[Info-vax] Current VMS Usage Survey

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2013-12-06 14:26:58 +0000, Bill Gunshannon said:

>     "Cancellation" means the cancellation (within a contractually
>     specified time) of the total requirements of all remaining
>     program years.

So your definition of "there are no multi-year contracts" is "there are 
multi-year contracts, but they have clauses"?   OK.

It's common for commercial contracts to include cancellation clauses, 
termination clauses and non-payment clauses, too.    Most any cellphone 
plan with a subsidy involved will have these.  Few private entities 
would sign a multi-year contract without those clauses.  Which leads me 
to wonder what the particular distinction you're drawing here might be. 
  That the contracts have those clauses by default?  Well, um, I've 
seen more than a few boiler-plate contracts over the years, some 
clearly quite directly copied from contract templates.  (Having chatted 
with a lawyer on this topic, also which particular clauses should be 
struck out and declined during associated negotiations, but that's 
fodder for another discussion.)

The local municipality has done multi-year purchases for various items 
and very likely will again, and that's hardly unusual.  There are 
specific requirements set by the state.  Being multi-year, those 
purchases required a different mechanism for approving the contract, 
but the contracts can and still do happen.   That these multi-year 
contacts are in fact not multi-year contracts is certainly going to be 
an interesting revelation to the lawyers that drafted them and the 
private entities and government folks that signed them.  I'd be floored 
if the Feds had any less flexibility here than the locals already have.


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