Monday, October 26, 2009

My Day Job

Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism
Contract Creation and Approval Flow Chart, Tourism
Updated 10.26.09

Beginning a Contract
When a service need has been identified and confirmed by management, the Contract Monitor then communicates with the Contractor regarding the services that will be provided and the amount of funding. Then the Contract Monitor initiates the agreement with the assistance of the Contract Review Staff.

Composing the Contract
The Contract Review Staff will provide the Contract Monitor with a template to begin composing the contract, as well as a checklist for additional documents at the request of the Contract Monitor. The Monitor will need to know the following in order to complete the agreement: Scope of Services (What the Contractor will do) Goals and Objectives (What the contract is to achieve), Deliverables (what must be produced in order for the contract to be fulfilled), Performance Measures (how the service will be evaluated) and Timelines and Payment Terms.

Negotiations
The Contract Monitor will send the first draft of the contract to the Contractor for additional input. When the two parties have agreed upon the terms of the contract, it is then send to the Contract Review Staff.


Approval by Tourism Review Staff
The Review Staff will then make edits, suggestions and changes to the contract. Edits are tracked electronically in Microsoft Word and all Contract Monitors should save the copy with notations as well as the copy with notations accepted.

Office of Management and Finance & Legal Review and Approval
Once the Contract Monitor has accepted the changes made by the Review Staff the Monitor will forward the contract to the Office of Management and Finance Reviewer and the Deputy Legal Counselor for edits, review, suggestions and approval. The Contract Monitor will make adjustments as advised. Correspondence of OMF and legal approval will need to be saved and printed to be submitted to the OMF Contract Reviewer for processing and submission to OCR (see checklist).

Contractor Final Approval
Once OMF and the Legal Counsel have approved the contract it should be sent to the Contractor for final approval. If any changes were made or not accepted by the Contractor it will need to be resubmitted to OMF and Deputy Legal Counselor. If fully approved by the Contractor additional documents will need to be obtained by the Contract Monitor to submit the contract for signatures, see checklist.

Obtain Additional Documents for Signature Submission
The Contract Monitor Review Staff will request any additional documents needed from the Contractor for approval, when the contract is submitted to the Contractor for signature. . with a checklist of additional documents needed to process the contract. It is best to get this checklist during the initial phase of creating the contract so all components are ready at the time of legal approval. Items required are contingent on the type of vendor involved in the contract.

DCRT, Assistant Secretary Signature
Upon the completion of contract negotiation, including reviews, adjustments, and revisions by the Monitor, Reviewers, Contractor and Legal, the Contract Monitor prints (3) three copies of the original contract, prepares a transmittal memo and attaches the additional documents needed per the checklist, then forwards the documents, including the contract to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Assistant Secretary’s signature.

DCRT, Secretary’s Signature
When all three contracts are signed by the Assistant Secretary and returned to the Contract Monitor, the Contract Monitor forwards the documents to the Secretary for signatures. Secretary returns the contract to the Contract Monitor.

Contractor’s Signature
The Contractor is the final signature on the contract, after signatures all three originals are returned to the Contract Monitor with a document (bylaws, or letter) confirming signature authority (Board Resolution if corporation), and a complete W-9 form if the Contractor is a new vendor. At this point all three signed contracts, with additional documentation attached, are sent to the Tourism Contract Review Supervisor to confirm documents and that the contract is complete and ready for submission to OMF.

Final Approvals
The Contract Review Supervisor will send the contract to OMF and then it will be forwarded to Civil Service and/or other applicable approving agencies and finally to the Office of Contractual Review for further approvals. From this point it will take four to six weeks for the contract to be returned approved to the Contract Monitor. The Monitor will receive a hard copy of the approved contract and a contract number to reference when submitting invoices.


Wednesday, October 21, 2009

a notice on your desk.

you will find a notice on your desk at the end of today,
one single sheet of pink paper from a pad of
400 sister pink papers.

this one telling of all the events that lie before you; the friction between your right shoe and the carpet as you turn to leave the office, it will tell of the sound of car keys being fished from your purse and all the meandering thoughts that bloom in your aging brain as you drive home.
under the pre-printed header of While You Were Out will be messages from tomorrow’s phone calls that you will avoid, there will be scribbles of angry faces found in a morning meeting.

you should read this humble, diminutive scrap of delightfully colored paper. see the scratch of someone’s initials, the person who composed this. it is insignificant, an intern, a secretary, it doesn’t matter. it says you will run out of sticky notes this week and the contract you thought was signed has been set afire by corporate arsonists. the pink paper seems to suggest you would be happy about this. you should read this notice on your desk at the end of today.

it will say that you forgot to pay your electric bill and instead used the money to drink lots cheap wine. you will think this isn’t worthy of an office memo, but the regulations on inter-department communications has been held ransom for years now, so there’s no proving it. all the evidence is captive of a group of Marxist shipping clerks who wanted the keys to the supply closet; but the CEO does not negotiate with terrorists. so, this little slip of girlish-hue will continue to divulge despite your opinion.

you will need to flip the paper over and get the rest of what you will remember you should have done.

it will tell you how you forgot to call your mom and how you called your dad to forget. it will sing that incessant tune from high school and cook your dinner tonight. it will remind you that you will not bring the directions and you will miss your friends. if you lean in real close you will see the dog hair on your bedspread and plaque between your teeth. it says you should have been nicer, in general, throughout your whole life.

but what the notice will not say, no matter how much it so intently wants to, is what you really want to know. and that’s the part you will pay attention to.

Be Bored With Me

You Would Have Loved It!