Supplying Principles and Practices > Summary of Changes

Summary of Changes

The following changes to the Supplying Principles and Practices are effective December 31, 2008.

Mail Transportation Practice:

The Contract Term and Use of Contracts sections have been replaced by a new section entitled Types and Terms of Contracts. This section provides guidance on the use of regular, temporary, and emergency contracts, and also states that the base term for regular surface may be determined by the Postal Service, and that no base term may exceed 5 years unless the Department of Labor has granted an exception.

The Renewal of Contracts and Extension and Short-Term Renewals of Contracts sections have been replaced by a new section entitled Contract Renewals, which provides guidance concerning this subject. The new text also states that the renewal term for a regular contract will be determined by the purchase/SCM team. The discussion of contract extensions has been deleted and the use of contract extensions has been ended.

Contract Modifications: The Novation Agreements section has been revised to add language that requires a Contracting Officer to consult counsel on the final terms and conditions of a novation agreement.

The following changes to the Supplying Principles and Practices are effective August 27, 2008.

The Supplier Disagreement Resolution General Practice has been revised to reflect the November 14, 2007, changes made to the Postal Service's purchasing regulations in 39 CFR, Section 601.

Some of the major changes to the practice include the following:

• The term Ombudsman has been changed to Supplier Disagreement Resolution Official (SDR Official).

• Suppliers must lodge disagreements in writing with the Contracting Officer (lodging disagreements orally is no longer be permitted).

• At the conclusion of the 10-day resolution period, the Contracting Officer (CO) must communicate, in writing, to the supplier his or her resolution of the disagreement and a copy of that letter must be sent to his or her manager. The decision letter must include the supplier's appeal rights.

• The use of arbitration may not be used without the approval of the vice president (VP), Supply Management (SM). Language has also been added stating that the disagreement resolution process should be business-like and not adversarial.

• Language regarding the potential actions available to COs during the resolution process has been expanded to state that COs and management should consider a range of business options to resolve the matter, including, denial of the disagreement; overturning a contract award; reopening the purchasing process, or the amendment of the solicitation.

• The material that must be forwarded to the SDR Official after a disagreement has been lodged with the SDR Official has been revised.

In the Information Technology Commodity-Specific Practice, the Security Considerations section has been revised to require that purchase/SCM teams ensure that specifications and statements of work (SOW) for Information Technology (IT) purchases and other types of purchases that may involve Personally Identifiable Information (PII), and resulting solicitations and contracts, address information security and privacy protection requirements. In order to ensure that IT and sensitive information is protected, purchase/SCM teams must coordinate their activities with the Corporate Information Security Office (CISO), and include new Provision 4-10, Application Information Security Requirements, and new Clause 4-19, Application Information Security Requirements, in solicitations and contracts as necessary. In addition, suppliers are precluded from placing any Postal Service data onto laptops or other mobile media without the prior approval of the CO; COs must coordinate such requests with CISO, and may not consent to such requests without CISO's approval. As a result of this change, ancillary revisions have been made to the Privacy Considerations and Supply Chain Security General Practices, and the new provision and clause have been added to the Clauses and Provisions sections.