Government Contract Law – MN3312 – Memo to Legal Counsel – Fall AY2021
ASSIGNMENT: DRAFT DUE 12 November 1800h/ FINAL DUE 25 November 1800h
You will place yourself in the role of the KO in the following Fact Pattern.
Faced with a “situation,” you seek legal counsel via a memorandum.
You write that memo according to this outline.
To: Legal Counsel
From: LastName, FirstName
Re: Legal Advice Urgently Requested
The Facts: [here you re-cap the relevant and material facts as succinctly as possible]
Additional Facts That Would Be Valuable to Know:
Facts I Assume in Analyzing this Situation: [here you make assumptions about the facts you
don’t know in order to conduct a hypothetical analysis]
Questions/Issues Raised & Law/Regulations Involved:
My Suggested Resolution:
The Rationale for My Suggested Resolution:
Please advise what course of action you recommend at your earliest opportunity.
------------------------------
That’s it—nothing more, nothing less.
Your memo will likely be between 3 and 5 pages --- BUT, no more than 5!
Submit the WORD document to my email with this file name format
WORD file format: (NOT pdf, NOT powerpoint – WORD)
GCL.Fall.AY2021.MemoToCounsel.LastName.FirstName
FACT PATTERN:
Mobilization Command in Kansas City, MO was on the base realignment and closure (BRAC) list,
which meant it would be shutting down in approximately one year. Due to this action,
personnel were not getting back-filled as they PCS-ed, retired, or left service, creating a gap in
manpower for daily tasks. Therefore, to keep the base running this last year, the KO was
instructed to contract out the handling of vehicle maintenance, landscaping, and building
security. The KO decided that since he was also short staffed and to save time and money, and
improve efficiency, he would make the request for proposal (RFP) cover all three identified
areas instead of splitting up the contracts individually. When he received the bids, he found
that reputable local companies did the following: The Sodfather Landscaping only bid on the
landscaping portion at a cost of $75,000; Otto’s Auto only bid on the vehicle maintenance at a
cost of $125,000, and Jack’s Mall Cops Corporation only bid on the security aspect at a cost of
$200,000. Only one company (A-Z Family Industries) bid on the entire contract at a cost of
$300,000. A-Z Family was a newly established small business; therefore, it had no references. It
was a family-run company that had no prior experience with government contracts but stated it
had been cutting grass, shooting guns, and fixing trucks for decades. A-Z Family’s bid came in at
$300,000, 25% less than when the other three contractors’ portions were added together, a
value savings that the KO chalked up to economies of scale. Since it was the only bid that met
the entire RFP and since it was the cheapest, A-Z Family was awarded the contract. Two months
into the contract, the KO noticed that the grass was getting unruly, vehicles kept
eaking
down, and there had been a rash of missing equipment lately. Billy Bob, the A-Z Family owner
stated that it had been a wet spring, that the vehicles weren’t being driven as much leading to
fuel problems, and that he had no control over thieves’ actions. In fact, on the security side, he
stated he was simply responsible for base personnel security not equipment security as that’s
what the CO told him to focus on. Billy Bob stated that the contract didn’t specifically establish
performance metrics and that he thought he was doing a good job within scope, but that he
would talk to his cousin Leroy who had recently done a security stint of his own up the road at
Leavenworth and would try to do better. The KO pondered how he got here and what actions
he should take next, so he decided to seek advice from Legal Counsel.