The WIFCON Blog

The original WIFCON editorial blog.

• Government Contracting Improvement Act of 2012?

  At this time of year, newly introduced legislation often is introduced and then quickly enters oblivion. I checked this Senator's committee and subcommitee assignments and did not find any direct link to federal contracting. Maybe that explains it. "Sen. Toomey's bill would requi

  Moderator · Dec 21, 2012

• Rebates And Discounts In Food Service Contracts

  "The Subcommittee’s investigation of food service contracts has revealed systemic deficiencies in the transparency and oversight of contractors’ rebate and discount policies. Chairman McCaskill asked Office of Management and Budget Director Zients to review the Subcommittee’s fin

  Moderator · Dec 13, 2012

• Army Processes A Debarment Referral In About 323 Days

  In a letter to the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff of the Army, Senator McCaskill, Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight and Senators Shaheen, Coburn, Burr, Webb, Cornyn, Inhofe, and Blumenthal, questioned the significant delays between when a

  Moderator · Dec 11, 2012

• A Subcontract Is . . . .

  It was the Fall of 1978 and I was walking down the steps from the contracting office at Rock Island Arsenal. At this point in my contracting journey around the country, I was told that P. L. 95-507 had been signed into law. I was reviewing contracts awarded under the Mandatory Sm

  robert_antonio · May 28, 2012

• A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Wifcon.com

  Over on the Wifcon Forum, a member started a topic called How to find the best places to work. It made me remember how I became involved in contracting as an auditor for the Government Accountability Office (GAO). I've laughed about it many times over the years. When I was hired,

  robert_antonio · Mar 17, 2012

• Just Call Me Johnson!

  Years ago, I had three stories from my life posted on Wifcon.com and they picked up a small following on the internet. Since I usually add something from my life around Christmas to Wifcon.com, I thought I would add one of those three stories. So here is, as it happened: Just Cal

  robert_antonio · Dec 17, 2011

• "I Hope . . . I've Earned What All Of You Have Done For Me"

  Not long ago, a discussion board user posted a note about a theoretical government negotiator misrepresenting the truth during contract negotiations. The responses were on target. Vern Edwards was succinct and said: "Don't tell a lie!" Napolik said: "I would be . . . concerned wi

  robert_antonio · Sep 5, 2011

• Wifcon.com Begins Its 14th Year

  Some time ago, I received an e-mail from a Wifcon.com user. The user said that Wifcon.com was my legacy to the contracting field. I never intended for Wifcon.com to be my legacy to anything. In July 1998, I wanted to be part of the internet and the first thing that came to mind w

  robert_antonio · Jul 7, 2011

• The Contract File

  As many of you know, I was an auditor for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) for over 33 years. About 32 years of that was spent reviewing the contracting practices of federal agencies. To enhance my ability to review federal agency contracting practices, I picked up an M

  robert_antonio · Jun 7, 2010

• "Required In The Performance Of A Contract"

  This morning, I was searching for bid protest decisions from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) and the Court of Federal Claims (COFC) and stumbled across two interesting decisions on indirect research and development (IR&D). I remember listening to debates about

  robert_antonio · Mar 29, 2010

• Ambrose; Chief Advisor, Wifcon.com LLC

  In 1992, I moved into a new house in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D. C. When the 6-month check-up came to fix any settling issues with the house, a tough-looking guy came to do the work. I told him about my plans to buy a dog the next year. He looked down and said, "I'll n

  robert_antonio · Feb 18, 2010

• AIMH DSJ

  From time to time, I am asked what the AIMH DSJ means on the About Page and Home Page of Wifcon.com. I've never told anyone. Her name was Deborah and we worked together in the late 1980s. In bureaucratese, I was her direct supervisor. Deborah was "larger than life." She was about

  robert_antonio · Dec 25, 2009

• Sometime In Your Career . . .

  Sometime in your career, you will be faced with a decision that will affect the way you perceive yourself. It may be an immediate career changer or it may be one of those little decisions that help to define your career. You will know it when you encounter it and you will think a

  robert_antonio · Jun 29, 2009

• First The Wind . . . .

  "We're going to develop a trained, professional workforce." A professional workforce has been a goal of decades worth of commissions, panels, etc. For example, last week before the Senate Committee on Armed Services, Secretary of Defense Gates said: "Since the end of World War II

  robert_antonio · Feb 2, 2009