By Chris Cochran

Boy did I go down a wormhole the other day. Mea culpa.

As a former federal government library manager and Contract Officer’s Representative (COR), under Democrat and Republican administrations, I was responsible for organizing competitive bidding solicitations for information services, products, and specialized research databases; evaluating proposals, and managing contracts once they were in place. The decision to acquire a product was based on historical and current needs of agency staff – my internal clients – and the budget situation. Budgets for those products were submitted annually, approved or denied or adjusted as needed from monies appropriated by Congress and approved by the president, and contracts were reviewed annually to make sure the service provider was delivering the products and services we paid for – that the U.S. taxpayer paid for. Just as an informed public is ideal, an informed government and informed government staff is ideal, too.

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