NEWS: Wifcon Will Continue

Good.  Whoever is going to do this is taking on a gigantic task.  Good luck to them.

Great news.  Thanks for the update, Vern. Glad you have that relationship with the family.

Making Bob’s name as part of the site title is perfect.

Vern Edwards said:

Updates to the home page should resume soon.

There have been quite a few Proposed Rules and Rules about FAR and DFARS Cases the past two months.

This is wonderful news.

WifWaf said:

There have been quite a few Proposed Rules and Rules about FAR and DFARS Cases the past two months.

I'm not sure what message you are trying to convey.

I don't know if there will be retrospective updates.

Thanks, Vern! I echo everyone’s sentiments above. The WIFCON Homepage was my homepage on my government computers and mobile phones for years and I still checked it almost every day after my second retirement!

All:

I have been informed that the legal process of transfer will take a little while. It must be done through Bob's estate, and it will take time for the family to establish that. I know that's complicated, because I had to settle my brother's estate. Moreover, Bob's estate is in Pennsylvania and the family lives elsewhere.

There must also be due diligence regarding intellectual property on the site (articles, blogs, etc.) and a technical review of the operation and placement of the site. These have just begun. I don't know much about those processes. Maybe the site can run without those features until matters of copyright are resolved.

It seems that acquiring an existing website that has been operating more than 20 years is rather complicated.

I'll try to find out if updates of the home page can begin in the interim. This Forum will continue, but there may be some new rules or procedures. I don't know.

So be patient. But it's coming.

Vern - Thank you very much for your relationship with Bob, and now his family,  in supporting and assisting over the past 20 years of making WIFCON a valuable tool to the acquisition community.  Your efforts with the family to keep WIFCON going are especially appreciated in this time of change.  If there is anything a participant and user like myself can do to assist I hope you and/or the family reaches out.

On 1/18/2025 at 9:44 AM, Vern Edwards said:

I'm not sure what message you are trying to convey.

I don't know if there will be retrospective updates.

The message I’m trying to convey is simply this: We miss Bob.

Thank you, Vern!  I'm so happy that Wifcon will continue!

Amazing news! How can we help?

This is great news and thank you to those doing the work to keep the site active.

What great news to hear that Bob's vision for us all will continue to live on. What's better is his name will now be the first part of it. I really wish someone from the Secretary Level or higher of an Agency would step up and present Bob's family an award for what this place does. 

I love this site is full of people who are highly invested in the development and betterment of our acquisition workforce. I for one owe a lot of who I am as a KO thanks to Bob and the access this site has to the diverse and highly knowledgeable members.

Update: The transfer process is proceeding apace, but it's complicated. I see no hitches at this time, but it will take a bit. Legal review is pending.

Stand by.

Thank you.

A new home page should appear within the next two weeks, and updates should return about the same time.

Some technical problems must first be resolved.

Good news

Vern Edwards said:

A new home page should appear within the next two weeks, and updates should return about the same time.

Some technical problems must first be resolved.

Thanks again, Vern. 🤠

The site is quite complex, and Bob did not leave instructions that are entirely clear. So they have to sort out the technicalities before they can begin updating.

I don't think the updates will be retroactive to the time of Bob's death. That would be too hard and time-consuming. They'll start anew once they figure out how things work.

Thank you, Vern, for keeping us updated.  This site is a tremendous resource.

Can we assist with transition/upkeep in any way?

NEWS. It turns out that the 26 year old technology Bob used to create and maintain this site is so old that it is not practicable to resurrect it. So the site will be recreated with modern website technology. This is not expected to take long. However, some historical data may be lost, including old posts at the Forum, and the look may be somewhat different. We should know soon. It may be created in stages.

1. Someone is being trained to do the daily home page news research. That's the highest priority.
2. The Forum will be retained and is a very high priority, but existing members may have to re-register and get new passwords.
3. The site will include a "Library" of useful documents and articles.
4. I'm not sure what will be done about the existing blogs.
5. There may be videos and webinars in the future, but I'm not sure if and when.
6. There may be an email newsletter in the future, but i'm not sure if and when.
7. Bob's mom has said no to calling the site "Bob Antonio's Wifcon". So it will be just Wifcon (Where In Federal Contracting).

I'll be traveling during the next three weeks to a remote place. I'm not sure about connectivity, but I'll try to stay in touch and let you know what's going on if and when I can. If you don't hear from me it does not mean that there is no progress. It's very possible that Wifcon will be up and running again before I return. So you may know before me.

There's a lot going on in government right now. Acquisition is going to be affected. I've heard no news about an OFPP administrator.  

Hang in there.

Thank you for the update, Vern.  It’s all really good news.  Having to re-register is very minor.  It allows me tho go back and use my real name the way I started with Wifcon.

So many popular websites use outdated technology.  Once users and the site owners get comfortable and most of the bugs are gone, it’s not worth switching to something new.

Safe travels,

Stan

Thanks for the update Vern and all the work you do with regard to the site. I haven't been on much lately and I had missed the news of Bob's passing - very sad, he was such an awesome contributor to the federal acquisition community.

What is going on with the forum today? Suddenly a flood of emails came out with what appears to be new topics or even old topics that were never posted.

in addition, I’m getting notices of new or recent comments to topics.  However, they aren’t marked as “unread” responses when I go to the Forum Home Page.to look for unread threads or comments.

Looks like Bob purposely did not post at least one of the topics  - it was an advertisement or promotion for certain products. Totally inappropriate topic.

Some of the topics are Overcome by Events. Old dates with then current questions on what to do. No use bothering now to research answers. Most were initially asked in the Sept- December timeframe when Bob was seriously ill or had passed away.

However, they aren’t marked as unread in the topic listing even though I’ve never seen  them before.

I still have new 19 email notification messages to look at but there are no unread posts or comments that should be indicated in bold on the Forum Home Page.

Just read another email notification of a new topic post which is strictly an advertisement.