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 https://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.