CON 216 Exam 2 Questions and Answers

As the contracting officer for the newly awarded EQG software design contract, you have completed debriefing a losing offeror. The losing offeror declares at the end of the debriefing that the agency did an improper cost ...

As the contracting officer for the newly awarded EQG software design contract, you have completed debriefing a losing offeror. The losing offeror declares at the end of the debriefing that the agency did an improper cost/technical tradeoff analysis and expresses the intent to protest. Given this situation, which of the following forums would be most likely to not hear a protest challenging the source selection decision? - ANSWER civilian board of contract appeals which protest PARTICIPANT is likely to schedule a hearing to resolve issues raised in a protest? - ANSWER GAO Which protest PARTICIPANT examines the protest to ensure that it is timely, identifies the basis for the protest, and renders a written decision with factual detail explaining the decision? - ANSWER Contracting agency What party fits the GAO "interested party" definition and therefore can file a protest to an agency procurement? - ANSWER An agency tender official under an A-76 competition Two days after awarding the featherweight hypothermic undergarment production contract, you receive a registered letter containing an agency level protest from an interested party challenging the award. The protester claims that the solicitation contained ambiguous data which resulted in the company not receiving the award. Given this situation, which of the following would be the appropriate procedure? - ANSWER NOT: withhold the award pending resolution of the protest Which is correct about an assignment of claims? - ANSWER an assignment of claims is used to help contractors obtain private financing for Government contract The contractor currently working on your service contract has just been awarded another service contract in the amount of $10,000 for janitorial work in DAU building #7. He has never asked for nor received an assignment of claims before. He decided that he would like the recently awarded service contract payments to go directly to his bank. An assignment of claims is permissible in this situation. - ANSWER True The Air Force contracted to purchase a quantity of portable electric hand drills. Because the drill was a commercial item, the contract contained the provisions found in FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions --Commercial Items. When the contractor delivered the drills, the Government issued a written acceptance and distributed the drills to the field, without inspecting them. Air Force civil engineering personnel soon found that the drills, in normal use, overheated and burned out their batteries prematurely due to a defect. In using the drill, the government did not substantially change its condition. What can the Government do to remedy the situation? - ANSWER NOT: The Government can enforce its remedies, but only to the extent they are contained in an express warranty NOT:Nothing, because the Government waived any remedy when it failed to inspect the frill for defects The Navy competitively awards a firm fixed price contract for manufacture and delivery of 100 specially designed radios, for use onboard Navy vessels. These radios are not commercial items; they are built to a design specification provided by the government. The contract contains the Changes clause for fixed price supply and service contracts, FAR 52.243-1. Two months into contract performance, the requiring activity informs the contracting officer that it will need an additional 25 radios. The Contracting Officer unilaterally issues a change pursuant to the changes clause to increase the contract quantity from 100 to 125. Is this a proper action? - ANSWER NOT: Yes, because the change was reasonably foreseeable at the time of contract formation What is a claim? - ANSWER a written demand seeking, as a matter of right, a sum certain or other relief under the contract terms What is the method used to calculate an equitable adjustment based on the difference in the original contract price an the actual cost of performance? - ANSWER Total cost method A service contract is awarded for ?maintenance services? to maintain the P-7 aircraft at Westcoast Naval Air Station. The base commander tells the contracting officer that he immediately needs some minor maintenance services to maintain the hangar in which the aircraft are located. The labor categories necessary to maintain P-7 aircraft are completely different from the labor needed to maintain the hangar. The contracting officer issues a change order to the P-7 maintenance contract to add maintenance of the hangar, increasing the annual cost of the contract by 3%. This change is: - ANSWER NOT: Out of scope, because any change that increases the cost of performance is beyond the authority of the changes clause All of the following conditions must be met before the Contracting Officer may acknowledge an assignment of claims except the - ANSWER assignee is another company Sluggish Corporation Inc. receives an RFP which contains a design specification for a piece of equipment to be manufactured by the winning offeror. Upon review of the specification, the President, Mr. Tortoise, concludes that the specification is ?restrictive?, in that the specification contains detailed technical requirements that appear to have been taken directly from the descriptive literature of a product manufactured by the Hare Corporation. Mr. Tortoise chooses not to submit an offer. Two months later, after the due date for proposals but before the time for contract award, Mr. Tortoise files a protest at GAO, alleging the RFP specification was restrictive. GAO will most probably: - ANSWER Dismiss the protest as untimely Who decides which forum in which to file a timely protest? - ANSWER Protester AFC was awarded a firm fixed price contract for the construction of a Government building. A dispute arose during construction regarding the application of a protective covering for membrane waterproofing on the basement walls. The contract specification states: ?Waterproofing shall be applied on the bottom floor.? At the time AFC submitted its bid, AFC interpreted the specification to require application of waterproofing only to the basement floor, not the basement walls. During performance, the Contracting Officer disagreed with AFC?s interpretation and advised that the term ?bottom floor? meant the entire lowest floor of the building, i.e. the basement, and that both the walls and the floor of the basement must be waterproofed. Consequently, the Contracting Officer directs AFC to waterproof the basement walls. AFC installs the protective covering and then files a claim for the additional cost incurred. Who prevails? - ANSWER NOT: The Government, if its interpretation and AFC's are both reasonable Which of the following parties would not be considered an "interested Party" as defined by the FAR? - ANSWER a company who did not submit a bid and would not receive the award even if its protest was sustained which protest PARTICIPANT reviews the agency's action to ensure that the agency acted in accordance with law? - ANSWER GAO An offeror has filed an agency level appeal protest. The contracting officer has decided the protest against the offeror. What legal recourse does the offeror have at this point? - ANSWER Appeal the decision to the GAO, if the appeal is filed within 10 calendar days of the receipt of the decision A claim must be certified when: - ANSWER a contractor's claim for monetary relief exceeds $100,000. what is an assignment of claims? - ANSWER mechanism that allows a contractor to use payments to be made under the contract as collateral for a loan you have elected to use conciliation to resolve a dispute with a contractor. which of the following is true about this ADR technique? - ANSWER this ADR technique seeks to restore damaged relationships between parties by bringing them together, clarifying perceptions, and pointing out misconceptions which method of calculating an equitable adjustment uses analysis of the contract change by individuals who are qualified and knowledgeable about the facts? - ANSWER estimated costs A contractor is preparing to submit a bid on a contract requiring the winning offeror to resurface a government parking lot. The parking lot has 200 marked parking spaces, which are marked in white, green, blue and yellow paint. The Invitation For Bid (IFB) contains a design specification which states in paragraph 12, ?repaint markings designating parking spaces.? The IFB also includes attachment (1), which is a diagram of the parking lot designating only 100 parking spaces. The attachment does not say anything about the color of the paint to be used for the markings. Furthermore, the diagram is dated June 2009 and the size of the lot in the diagram is only 2/3rds the size of the actual lot which was enlarged in 2014. The specification does not cite Attachment (1) anywhere in the text of the spec. Prior to bidding, Acme notes the disparity between Attachment 1 and the actual number of marked spaces in the parking lot. Acme decides to bid the contract assuming that the contract only requires 100 spaces to be marked. It wins the award. During contract performance, Acme paints only 100 spaces. The Contracting Officer questions why Acme has not painted all 200 of the pre-existing spaces. Acme responds with a letter stating that it noted the discrepancy before bidding, but that their interpretation was that only 100 spaces had to be painted because Attachment 1 only designates 100 spaces. The Contracting Officer directs Acme to paint all 200 spaces, stating that the contract requirement is to ?repaint? the pre-existing markings. Which of the following rules of contract interpretation best supports the Contracting Officer?s action? - ANSWER NOT: the rule that states that a contract is to be read as "a whole" Six months ago, the government purchased and accepted several widgets (a noncommercial item) to be used as replacement parts in government equipment. Because failure of a widget can cause substantial damage to equipment in which it is installed, the government inspects widgets prior to acceptance. Last week, two widgets failed and caused a great deal of damage. The government now wishes to revoke its acceptance of these two widgets, and any others it finds in its current inventory that are faulty. Which of the following statements best describes the situation? - ANSWER since its inspection of the widget did not disclose the defect, the government will win only if it can show that its inspection was reasonable which statement is true about assignment of claims? - ANSWER it denotes an agreement between the contractor and financial institution an unpriced change order is issued . if the specification of actual cost method of calculation an equitable adjustment is used, what would the contractor be compensated for? - ANSWER the specific costs incurred in performing the change, so long as they are reasonable, allocable, and allowable under the CAS the contracting officer's written action on a claim is referred to as a - ANSWER Contracting officer's final decision A co-worker retired recently. You have been given many of her contracts to administer. One of these is a contract to replace the roofs on several Government buildings in the area. As you start going through the stack of mail that she had, you find a FEDEX package containing a letter from the roofing contractor. In the letter the contractor states that the COR on the project had instructed him to make a change to the specification of the roofing materials to withstand an approaching hurricane forecasted to hit within days. Due to the impending hurricane, the contractor stated that if he did not hear back immediately, he would proceed with the COR's requests. What type of contract change occurred? (Note: the parties agreed that the change was the type of change fairly and reasonably contemplated when the contract was entered into.) - ANSWER NOT: cardinal