federal contract managementby norman steiger
TRANSCRIPT
Federal Contract Management by Norman SteigerReview by: James F. NaglePublic Contract Law Journal, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Fall 1991), pp. 129-130Published by: American Bar AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25755653 .
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Book Review
Reviewed by James F. Nagle*
Federal Contract Management
Norman Steiger, Editor-in-Chief
Published by Matthew Bender
Saul Bellow once wrote that "sometimes it is necessary to repeat what we all know." The equivalent of that in book reviews is that
sometimes it is necessary to review a book that has been on the
market for quite some time, but which some readers may not be
aware of. Such a book, actually books, is Federal Contract Manage ment, a three-volume work first published by Matthew Bender in 1984, but continually updated to reflect the latest cases, regula tions, and decisions.
The authors of this work represent a "Who's Who" in govern ment contracts. The preface to the work states that their combined
talents comprise a total of over 300 years of experience in govern ment management. Besides Norm Steiger, as editor-in-chief, they include David V. Anthony, Paul Dembling, and Marshall Doke. The
problem with selecting only three authors is that you will undoubt
edly offend the others. My rationale for selecting those three from
the other stellar authors is that each of those three has served as
Chair of the Public Contract Law Section, and would therefore be
especially recognizable to the readers of this publication. As befits a three-volume work, this work is extremely compre
hensive. The first volume addresses the authority of the govern ment to contract for goods and services; contract administration in
general; contracting methods and types; preparing, submitting, and
evaluating proposals; negotiation techniques; bids and awards; and cost recovery and payment. Volume 2 deals with technical engi
*James F. Naele practices law with Seattle's Oles, Morrison & Rinker. He received his L.L.M. and S J.D. in Government Contracts from the National Law Center at George Washington University.
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Public Contract Law Journal
neering concepts; changes; social policy considerations; classified contracts and access to contractor records; general contracting
requirements; terminations for convenience; and remedies. Volume
3 deals with disputes and claims; inspection acceptance, delivery, and warranty; control of contract performance; special categories of contracting; and finally, ethics in government contracting.
Although the work was originally published in 1982, it has been
continually updated, both by the original authors, and by new authors. Jeff Lovitky, for example, has updated Chapter 10 on social policy considerations, classified contracts, and access to
contractor records, and Chapter 18, ethics in government
contracting, to ensure that the book is current in those areas in
which the growth of statutes, regulations, and litigation since 1982 can only be described as explosive. Chapter 10 alone is now 205 pages, plus exhibits, while Chapter 18 encompasses 168 pages, plus exhibits. While page numbers alone can indicate many things, that
amount of quality-filled, concisely written pages shows how exhaustive has been the preparation of this work. An additional
benefit of the book is that it issues new pages to cover important items of interest. For example, the book now has inserted in front
of Volume I discussions of the 1991 defense authorization bill, procurement integrity, procurement fraud, and recent CAS board
developments, among others.
The book is well indexed, and this index is supplemented to match recent additions to the text.
One subtitle to the series is "Practical Analysis, Forms and Formats." I found that to be very correct. For example, Chapter 6 dealing with bids and awards by Paul Shnitzer contains sample protests to the GSBCA and sample notices of intervention at the GSBCA. Chapter 5, dealing with negotiations, by Norm Steiger, contains an exhibit that discusses subcontract flow-down require ments. This thirty-three-page exhibit, which cites the applicable portion of the FAR and whether there is a mandatory or optional flow-down clause, and some common-sense remarks are invalua ble. The chart is developed by Robert V. Lieg of Atlantic Research
Corporation. This combination of a comprehensive approach to the subject,
timely updates, and a practical discussion of forms and format to
discuss the substantive law makes this a very worthwhile tool for
the contract professional.
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