Essay Question #1:
You work with a Government agency managing several large defense
contracts. On one of these contracts with a contractor named ATI, an
issue has arisen concerning the allowability of certain ATI incurred and
invoiced costs. ATI’s contract is a cost plus award fee contract. The
specific costs in question involve some $50,000 in costs running the ATI
fitness center at the ATI main business campus. Additionally, ATI paid
$500,000 to a political action committee (PAC) which supports
legislative initiatives for defense contractors. Finally, ATI incurred
and invoiced the Government $1.5 million for its legal fees associated
with a proceeding brought against it by the local U.S. Attorney’s Office
for an alleged violation of the False Claims Act under 31 U.S.C. 3730.
This False Claims act matter was ultimately resolved and settled through
a consent decree between the parties. Before he visits the local DCAA
auditor for guidance on what actions to take, your boss want you to
prepare an essay advising him on whether any of these three sums are
allowable under the FAR.

Essay Question #2:
Vandy Inc.’s CEO was particularly proud of his firm’s work supporting
Special Agent Tom Know-it-All and the FBI in a recent sting operation.
In fact, Vandy Inc. had provided numerous supplies and services to the
FBI to assist it with its operations. Unfortunately, it now appears that
Special Agent Know-it-All was not authorized to retain the services of
Vandy Inc. despite Agent Know-it-All’s previous assurances to the
contrary. Vandy is now out $5000.00 and desires to be reimbursed for its
costs plus a reasonable profit for supporting important and dangerous
undercover work. Will Vandy Inc. get paid by the FBI? Remember to fully
articulate your rationale to support your conclusion.

Essay Question #3:
Innovative Concepts believed that it had a great idea to assist the
United States Navy with its military operations in the Pacific.
Accordingly, it proceeded to set up a meeting with Navy Commander
Strithers to further explore its concept. Both the Navy and Innovative
Concepts met several times over the following several months resulting
in the submission of a proposal from Innovative to the Navy. On the
other hand, Drawn-out LLC believes the Navy should be competing this
critical Navy requirement and is now contemplating the submission of a
GAO Protest to stop the Navy from proceeding and awarding a contract to
Innovative Concepts. If you were advising the Navy, what steps would you
counsel its Contracting Officer to take and why? Would you allow the
contract to be awarded to Innovative Concepts?

Essay Question #4:
The Department of the Navy issued a request for proposal (RFP) to obtain
a cost type contract for services to help operate one of its satellite
control centers. The RFP also stated that the contract was to be awarded
to the offeror giving the Government greatest confidence that it would
best meet the requirements in an affordable manner. The RFP evaluation
criteria included factors such as mission capability and program
management along with proposal risk, cost/price, and past performance.
After the receipt of four proposals, the Navy Contracting Officer sent
various evaluation notices (EN’s) to all of the contractors requesting
additional information from them regarding proposed subcontractor past
performance information. This additional past performance data, among
other things, allowed the Navy to complete a “Most Probable Cost
analysis” for one of the offerors and therefore make an award without
discussions to that contractor based on its lower overall cost and value
consistent with the evaluation criteria. Not surprisingly, the other
three disappointed contractors have now protested this award claiming
that the Navy violated applicable law and regulations by actually
conducting discussions with the winner and not with them. Your boss has
now asked you to provide an essay advising him as to whether the
protesters are correct.

Essay Question #5:
Describe and distinguish the following two key government contracting
principles: “contractor responsibility’ and “responsiveness” in the
context of contract formation. Be sure to provide all applicable FAR
references to support your essay.