This series of FAR summaries is meant to take a meaningful portion of the Federal Acquisition Regulations to ensure an easy-to-understand approach to maintain that readers comprehend the process of doing business with the government and that the government exercises a fair and reasonable approach to doing business with the general public.
FAR Part 50 Extraordinary Contract Actions And The Safety Act
FAR 50.1
Extraordinary Contract Actions
Language is in place for no-holds-barred contracting (FAR 50.101-1(a)). No rules except getting the government what they want when they want it as quickly as possible. Now, the government does cover their acquisition with FAR 50.101-2, but do you really think a lawman who goes against our President and DoD during times of war and terror is going to win? Certainly not during said conflicts. Maybe after, but they need courage and ethics. The decisions of the Contracting Officer are well documented (FAR 50.101-3) and authority is in place (FAR 50.102).
FAR 50.2
The Safety Act
This is kind of like the above, but dealing with the purchase and building of technology to help keep our country safe (FAR 50.203). DHS tracks these buys (FAR 50.204) and yes there’s red tape (FAR 50.205), but a positive decision by DHS can be assumed (FAR 50.205-4).
I’ve never done this, but I got cool stories from instructors at the VA Acquisition Academy who have. I hope I’m not making this up, but I think I recall a story in which soldiers started contracting their own stuff over in Iraq with letter contracts and signatures by their superiors and the real contracts were written on the backend with some even written after the war was deemed over.
If you think I can help you then email nicholas.s.robertson@outlook.com for your introductory message and free consultation.
RobertsonKX Business Blog 