Get Curious before you get Furious

This is the next installment of this post: Navigating the Fog of GovCon

Ok, confession time. I got sucked into the flow of the river of news yesterday and ending up following yet another “possible” change in GovCon. I felt like a cat following the laser light. It was maddening.

Anyway, I suspect I’m not alone. In an environment where we cannot clearly track every situation, it’s easy to get distracted, frustrated, and well, emotional (we are human after all). Rather than get (too) frustrated, I’ve decided to plant my flag on focusing on what we can DO based on the situation we have (hence this series of posts, see link above ).

The problem is that when emotions are high, wisdom is low. One of the ways to keep both the frustration and distraction at bay is for us to get curious before we get furious.

Easier said than done, right?

Maybe.

It helps to have a plan of action in place before we hit the frustration peaks. Have a course of action – i.e. know what you’ll do – when you are hit by the latest curveball that elevates your frustration or, gulp, fury.

Let’s apply this to #GovCon.

Let’s say that the funding on your contract is going to be decreased or even eliminated. Rather than get furious that it happened, both the contracting officer and the contractor can get curious about what to do. What’s actually in the clause. What is the impact? What are the next steps?

For example, the first place I’d look is to see if the Stop Work Order clause (52.242-15) is in the contract. There are similar clauses, but this one is the most common. Now lean on some AI to expand your curiosity. My approach: I typed “Summarize FAR Clause 52.242-15” into my AI software – and got this:

1.???? Issuance: The Contracting Officer can issue a stop-work order to the Contractor, halting all or part of the work for up to 90 days, extendable by mutual agreement. The Contractor must comply immediately and minimize costs during this period.

2.???? Post-Stop-Work Actions: Within 90 days (or any agreed extension), the Contracting Officer must either cancel the stop-work order or terminate the work under the contract's termination clauses.

3.???? Resumption and Adjustments: If the stop-work order is canceled or expires, the Contractor resumes work. The Contracting Officer will adjust the contract's schedule or price if the stop-work order increased the time or cost of performance, provided the Contractor claims this adjustment within 30 days after the stoppage ends.

4.???? Termination for Convenience: If the work is terminated for the Government's convenience, reasonable costs from the stop-work order will be included in the termination settlement.

Just like that, my curiosity led me to see what’s in the clause (I highlighted the key points).

Now that I have the basics of the clause, I can decide if I still need to be furious (though, frankly, it still won’t help).

It’s easy to get frustrated and distracted. The best path lies in the decision to ask questions, to be curious first, and to use the tools we have (like AI) to be curious and keep wisdom high.

Don’t get caught up in the river of news and emotion and frustration. These drown out wisdom. Instead, be curious, not furious.

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References

• AI Note: you can apply this AI summary process to any clause…but beware you are getting a summary– not a legal interpretation. This still means you have to look at the entire clause when you’re doing #HumanToHuman contracting. More on that in a future post. For now, we’re focused on keeping wisdom high and emotion low.
• For AI resource: I used CoPilot but I suspect most AI tools will provide a similar, but not identical, answer.
• https://www.acquisition.gov/far/52.242-15
• https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-48/chapter-1/subchapter-H/part-52/subpart-52.2/section-52.242-15