Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Default and Disputes Essay Example for Free

Default and Disputes Essay In this paper I will discuss the reasoning and methodology behind government contract defaults and disputes. I will also give recommendation to acquisition and cost containment. The standard contract clause which gives a customer the right to unilaterally terminate the contractor if the contractor fails to perform according to the specified terms. The contractor is generally not entitled to any payment for the unfinished part of the contract and, instead, may be liable for (1) repayment of monies advanced, (2) liquidated and other damages, and (3) excess cost incurred by the customer in completing the contract under a new contractor. Two primary types of terminations can arise under government contracts: â€Å"termination for default† and â€Å"termination for the government’s convenience†. Besides a criminal conviction or debarment or suspension for default is undoubtedly the most severe agency sanction that a termination can befall a government contactor. Terminations for default are much more common in supply contracts than in construction contracts. The standard clause used in supply and service contracts recites that the government has the right terminate for default if the contractor fails to (1) deliver the contract supplies or perform the services on time, (2) make progress so as to endanger performance of the contract. The â€Å"Termination for Cause† term also names three bases for terminating a commercial item contract for default: (a) â€Å"any default† by the contractor, (b) failure by the contractor â€Å"to comply with any contact terms or conditions,† and (c) failure by the contractor to provide the government on request, with â€Å"adequate assurances of future performance. The government’s right to terminate is not limited by standard inspection clauses, because they permit the government to exercise any other rights and remedies allowed by the contract. â€Å"Default terminations are provided for in government contracts under standard clauses set forth in the FAR. 52. 249–8 Def ault (Fixed-Price Supply and Service). As prescribed in 49. 04(a)(1), insert the following clause: DEFAULT (FIXED-PRICE SUPPLY AND SERVICE) (APR 1984) (a)(1) The Government may, subject to paragraphs (c) and (d) below, by written notice of default to the Contractor, terminate this contract in whole or in part if the Con- tractor fails to—(i) Deliver the supplies or to perform the services within the time specified in this contract or any extension; (ii) Make progress, so as to endanger performance of this contract (but see subparagraph (a)(2) below); or (iii) Perform any of the other provisions of this contract (but see subparagraph (a)(2) below). 2) The Government’s right to terminate this contract under subdivisions (1)(ii) and (1)(iii) above, may be exercised if the Con- tractor does not cure such failure within 10 days (or more if authorized in writing by the Contracting Officer) after receipt of the no- tice from the Contracting Officer specifying the failure. (b) If the Government terminates this contr act in whole or in part, it may acquire, under the terms and in the manner the Contracting Officer considers appropriate, supplies or services similar to those terminated, and the Contractor will be liable to the Government for any excess costs for those sup- plies or services. However, the Contractor shall continue the work not terminated. (c) Except for defaults of subcontractors at any tier, the Contractor shall not be liable for any excess costs if the failure to perform the contract arises from causes beyond the control and without the fault or negligence of the Contractor. Examples of such causes include (1) acts of God or of the public enemy, (2) acts of the Government in either its sovereign or contractual capacity, (3) fires, (4) floods, (5) epidemics, (6) quarantine restrictions (7) strikes, (8) freight embargoes, and (9) unusually severe weather. In each instance the failure to perform must be beyond the control and without the fault or negligence of the Contractor. (d) If the failure to perform is caused by the default of a subcontractor at any tier, and if the cause of the default is beyond the control of both the Contractor and subcontractor, and without the fault or negligence of either, the Contractor shall not be liable for any excess costs for failure to perform, unless the subcontracted supplies or services were obtainable from other sources in sufficient time for the Contractor to meet the required delivery schedule. e) If this contract is terminated for de- fault, the Government may require the Con- tractor to transfer title and deliver to the Government, as directed by the Contracting Officer, any (1) completed supplies, and (2) partially completed supplies and materials, parts, tools, dies, jigs, fixtures, plans, drawings, information, and contract rights (collectively referred to as manufacturing materials in thi s clause) that the Contractor has specifically produced or acquired for the terminated portion of this contract. Upon direction of the Contracting Officer, the Con- tractor shall also protect and preserve property in its possession in which the Government has an interest. (f) The Government shall pay contract price for completed supplies delivered and accepted. The Contractor and Contracting Officer shall agree on the amount of payment for manufacturing materials delivered and accepted and for the protection and preservation of the property. Failure to agree will be a dispute under the Disputes clause. The Government may withhold from these amounts any sum the Contracting Officer determines to be necessary to protect the Government against loss because of outstanding liens or claims of former lien holders. (g) If, after termination, it is determined that the Contractor was not in default, or that the default was excusable, the rights and obligations of the parties shall be the same as if the termination had been issued for the convenience of the Government. (h) The rights and remedies of the Government in this clause are in addition to any other rights and remedies provided by law or nder this contract. FAR 52. 249-10 â€Å"Default (Fixed-Price Construction)† Clause (a) If the contractor refuses or fails to prosecute the work or any separable part, with the diligence what will insure it’s completion within the time specified in this contract including any extension, or fails to complete the work within this time, the government may, by written notice to the contractor , terminate the right to proceed with the work (or the separable part of the work) that has been delayed. In this event, the government may take over the work and complete it by contract or otherwise, may take over the work and complete it by contract or otherwise, and may take possession of and use any material, appliances, and plant on the work site necessary for completing the work. Although the â€Å"Termination for Cause† term in commercial item contracts does not contain a â€Å"cure notice† requirement, the FAR termination procedures for commercial item contracts require the Contracting Officer to send a standard cure notice ‘prior to terminating a contract for a reason other than late delivery. Consequences And Remedies Of â€Å"Termination For Default† And â€Å"Termination For Convenience† If a board or court determines that the contractor was not actually in default or the default was excusable, the termination for default will be converted into a termination for convenience. Similarly, before the appeal is even decided, the Contracting Office r can convert the termination for default into one for the government’s convenience. The Contractor’s recovery under a convenience termination may be significant. For example, under a convenience termination, the contractor is eligible to recover its costs of performance, some â€Å"continuing costs,† settlement expenses, and a reasonable profit on completed work. Should the contractor be unsuccessful in contesting the propriety of the default termination itself, it may still be able to challenge the excess costs assessment and achieve a reduction or elimination of those costs. The Fulford doctrine permits contractors to challenge the government’s imposition of excess re-procurement costs even if the time has expired for appealing the underlying default termination, but does not trump the Contract Disputes Act election doctrine. Remedy of â€Å"Excess Cost of Re-procurement† and â€Å"Liquidated Damages† The standard measures of excess costs is the difference between the contract price of the terminated contract and the price the government is required to pay to the re-procurement contractor for quantity f supplies or services called for under the terminated contract or for completion of unfinished work remaining under the terminated contract. To assess excess costs against the defaulted contractor, the government must show that the re-procurement contract has been performed and that complete payment has been made. The government may not obtain re-procurement costs for work that the government prevented the contractor from performing. If the default-terminated contract contains a â€Å"Liquidated Damages† clause, those damages may be assessed against the contractor until the government obtains completion of the contract work. Liquidated damages are in addition to the excess costs of re-procurement The Liquidated Damages† clause used in fixed-price supply and service contracts provides that, in the case of a termination for default, the contractor shall be liable for liquidated damages (as well as excess costs) â€Å"until the time the government may reasonably obtain delivery or performance of similar supplies or services. The â€Å"Liquidated Damages† clause requires the contractor to pay the government a specific amount for each calendar day of delay. The stipulated amount of the liquidated damages is set at the time the contract is entered into and is the parties’ estimate of the extent of loss that one party’s breach of the contract would cause to the other. Government policy is to use a â€Å"Liquidated Damages† clause in a contract when both (1)the time of delivery or performance is such an important factor that the government may reasonably expect to suffer damages if the delivery or performance is delinquent, and (2) the extent or amount or actual damages would be difficult or impossible to ascertain or prove. Contract Disputes Act The Contract Disputes Act of 1978 (â€Å"CDA†), which became effective on March 1, 1979, establishes the procedures for handling claims relating to United States Federal Government contracts. All claims by the contractor against the Federal Government must be submitted in writing to the Governments Contracting Officer for a decision. All claims by the Federal Government against the contractor must be the subject of a decision by the Contracting Officer. Apart from claims by the Federal Government alleging fraud in connection with a claim by the contractor, all claims by either the Federal Government or the contractor must be submitted within six years after the accrual of the claim. Claims by the contractor that exceed $100,000 must be accompanied by a certification that (i) the claim is made in good faith, (ii) the supporting data are accurate and complete to the best of the contractors knowledge and belief, (iii) the amount requested represents the contract adjustment for which the contractor believes the Federal Government is liable, and (iv) the certifier is authorized to submit the certification on behalf of the contractor. There are procedures in the statute for remedying certifications that do not exactly mimic the required certification language. For claims of $100,000 or less, the Contracting Officer is required to issue a decision within 60 days of receipt of the claim provided the contractor requests a decision within that time period. For claims in excess of $100,000, the Contracting Officer is required, within 60 days, either to issue a decision or notify the contractor when a decision will be issued. All decisions should be issued within a reasonable time, taking into account the nature of the claim, and, if they are not, the contractor may either request a tribunal to direct the Contracting Officer to issue a decision within a specified time or treat the failure to issue a decision as an appealable deemed denial of the claim. If the contractor is dissatisfied with the Contracting Officers decision on a claim, the contractor may (i) appeal that decision to the cognizant agency board of contractor appeals within 90 days of receipt of the decision or (ii) bring suit on the claim in the United States Court of Federal Claims within 12 months. Decisions not appealed within one of these time periods become final and conclusive. There are procedures in the statute authorizing the use of mutually agreeable alternative dispute resolution techniques for handling disputes and well as for the use of streamlined and accelerated litigation procedures for smaller claims at the boards of contract appeals. The losing party may appeal a decision by either a board of contract appeals or the United States Court of Federal Claims to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. A contractor is entitled to interest on the amount found due on its claim running from the date the Contracting Officer received the claim until the claim is paid. Good acquisition planning is crucial to the overall project objective, government spending, tailored to objectives and constraints, and is flexible enough to allow innovation and modification as the project evolves. The strategy balances cost and effectiveness through development of technological options, exploration of design concepts, and planning and conduct of acquisition activities. These elements are directed toward either a planned Initial Operational Capability or retention for possible future use, while adhering to a program budget. The strategy should be structured to achieve program stability by minimizing technical, schedule, and cost risks. Thus the criteria of realism, stability, balance, flexibility, and managed risk should be used to guide the development and execution of an acquisition strategy and to evaluate its effectiveness. The acquisition strategy must reflect the interrelationships and schedule of acquisition phases and events based on a logical sequence of demonstrated accomplishments, not on fiscal or calendar expediency.

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Autism :: essays research papers

These kids are blessed with terrific good looks--tall and straight, with big dark eyes, glossy hair and a movie staffs smile-but this wasn’t what was turning heads. Some of these kids were not actually walking towards the line at McDonalds; some were running and somehow skipping at the same time. And the kids were looking and smiling directly at everyone they passed with their fingers in their ears, their elbows flared out on either side. And, further baffling the bourgeoisie, they occasionally stopped and flapped their hands. I was all too aware of the faces of the people we passed. Some smiled, even laughed appreciatively, at their obvious joy at McDonalds. Some nodded to me sadly and knowingly: "Ah, I know how hard their lives are," they seemed to say. Some flinched in exaggerated horror as though from some ghastly space alien from Warner Brothers. Others were cool, spotted them far off and pretended not to see them when they passed. Still others were so used to s uch surpassing weirdness that our little show came nowhere near their threshold of surprise. One reaction, however, was more puzzling to me than all the others. I have come to think of it as "The Look." The passerby's face becomes still and thoughtful. The eyes become narrow, like those of the cunning psychiatrist in an old movie when he asks a patient what the inkblots look like. A hand goes up to the lips and, shifting into field anthropologist mode, the eyewitness stops and stares and nods silently as though making a mental note to write this one down in the journal. It's a locked-on-target look. A piano falling onto the pavement nearby wouldn't jar the stunning logical processes at work. Having been upset by â€Å"The Look† about a thousand times, and being something of an amateur field anthropologist myself, I have often asked this question: "Why do these people act this way?" The best answers that I have been able to come up with are these: (a) They are heartless and rude and should be tortured in some hideous way for upsetting a really nice teacher. (b) They are ignorant and think that humans come in solidly "normal" and "abnormal" forms and have no doubt about what kind they themselves are. (c) They saw the movie "Rain Man" and are now experts on autism. (d) They are fearful and are trying to achieve distance from a scary sight by trying to regard it as a rare scientific phenomenon.

Monday, January 13, 2020

Mr. Gascoigne’s company Essay

I am going to create a macro that will allow Mr Gascoigne’s company, (Shoes ‘n all) to insert a different response into a template letter, so that the letter will contain the necessary information appropriate for the use. I am going to create 4 different Macros. They will input a short paragraph that will tell the reader about their credit bill to the company. The 4 Macro’s will be: 1. To open the Master Letter 2. Telling the reader that their credit bill is up to date and that they hope that the customer will continue using the company to buy their shoes. 3. Telling the customer that their credit bill is slightly behind and that the require the credit bill as soon as possible 4. Telling the customer that they haven’t paid their bill for quite a while and that their credit account has been closed. 5. A slogan that will appear in the footer. I first created a simple letter and put in ‘ new and opened a blank document. New was the time to start recording. I wanted to record a macro that would open the master Document. To start to record the Macro I went to tools-> Macros ->Record new Macros (left) Once I had pressed it a new box came up, where I inputted the Name. I named it master and pressed OK (Below) Now that I had opened the file I pressed Stop on the Macro Tool bar. Now that the master had been created. I wanted to start recording the responses to go in the letter. So to record in the first response I first needed to load the master Macro because it contains the different responses and the blank letter. To load the Macro I went to Tools -> Macro -> Play Macro Now that the letter had been opened I wanted to start to record a new macro. I started it the same way as I did at point 1 and entered the name as Para. Again, like before the cursor turned into a picture of a tape, to signify that it is recording. When recording macros it is unadvisable to use the mouse to select text because it sometimes causes complications. So what I wanted to do was to select the paragraph, Copy it, Move up to the blank space in the letter and paste in the paragraph. So to do this all on keyboard I moved down the page to the paragraph by using the cursor keys. Once I got to the first paragraph I wanted to highlight it. To do this without the mouse I went to the point before the paragraph, held down shift and scrolled along the text using the cursor keys. I stopped scrolling at the end of the paragraph. This then highlighted the text. Now I wanted to copy it. The hotkey to copy it on a keyboard is Ctrl+C. This then saved the information to the clipboard. Now I wanted to paste the paragraph in the blank space. So I scrolled up to the space using the cursor keys. To paste the copied text in I just pressed Ctrl+V. This then pasted the paragraph in to the slot needed. I then used the mouse to stop recording the macro like I did at point 1. I recorded the other three macros like I did at point 2 and named each one Para 1, Para 2 and Para 3. Now I wanted to create a macro so that it will input a slogan into the footer. So I started off recording it and named the macro as Slogan. Using the mouse is necessary when creating a footer, but it is usually advisable to use the keyboard whenever possible. So I used the mouse and pressed View-> Header and Footer (Bottom Left) Now That the actual bar was created I just wanted to insert the macros in to the toolbar. So I pressed the commands tab and dragged each of the macros into the toolbar. Once they had been dragged in, they looked like this. As you can see the icons are very wordy. So I decided to assign a picture to each of them so it would be easier select them and understand them. So, to do this I: 1. Selected the icon. 2. Press Modify Selection 3. Select Change Button Image 4. Select the picture So I selected a different picture for each icon. I tried to make it as appropriate as I could Master=Speak Para1=Happy Face Para2=Piggy Bank Para3=Unhappy Face Footer=Steps It is also possible to change the Macro in the actual code. To open the macro code I went to Tools-> Macro->Macros I then selected the Macro I wanted to edit and Selected edit. The code then appeared. I then Edited it. See documents 6 & 7 Sam Flower Macro’s and Toolbars GNVQ IT Page 1.

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Introduction to Typography Essay - 3978 Words

Introduction to Typography Typography is all around us and we use it everyday to aid us in communication. It is essential to know the basics about typography and the different types of typography before it is discussed in the terms of ‘typography in society’. The basics of typography are: the different type families, and some technical terms which are imperative when discussing the technical and symbolic aspects of typefaces and letter forms. Type Families Roman Roman is the standard style of typeface. It isn’t altered by width, weight, angle or any other defining characteristic. This particular type family is easy to read and is therefore often used as the body of a text, such as the text of a book. Italic Unlike roman type,†¦show more content†¦This provides great flexibility within the font family. Condensed Condensed type is the opposite of extended type. As this variation is narrower, it can fit into small spaces. Like the extended variation it allows more flexibility when working with a typeface and provides more style options without having to use a completely different font. Combined Styles Most type families don’t just provide single variations but will provide a combination of each. This allows the designer more flexibility and more options to work with. Some of the more common combined options are Bold Italic, Light Italic and Condensed Bold. By using combined options the designer can achieve a consistent design using a variety of styles. Terminology Typeface A typeface refers to a ground of characters that share a common design, element or style. For example, Helvetica and Times New Roman are typefaces. Font A font refers to how typefaces are displayed or presented by their user. Serif Serif fonts are recognised by the small tails that are featured on the ends of the strokes of a character. 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