Government Contract Law - Essay Example

The paper "Government Contract Law" is a perfect example of an essay on law.
Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)
The ASPA is one of the two laws that came into place as modern-day government contracting that is done at the federal level (Tiefer & Shook, 2003). The component of this law that makes it foundational for government contract law and federal acquisition process is the fact that it is backed by the Armed Services Procurement Regulation (ASPR), which controls all acquisitions for military agencies, which also happen to be government agencies.
One key area of the FPASA that makes it foundational for government contract law and federal acquisition is the fact that it defines federal standards that must be met as part of public procurements. For example, managers ought to have knowledge of accepted standards for particular products before approving their acquisition.
The CICA is considered a foundational component of government contract law and the federal acquisition process because it spells out the processes that must be in place in hiring contractors for all federal government agencies. As part of this, arrangements that allow competitive procedures are expected to be made before hiring (Tiefer & Shook, 2003).

 "The Role of the Contracting Officer"
Even though there may be some similarities in the role of the contracting officer with a principal-agent relationship, their roles cannot be compared. In the first place, the provision for an inherent principal-agent relationship where the agent is assumed to act for and on behalf of the principle does not apply with the contracting officer. This is because, in the case of the contracting officer, all parties are bound to the contract with none of the parties acting on behalf of the other. In the long run, the contracting officer binds the government to a contract (Kimmel, Weygandt and Kieso, 2011). This makes the work of the contracting officer very cumbersome and involving, comprising proposing, administering and terminating contracts
The need to certify the accuracy of financial information is the fundamental provision that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Meanwhile, as the role of the contracting officer involves very large contracts that are actually greater than the Micro-Purchase threshold, the need to ensure accounting transparency cannot be overemphasized. In light of this, it will be argued that government contracting officers should be held to the standards articulated by the Act. Read More