J&A | The Contracting Education Academy

Contracting professional need precision in words and terms, as contract interpretation turns on minute differences in terminology and definitions.

mastery-of-words-oct-2016 Misuse of terms of art in the contracting profession leads to confusion, misunderstanding, and pernicious misconceptions. Clarity in contracting language improves professionalism and avoids inefficient or wasteful procedures.

Words, terms of art, and definitions do not get the respect they deserve. People calling themselves contracting professionals blithely misuse them. Seasoned practitioners — who should know better — stay silent and allow bad habits to persist.

This article turns the spotlight on several frequently misused and abused terms of art, but it is not an exhaustive list.

Read on to explore several flagrantly abused terms of art regarding justifications and scope of the contract: http://www.wifcon.com/analy/Sticks_and_Stones.pdf

Several federal agencies are not letting eligible companies compete for IT contracts, reasoning that only a current or other favored supplier can handle work demanded by a 30-day cybersecurity exercise.

But that exercise was supposed to have ended last July, and some of these so-called sole-source contracts issued by the departments of Homeland Security and Labor, among others, appear to strain, if not outright violate, federal contracting rules, according to procurement attorneys.

A keyword search through the government’s business opportunity website for “cyber” contracts posted July 30 or afterward turned up eight such noncompetitive deals. Because many contracts are not disclosed online or are published in unsearchable PDFs, the total number may be much higher, say federal acquisition experts.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2016/03/federal-agencies-are-using-last-summers-cyber-sprint-justify-sole-source-it-contracts/126528

Sticks and stones: How words and terms of art can hurt the contracting profession

Contracting professional need precision in words and terms, as contract interpretation turns on minute differences in terminology and definitions.

Federal agencies are using last year’s ‘cyber sprint’ to justify sole-source IT contracts

Several federal agencies are not letting eligible companies compete for IT contracts, reasoning that only a current or other favored supplier can handle work demanded by a 30-day cybersecurity exercise.

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