Guidance Principles Flashcards
The act, either verbal or written, that conveys assent to contractual terms and
conditions
Acceptance
An agent’s (see principal-agent relationship) specific authority that the
principal intentionally confers on the agent; confers a power to the agent to affect legal relations of the principals with third parties
Actual authority
The appearance of being a principal’s agent (see principal-agent
relationship) with the power to act for the principal; corporations are liable for an employee’s acts and promises to a third party if it appears to the third party that the employee has been granted authority by his or her corporate employer (principal) to do those acts that bind the
corporation
Apparent authority:
The act of setting aside money for specific federal government departments, agencies, and programs
Appropriation
Establishing or continuing one or more federal agencies or programs, establishing the terms and conditions under which they operate, authorizing the enactment of appropriations, and specifying how appropriated funds are to be used
Authorization
Printed terms and conditions that are frequently found on the back of purchase order forms in contracts, usually attached as “general provisions.”
Boilerplate
The contracted party with the requirement for goods and/or services to be fulfilled by one or more sellers; Also called the offeree
Buyer
The set of past rulings by judges (and similar tribunals) that meet their respective jurisdictions’ rules for formality to be cited as precedent
Case law
Groups of practitioners and/or subject matter experts sharing
common goals and a desire to improve their performance and the performance of their teams and organization
Communities of practice
A legally enforceable agreement for the sale, purchase, or lease of products, goods, supplies, or services; or the construction, alteration, or repair of real property.
Contract
The actions of a contract manager to develop solicitations, develop
offers, form contracts, perform contracts, and close contracts
Contract management
Any written alteration in the specification, delivery point, rate of
delivery, contract period, price, quantity, or other provision of an existing contract, accomplished in accordance with a contract clause, which may be unilateral or bilateral
Contract modification
The execution of the terms of a contract; the process of establishing and maintaining communications, and tracking and documenting contract performance
Contract performance
A person with authority to enter into, administer, or terminate
government contracts; Ensures that all requirements of law, executive orders, regulations, and all other applicable procedures, including clearances and approvals, have been met
Contracting officer (CO or KO)
Technology that supports an ability to “connect, collect, and collaborate” across the organization
Enabling technology
Excusable delay
force majeure
Formal, codified, and systematic knowledge
Explicit knowledge
Authority plainly granted, either verbally or in writing, to an agent by a
principal (see principal-agent relationship); direction provided to the agent by the principal to do specific actions
Express authority
A written statement arising out of a sale to the consumer of a consumer good, pursuant to which the manufacturer, distributor, or retailer undertakes to preserve or maintain the utility or performance of the consumer good or provide compensation if there is a
failure in utility or performance
Express warranty
A price in which the total cost of providing the supplies or services
are what would be incurred by a well-managed, responsible firm using reasonably efficient and economical methods of performance, plus a reasonable profit
Fair and reasonable price
The ability to learn quickly before, during, and after work is completed as part of getting the work done. It supports the ability to adapt to change
Fast learning
The principal set of rules in the Federal Acquisition
Regulations System, which governs the acquisition process by which executive agencies of the United States federal government acquire (i.e., purchase or lease) goods and services by contract with appropriated funds
Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)
An unexpected or uncontrollable event that upsets the plan or releases one from obligation; Government contracting users the term excusable delay
Force majeure
A treaty between two or more countries that do not impose tariffs for
commerce conducted across their borders
Free trade agreement
An agent (see principal-agent relationship) authorized to conduct a limited series of transactions involving a continuity of service and may be empowered to enter into contracts that are binding on the principal
General agent
Honesty in fact and the observance of reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing
Good faith
Authority given by a principal to an agent (see principal-agent relationship) that is not actually expressed or otherwise communicated, which allows the agent to perform all
the usual and necessary tasks to exercise the agent’s expressed authority; the direction to do something is not provided expressly from the principal’s words but is implied from what is
understood as customary in the industry
Implied authority
A promise arising by operation of law that something that is sold shall be merchantable and fit for the purpose for which the seller has reason to know that it is required.
Implied warranty
An accessible and reusable repository of the core knowledge of the
organization (information + experience)
Knowledge asset
Continuous performance improvement through building in to
the organization the capability to capture, adapt, transfer, and reuse the critical and relevant knowledge of the organization to continuously improve individual, team, and organizational performance
Knowledge management (KM)
The process used for collecting and analyzing information about the entire market available to satisfy the minimum agency needs to arrive at the most suitable approach to acquiring, distributing, and supporting supplies and services
Market research
A person who deals in goods or otherwise holds itself out by occupation as having knowledge or skill peculiar to the practices or goods involved in the transaction or to which the
knowledge or skill may be attributed by the person’s employment
Merchant
See contract modification
Modification
Exists when the nature of the work to be performed
under a proposed contract may, without some restriction on future activities, result in an unfair competitive advantage to the contractor or impair the contractor’s objectivity in performing the contract work; or when, because of other activities or relationships with other persons, a person is unable or potentially unable to render impartial assistance or advice to the government, a person’s objectivity in performing the contract work is or might be otherwise impaired, or a person has an unfair competitive advantage
Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI)
A situation in which a covered employee has a financial
interest, personal activity, or relationship that could impair the employee’s ability to act impartially and in the best interest of the government when performing under the contract
Personal conflict of interest (PCI)
A law made by a person or group of people, that obliges or specifies an action; the establishment of specific rights for an individual or group
Positive law
A relationship in which one person has legal authority to act for
another; The authority-granting party (a company or government agency) is the principal; the party who receives authority from the principal to act on his or her behalf is called the agent;
The principal is responsible for the acts of the agent and the agent’s acts bind the principal
Principal-agent relationship
Knowledge of processes for developing proposals and offers
Procedural knowledge
The act of approving an unauthorized commitment by an official who has the authority to do so
Ratification
The refusal, especially by a public authority, to acknowledge a contract or debt; Occurs when one contracting party (Party A) gives the other contracting party (Party B) reason to believe that Party A will not perform the contract through an action or statement; when
repudiation occurs, contracting party B may pursue a remedy against contracting party A for
breach of contract
Repudiation
The contracted party tasked with fulfilling the buyer’s requirement for goods and/or services; Also called the offeror
Seller
Being acutely aware of what is occurring in the immediate conditions to understand how information, events, and one’s own actions will impact organizational shortand long-term goals and objective
Situational assessment
An agent (see principal-agent relationship) whose power and authority are limited to accomplishing a specific and limited assignment; this agent does not have the power or authority to enter into contracts on behalf of the principal
Special agent
Developing a competitive business strategy to win the contract
Strategic knowledge
Inexplicit knowledge, such as soft skills required during negotiations
Tacit knowledge
An unconditional offer of money or service in satisfaction of a debt or obligation made to save a penalty or forfeiture for nonpayment or nonperformance
Tender
A nonbinding agreement made by a government representative
who lacks the authority to enter into the agreement on behalf of the government
Unauthorized commitment:
One of a number of uniform acts that have been put into law
with the goal of harmonizing the law of sales and other commercial transactions across the United States of America through UCC adoption by all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and
the U.S. territories
Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)
An agent (see principal-agent relationship) provided with broad authority to act on behalf of the principal
Universal agent
A promise or affirmation given by a seller to a buyer regarding the nature, usefulness, or condition of the supplies or performance of services furnished under the contract
Warranty
