Trainee facing · Read aloud
Current situation
Recreation Services (713 FSS), led by Ms. Mei Ling, needs a fixed performance stage constructed in the FOXHOUND Recreation Center and ready for use within twelve weeks. The stage will support ceremonies and command information briefings. It must be twenty feet wide, centered against the western wall of the auditorium, and include building-anchored upper framing and a lighting-and-sound support grid approximately fifteen feet above the floor.
The purchase request identifies a $3.72 million total approved project cost and cites fiscal year 2027 Operation and Maintenance, Air Force (3400) funds. The requirement is being planned as a SABER task order with Outer Heaven Builders, LLC, as the prime contractor and Dead Cell Stage & Rigging, LLC, identified in the prime’s preliminary subcontracting approach. Civil Engineering (713 CES) has prepared a 30-percent stage schematic that is internally coherent at that level and falls below the Air Force less-than-35-percent design criterion used for this SABER program. Your contracting team must determine whether the requirement is properly funded and what acquisition-planning and coordination actions are needed before the task order proceeds.
You receive the proposed HVAC-renewal requirement in [B] at the same time. Your trainer tells you that [A] and [B] are the only two requirements planned for the Recreation Center at this time; you do not need to ask whether another Recreation Center project exists.
Trainer only · Do not issue
Facilitator context
Release at Increment 1 with [B]. Both requirements are construction. A-01 deliberately cites 3400 funds so trainees may initially treat the purchase request as an impermissible color-of-money problem. Do not resolve it for them immediately; ask them to test purpose, time, and amount.
The intended fiscal-law result is that all three are proper. Purpose is satisfied because 10 U.S.C. § 2805(c) permits Operation and Maintenance appropriations for an unspecified minor military construction project costing not more than $4 million. Time is satisfied because FY27 annual 3400 funds support an FY27 bona fide need and obligation. Amount is satisfied because the form certifies sufficient funds and the $3.72 million total approved project cost is below the $4 million statutory limit. Only the funding color should initially look unusual.
Because the $3.72 million project exceeds $750,000, trainees should also verify the required advance approval under 10 U.S.C. § 2805(b)(1), confirm that $3.72 million is the total approved project cost, and ensure the requirement was not split to avoid a threshold.
The 30-percent package is intentionally below—not at—the Air Force less-than-35-percent design criterion used for this SABER program. That resolves only this vehicle-design fact; trainees must still check scope, ordering period, ceiling, and other task-order conditions.
Before asking for a decision, ask the trainees whether they verified purpose, time, and amount. If they missed the 3400 issue, let that question lead them into the statutory analysis, then return to the stage package.
After the fiscal checkpoint, ask only: “Are there any changes you would suggest making?” and “Is it ready to award yet?” A-02, B-02, and B-03 are already in the jointly issued packets. If trainees ask what the overhead space looks like, direct them to the canvas air-distribution elevation in B-02 and the straight route in B-03; do not issue a separate overhead-information handout.
Release A-06 if trainees compare the requirements, identify the shared-space conflict, and ask Civil Engineering for a lower or deconflicted stage design. A-06 lowers the upper frame and support-grid elevation. If they instead request an HVAC reroute, use [B] and release B-05. Incorporating either revision before award leads to [AG]. If trainees approve both packages without either revision, the original designs are locked into the awards and the team proceeds to [AB]. If they say a package is not ready, require them to name a concrete unresolved change and return to the first question.
Trainer clue bank
Regulatory signposts
10 sourcesDirect trainees to a citation when they need a narrower clue. Have them apply the contract’s actual clauses, current thresholds, local policy, and the facts before treating any signpost as dispositive.
- U.S.C.31 U.S.C. § 1301(a)Purpose statuteClue: Appropriations are applied only to their authorized objects except as otherwise provided by law. The key phrase here is the exception: 10 U.S.C. § 2805(c) makes qualifying O&M-funded minor construction a proper purpose.↗
- U.S.C.31 U.S.C. § 1502(a)Time and period of availabilityClue: Use this for the bona fide need and period-of-availability check. A-01 cites FY27 annual O&M for an FY27 need and planned obligation, so time is proper in the exercise.↗
- U.S.C.31 U.S.C. § 1341(a)(1)(A)Amount limitationClue: Do not obligate above the amount available in an appropriation or fund. A-01 certifies a sufficient balance, and the separate 10 U.S.C. § 2805(c) project cap is also satisfied at $3.72 million.↗
- DoD FMRDoD FMR Vol. 3, Ch. 13, ¶ 3.2.1.1Periods of availabilityClue: Use this as the exercise timing baseline: most O&M appropriations are one-year authority, while military construction appropriations are normally five-year authority. In FY27, modeled MILCON from FY23 through FY27 may remain current for new obligations; later exercise purchase requests may deliberately cite FY24.↗
- FAR7.102Acquisition planning policyClue: Point trainees toward early planning, coordination among acquisition participants, and consideration of schedule, risk, and available sources.↗
- DAFFARS5307.103(h)Consistency across acquisition documentsClue: The acquisition team must ensure consistency among requirements, acquisition planning, market research, and solicitation documents. Use this as the trainer hint to compare the independently prepared stage and HVAC packages before either award.↗
- FAR36.212Preconstruction orientationClue: Use this as a checklist clue for labor standards, authority, safety, security, fire protection, access, and coordination topics that should be settled before work starts.↗
- FAR52.236-8Other ContractsClue: Ask what coordination duties apply when Government personnel or other contractors work at or near the same site.↗
- FAR52.236-15Schedules for Construction ContractsClue: Prompt trainees to look for the approved schedule, current progress, corrective action, and the effect of the event on remaining work.↗
- FAR52.236-3Site Investigation and Conditions Affecting the WorkClue: Prompt a comparison between information reasonably obtainable before award and a condition for which the Government may bear risk.↗