Contracting Officer warrant board questions with complete
solutions 2024.
A. Under what circumstances is ratification of an unauthorized commitment permitted?
B. In general, what are the generic procedures for handling ratification actions?
C. Who are the approval authorities for ratifications? - ANSWER-A. If the contract award would have been
proper if executed by a warranted PCO, the price can be determined to be fair and reasonable, and there must
have been enough of the proper type of funding available to pay for the item both at the time of the
commitment and at the time of the ratification.
B. An investigation is required to be completed within 30 days of discovery of the unauthorized commitment
explaining how and why it occurred, how future occurrences will be avoided, and describing any corrective
actions taken against responsible individuals. Legal review is also required.
C. The ratification approving official for all unauthorized commitments valued at or above $1M is the SPE. The
ratification approving official for all Non-DISA unauthorized commitments (regardless of amount) and DISA
unauthorized commitments valued below $1M is the HCA. (DARS 1.602-3(b)(2))
You are the Contracting Officer for a much-delayed effort. On Friday you finally receive the necessary authority
to release the contract for signature. It's late on Friday afternoon when you e-mail the modification to the
contractor for signature. The only person at the contractor's office on Friday afternoon is the Company
President's 17 year old daughter who is working there as a summer-hire secretary. She knows her father
urgently wants the contract modification so she signs the document and returns it to your office. You note the
last name is the same as the President's so assume that he's the one who signed the modification. Is this a legal
agreement? - ANSWER-Probably not. The elements of a contract are - offer, acceptance, consideration, for a
lawful purpose, certainty of terms, and legal capacity. It is unlikely that a 17 year old summer hire would have
the authority to bind the company, regardless of her relationship to the Company President. Courts may
generally find that individuals lack "the age majority" if they are under 18 years of age.
The law in a given jurisdiction may never actually use the term "age of majority" and the term thereby refers to
a collection of laws bestowing the status of adulthood. The age of majority is a legally fixed age, concept, or
statutory principle, which may differ depending on the jurisdiction, and may not necessarily correspond to
,actual mental or physical maturity of an individual.
In practical terms, there are certain specific actions which a person who attains the age of majority is permitted
to take, which they could not do before. These may include entering into a binding contract, buying stocks,
voting, buying and/or consuming alcoholic beverages, driving motor vehicles on public roads, and marrying
without obtaining consent of others. The ages at which these various rights or powers may be exercised vary as
between the various rights and as between different jurisdictions. For example, the ages at which a person may
obtain a license to drive a car or consume alcoholic beverages vary considerably between and also within
jurisdictions.
You are the Contracting Officer for a follow-on buy source selection. The current effort has had the same
Program Manager for over 10 years. She began as the PM while still a Military Officer and then retired and was
re-hired as an A&AS employee to continue to manage the program. She has extensive experience on the
program and is considered a Primary "Go To" person for all Program-related managerial issues.
The Program Director wants to utilize the PM's experience to the fullest extent possible and has proposed that
the PM be listed as chief of the technical evaluation team and also a voting member of the source selection
board.
Is it permissible to have a non-Government employee (A&AS contractor) as chief of the technical evaluation
team and a voting member of the source selection board? - ANSWER-It is not permissible to have a non-
Government employee as a voting member of any source selection board. FAR 7.503(c)(12)(ii). FAR policy
states that contracts shall not be used for the performance of inherently governmental functions. OMB may
review Agency decisions to determine whether a function is or is not an inherently governmental function, but
a list of examples is in FAR 7.503(c). They include: control of criminal investigations or prosecutions, command
of military forces, determination of agency policy and application of regulations, determining budget priorities,
and direction and control of federal employees. Specifically, included in this list are determining what supplies
or services shall be acquired by the Government on a prime contract and being a voting member of any source
selection boards
You have a contract for engineering services with a basic period of performance and several one year options
for continued performance. The contract states that all options must be exercised by 1 October of each year.
The basic period of performance has just expired and on 5 October you realize that you never exercised the
option for continued performance. There is still an immediate need for the services. How would you try to
rectify this situation? - ANSWER-Once the option has expired there is no contract. You may have to prepare a
J&A (depending on your original authorizations) and enter into a bilateral agreement with the contractor to
obtain continued performance by the same contractor. The contractor is entitled to renegotiate the price.
The end of the fiscal year 10 is coming up and you get a phone call from HQ telling you that several million
dollars just became available - they don't want the money to go to waste and want to give it to you to support
your requirements. Your Program Director urges you to use the money to buy spare parts for his aircraft which
, have been operating 24/7 since "the war" began. The Program Director has estimated the funds will by enough
replenishment spares for the remainder of the war. Do you have any concerns? - ANSWER-You have two major
concerns. First, you have to ask HQ the color of money and year of the funds they want to send you. Do not
assume that they are sending you FY10 O&M funds. If they are sending you FY10 O&M funds you can use the
funds for "operations and maintenance' but you will have to obligate the money before the end of the fiscal
year closes out.
Once you have determined the kind and year of money, you can address the Program Director's request. Since
the Program Director is asking you to buy replenishment spares, you can use the money to buy these spares
assuming the Program Director can show you a bona fide need for the spares. This means you can buy
sufficient spares for a current need (which includes a reasonable inventory) but you cannot stockpile. Even if
the contractor cannot deliver the spares in FY10, you still have a bona fide need of FY10 if the contractor can
deliver the spares in a "reasonable" time.
Here the Program Director appears to want you to buy spares sufficient to satisfy his needs for the entire war, a
sure indication of his intent to stockpile. You will have to go back to the program director to find out the spares
he can actually put on an aircraft right now plus find out what a reasonable inventory is for his program. You
cannot use current O&M funds to satisfy a "future" need since that violates the bona fide needs rule.
Please define a Certificate of Current Cost or Pricing Data and its purpose. What are some of the key things you
would expect to see or review before accepting the certificate? There are several exceptions to obtaining a
Certificate - please list some of them. - ANSWER-The definition is as follows: A Certificate of Current Cost or
Pricing Data certifies that to the best of the company's knowledge, the cost or pricing data submitted were
accurate, complete, and current as of the date of agreement on price or, if applicable, an earlier date agreed
upon between the parties that is as close as practicable to the date of agreement on price. The purpose is to
have the company commit as to the accuracy, completeness, and currency of submitted data. If the data is
later found to be incorrect or appropriate data was not submitted, the government reserves the right to a
downward contract price adjustment for any monetary damages incurred.
Key things we would expect to see or review in a Certificate are:
The certificate is in the format shown in FAR 15.406-2
Current as of the date of agreement on price or an earlier agreed upon date
Signed by an authorized representative of the company and dated as close as practicable to the date when
price negotiations were concluded
Check for qualifications or new information disclosed by the sweep and evaluate its impact on the negotiated
price
Exceptions:
Adequate Price Competition
solutions 2024.
A. Under what circumstances is ratification of an unauthorized commitment permitted?
B. In general, what are the generic procedures for handling ratification actions?
C. Who are the approval authorities for ratifications? - ANSWER-A. If the contract award would have been
proper if executed by a warranted PCO, the price can be determined to be fair and reasonable, and there must
have been enough of the proper type of funding available to pay for the item both at the time of the
commitment and at the time of the ratification.
B. An investigation is required to be completed within 30 days of discovery of the unauthorized commitment
explaining how and why it occurred, how future occurrences will be avoided, and describing any corrective
actions taken against responsible individuals. Legal review is also required.
C. The ratification approving official for all unauthorized commitments valued at or above $1M is the SPE. The
ratification approving official for all Non-DISA unauthorized commitments (regardless of amount) and DISA
unauthorized commitments valued below $1M is the HCA. (DARS 1.602-3(b)(2))
You are the Contracting Officer for a much-delayed effort. On Friday you finally receive the necessary authority
to release the contract for signature. It's late on Friday afternoon when you e-mail the modification to the
contractor for signature. The only person at the contractor's office on Friday afternoon is the Company
President's 17 year old daughter who is working there as a summer-hire secretary. She knows her father
urgently wants the contract modification so she signs the document and returns it to your office. You note the
last name is the same as the President's so assume that he's the one who signed the modification. Is this a legal
agreement? - ANSWER-Probably not. The elements of a contract are - offer, acceptance, consideration, for a
lawful purpose, certainty of terms, and legal capacity. It is unlikely that a 17 year old summer hire would have
the authority to bind the company, regardless of her relationship to the Company President. Courts may
generally find that individuals lack "the age majority" if they are under 18 years of age.
The law in a given jurisdiction may never actually use the term "age of majority" and the term thereby refers to
a collection of laws bestowing the status of adulthood. The age of majority is a legally fixed age, concept, or
statutory principle, which may differ depending on the jurisdiction, and may not necessarily correspond to
,actual mental or physical maturity of an individual.
In practical terms, there are certain specific actions which a person who attains the age of majority is permitted
to take, which they could not do before. These may include entering into a binding contract, buying stocks,
voting, buying and/or consuming alcoholic beverages, driving motor vehicles on public roads, and marrying
without obtaining consent of others. The ages at which these various rights or powers may be exercised vary as
between the various rights and as between different jurisdictions. For example, the ages at which a person may
obtain a license to drive a car or consume alcoholic beverages vary considerably between and also within
jurisdictions.
You are the Contracting Officer for a follow-on buy source selection. The current effort has had the same
Program Manager for over 10 years. She began as the PM while still a Military Officer and then retired and was
re-hired as an A&AS employee to continue to manage the program. She has extensive experience on the
program and is considered a Primary "Go To" person for all Program-related managerial issues.
The Program Director wants to utilize the PM's experience to the fullest extent possible and has proposed that
the PM be listed as chief of the technical evaluation team and also a voting member of the source selection
board.
Is it permissible to have a non-Government employee (A&AS contractor) as chief of the technical evaluation
team and a voting member of the source selection board? - ANSWER-It is not permissible to have a non-
Government employee as a voting member of any source selection board. FAR 7.503(c)(12)(ii). FAR policy
states that contracts shall not be used for the performance of inherently governmental functions. OMB may
review Agency decisions to determine whether a function is or is not an inherently governmental function, but
a list of examples is in FAR 7.503(c). They include: control of criminal investigations or prosecutions, command
of military forces, determination of agency policy and application of regulations, determining budget priorities,
and direction and control of federal employees. Specifically, included in this list are determining what supplies
or services shall be acquired by the Government on a prime contract and being a voting member of any source
selection boards
You have a contract for engineering services with a basic period of performance and several one year options
for continued performance. The contract states that all options must be exercised by 1 October of each year.
The basic period of performance has just expired and on 5 October you realize that you never exercised the
option for continued performance. There is still an immediate need for the services. How would you try to
rectify this situation? - ANSWER-Once the option has expired there is no contract. You may have to prepare a
J&A (depending on your original authorizations) and enter into a bilateral agreement with the contractor to
obtain continued performance by the same contractor. The contractor is entitled to renegotiate the price.
The end of the fiscal year 10 is coming up and you get a phone call from HQ telling you that several million
dollars just became available - they don't want the money to go to waste and want to give it to you to support
your requirements. Your Program Director urges you to use the money to buy spare parts for his aircraft which
, have been operating 24/7 since "the war" began. The Program Director has estimated the funds will by enough
replenishment spares for the remainder of the war. Do you have any concerns? - ANSWER-You have two major
concerns. First, you have to ask HQ the color of money and year of the funds they want to send you. Do not
assume that they are sending you FY10 O&M funds. If they are sending you FY10 O&M funds you can use the
funds for "operations and maintenance' but you will have to obligate the money before the end of the fiscal
year closes out.
Once you have determined the kind and year of money, you can address the Program Director's request. Since
the Program Director is asking you to buy replenishment spares, you can use the money to buy these spares
assuming the Program Director can show you a bona fide need for the spares. This means you can buy
sufficient spares for a current need (which includes a reasonable inventory) but you cannot stockpile. Even if
the contractor cannot deliver the spares in FY10, you still have a bona fide need of FY10 if the contractor can
deliver the spares in a "reasonable" time.
Here the Program Director appears to want you to buy spares sufficient to satisfy his needs for the entire war, a
sure indication of his intent to stockpile. You will have to go back to the program director to find out the spares
he can actually put on an aircraft right now plus find out what a reasonable inventory is for his program. You
cannot use current O&M funds to satisfy a "future" need since that violates the bona fide needs rule.
Please define a Certificate of Current Cost or Pricing Data and its purpose. What are some of the key things you
would expect to see or review before accepting the certificate? There are several exceptions to obtaining a
Certificate - please list some of them. - ANSWER-The definition is as follows: A Certificate of Current Cost or
Pricing Data certifies that to the best of the company's knowledge, the cost or pricing data submitted were
accurate, complete, and current as of the date of agreement on price or, if applicable, an earlier date agreed
upon between the parties that is as close as practicable to the date of agreement on price. The purpose is to
have the company commit as to the accuracy, completeness, and currency of submitted data. If the data is
later found to be incorrect or appropriate data was not submitted, the government reserves the right to a
downward contract price adjustment for any monetary damages incurred.
Key things we would expect to see or review in a Certificate are:
The certificate is in the format shown in FAR 15.406-2
Current as of the date of agreement on price or an earlier agreed upon date
Signed by an authorized representative of the company and dated as close as practicable to the date when
price negotiations were concluded
Check for qualifications or new information disclosed by the sweep and evaluate its impact on the negotiated
price
Exceptions:
Adequate Price Competition
