BUS 501 Week 7 Discussion

• From the e-Activity, examine the seven criteria that contractors must meet to be deemed responsible. Determine which of these criteria is the most difficult to meet. Support your position. Then, propose a way to mitigate the challenge you presented.

There are seven criteria that contractors should meet in order to be deemed responsible. These standards are termed as “collateral requirements” and these apply to all procurement contracts even if they are not incorporated. These criteria are adequate financial resources, ability to comply with delivery or performance schedule, satisfactory performance record, a satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics, necessary organization and experience, necessary equipment and facilities and qualified and eligible (US Department of State, 2013). All these criteria need to be included in the contract and the contractor should be

responsible. Out of all these criteria, last criteria, eligible and qualified, encompass the collateral requirements and other provisions on the basis of which decisions are made. It is difficult to identify the qualification and eligibility of the contractors. In order to overcome such type of challenge, contractors should identify the government rules and regulations and accordingly decisions should be made.

• Consider the different perspectives of each of the following offices that are responsible for reviewing the final contract: the contracting office, the program office, and the small business office. Determine which government offices should review the final contract document. Be sure to address the role of ethics in your argument.

Companies have various methods through which they can gain information about any employee in any company. Firstly, company takes all the information about the contractor’s previous company. They should also take information about the position of contractor in that company. Moreover, information about the individual employee can be gained through the employees' contract. Contractor’s colleagues and team members will provide the information. Secondly, by asking with contractor will also be useful in identifying the information related to bankruptcy (Manuel, 2013). The manager should understand the overall reason behind bankruptcy. Previous company’s financial statements are also useful in identifying the overall position of different contracts. There are some breaches in the accountability of the employees that need to be identified. Sometimes, due to disputes between two parties, individuals make breaches in the process of accountability. Moreover, fail to agree to an acceptable plan for subcontracting with small business is also another reason for breach in the process of accountability (McKays, 2013).