Government Best Practices Training Course:

Understanding Your Emergency Procurement Contracting Authority:
A One-Day Workshop on Rights, Obligations and Lessons-learned for Government and Industry Program and Contracting Managers

**Please note that online registration for this event is now closed. However, we have a few spots left open. Simply bring your payment and the completed attached registration form with you to the registration desk.

Registration Time: 7:30 AM
Program Starts: 8:30 AM

Wrap-up: 4:30 PM

You are the contracting officer charged with responding to an emergency – or in support to military operations - whether for a natural or non-natural (i.e., terrorist) event, or on the ground in a “battle-zone.” You are a corporate program manager with products or services needed on an emergency basis. What are your procurement authorities? How can you assure compliance with regulations and still meet the demands of the response to the emergency. How long do these authorities last? Can “no-bid” contracts be used? What are the pitfalls and traps? Contractors and government, business, procurement, and program managers need the tools and information to ensure compliance with appropriate laws and regulations.

The Understanding Your Emergency Procurement Authority Workshop is directed at both government and industry to provide active dialogue from both perspectives. The course includes commentary and lessons-learned from Iraq and other high-intensity situations involving emergency procurement authority.

Agenda

7:30-8:30am: Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:30-10:00am: Session 1- Applicable Laws & Regulations. This session provides a survey of the relevant legal and regulatory authority permitting the Government to respond in less than the normal procurement cycle to provide supplies and services. Discussion will include instances where a person without actual authority can bind the government, limits on statements of work, and sources of authority to:

• award sole source contracts
• employ less than full and open competition
• use undefinitized contracts
• ratify unauthorized awards

10:00–10:15am: Break

10:15–12:00am: Session 2- Case Studies.This session includes discussion and analysis of actual real world responses to rapid military deployments, battlefield support, and humanitarian crises. Review will include description of actual legal disputes and audits of contingency contracting situations, with special emphasis on after action descriptions of contracting in support of ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and in response to the Indonesian Tsunami. This session will focus on the following:

• Arieb Development Co., Ltd, ASBCA No. 44953, 95-2 BCA 27,857 (ratification of unauthorized award of logistics contract during Desert Storm)
• United States ex. real. DRC, Inc. v. Custer Battles LLC, Case No. 04cv199 (E.D. Va.)
• Contracts for interrogators at Abu Gharaib Prison
• Halliburton's horror
• FEMA responds to the 2004 hurricane season.

12:00–1:00pm: Lunch on your own

1:00–2:15pm: Session 2- Case Studies (Continued)

2:15-2:30pm: Break

2:30-4:30pm: Session 3- Lessons Learned. This session includes discussion and analysis of DoD investigations and audits of the contracts awarded in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. What structures can you put in place to prevent those situations both as a government employee and as a contractor. While enhanced public relations may have avoided some perception problems there are real fixes for both the Government and the contractor to consider. We will consider not just contract formation issues but practical steps to enhance corporate and government oversight of emergency contracts.

4:30pm: Course Adjourns

  A Sample List of Attendees Include:

• Capital One, Manager, Crisis Management
• Cengen, Inc., Vice President of Business Development
• D.C. Water & Sewer Authority, Assistant General Manager
• Defense Intelligence Agency, Special Agent
• Department of Commerce, ORE, Director
• Department of Health and Human Services/HRSA, Team Leader
• Department of Labor, Contracting Officer
• Durham County, North Carolina, Compliance Officer
• Dyn Corp International, Senior Director of Purchasing
• E.D. Bullard Company, Purchasing Manager
• FCC, Assistant General Counsel
• Harris, Director
• Minerals Management Service, Contract Specialist
• State of New Jersey, Director of Contract Services, Policy & Compliance
• USAID, Chief, M/OAA/T
• USAMMDA, Chief, Medical Affairs
• Vion Corporation, GSA, State & Local Contract Manager

As a private attorney, James S. DelSordo has represented contractors identified by fraud investigators for potential violations. He has assisted contractors in resolving fraud claims and creating systems to prevent non-compliance in the future. Prior to private practice as an Army JAG, he was procurement fraud advisor for the Army’s Communications and Electronics Command. He has served as trial attorney for the Department of the Army defending the Government against contract claims, and was a procurement attorney for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command during Operation Restore Hope and operations in the former Yugoslavia which entailed the award, ratification and resolution of numerous emergency contracts.

Registration Fee

• Industry: $495
• Small Business: $395
• Government: $295
  

CANCELLATION POLICY: You may designate a substitute in writing any time before the conference. If you need to cancel your registration, you must send your notice in writing and will be subject to a $50 processing fee. No refunds are given for cancellations received 3 business days prior to the conference start date or later.

Contact Us

• For registration information or general information, please contact Pamela Greenstein, (703) 807-2758
• For speaker or agenda information, please contact Laura Johnson, (703) 807-2747
  
  If you have any questions about Market*Access events in general, please see our Event FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).

Conference Location/Nearby Hotel Accommodations

The conference will be held at the Holiday Inn Arlington Hotel at 4610 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203. The hotel is 3 short blocks from the Ballston Metro stop on the orange line.

A small block of rooms at the Holiday Inn is being held for attendees offering prevailing government per diem rate of $153.00 per night. To make a reservation, please call (703) 243-9800 and be sure to mention you are attending the "Emergency Procurement Authority" workshop. Please note that this room block rate will be good through June 1, 2005.

For driving directions or other information about this location, visit their website at www.hiarlington.com. The Holiday Inn offers complimentary day parking and $5 overnight parking.

Other nearby hotels include:

• Hilton Arlington Towers, (703) 528-6000 (one block from conference site)
• Comfort Inn Ballston, (703) 247-3399 (four blocks from conference site)
• Quality Inn Courthouse Plaza, (703) 524-5000

Market*Access International, Inc.
4301 Wilson Boulevard
Suite 1003
Arlington, VA 22203
(703) 807-2755