well as assist in economic recovery. Provide a rationale to
support your response.
From the
e-Activity, specify the primary manner in which the cooperative strategies that
the FAR advocates help to promote the efficient and cost-effective acquisition
of goods and services for federal agencies. Support your response with one (1)
example of an instance where a federal agency has benefited from a cooperative
strategy.
Respond to the above information in yellow using the
above e-activity, the attached PP and the source listed above.
Reply to Kurt’s
response below.
I do believe that the FAR does effectively create standards that
allow contract to meet the governments mandate that create cost savings for the
public. I believe that the statement above is true because, the government sets
the standards across the board for small businesses to large cooperations. The
FAR is a very complex system of rules and regulations to learn. I feel that
they are laid out to protect both the government and the companies that bid on
the contracts. The FAR is a guide book for both the government and the public
companies to follow. The FAR has the force and effect of the law, because it is
published in the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations. (Feldman
2013 p18)
From the e-Activity
the cooperative strategies that the FAR advocated to promote a efficient and
cost-effective acquisition was when Paul from the Xcaliber Software Company
suggested to make Additional Commercial Contract Types. He suggested that his
company bill Time and Material (T&M) and Labor Hours to each commercial
contract instead of billing the firm-fixed-price. This was a way that his
company could become more flexible and available to each client and bill the
appropriate hours to each contract. The T&M provided visibility to the
government on what hours were billed for each contract and was easily audited.
The government approved the requested and added the T&M for commercial
contracts into the FAR. The FAR is not a static document, it is subject to
revisions on a frequent bases.
