THE RECURSIVE PROCUREMENT RITE
Also designated: The Procurement Document · The Rite · The Document Legal Counsel Went Into · Iteration 23 (current)
ARTEFACT / DOCUMENT / SELF-MODIFYING / NON-TERMINATING
OVERVIEW
The Recursive Procurement Rite is a vendor assessment framework drafted during SW8's founding period. In its original form it comprised twelve pages and was considered complete. It was not signed at the time, pending legal review. It has not been signed since. It is on its twenty-third iteration. It is 847 pages long. Legal review is ongoing.
The document, when read in its entirety, begins again from the beginning. This is not a binding structure or a PDF feature. The document physically begins again. Readers complete the final clause and find themselves reading the opening clause, from a position consistent with having just opened it for the first time, with no memory of finishing. Seven people have read it in full. All seven later stopped, mid-document, without finishing. None reached the end a second time. All seven are uncertain whether they finished the first time or only believed they had.
CLAUSES OF PARTICULAR NOTE
"All engagements are considered to have commenced upon the moment of mutual intent." — In force, legally enforceable per two of three reviewing firms. The third firm's opinion was interrupted mid-sentence and never completed. Every SW8 vendor relationship operates under clause 4. So, it has been quietly noted, does our relationship with ourselves.
"In the event that this document is read in its entirety, the reader acknowledges that they have read this document in its entirety and accepts the obligations therein." — Clause 47 appeared in Iteration 15 and was present in iterations 1–14 when those were re-examined afterwards. Nobody had noticed it before. This is clause 47's effect.
"The document recognises the reader." — The entirety of clause 79. It is three words long. The word count function reports 847. This discrepancy has not been investigated.
LEGAL REVIEW STATUS
Legal counsel was retained fourteen months ago to review the document in full prior to potential signing. Counsel has held the document since. Counsel responds to email promptly and professionally. The updates describe the review as "ongoing" and "complex but progressing." The updates always arrive at 02:17. The firm's reception answers normally; its other services are available; only the procurement review lead is unavailable for direct conversation. Whether the lead has finished the document, or has finished it and found themselves at the beginning, has been put in writing. The response addressed every point in the letter except that one. The omission was noted, not acknowledged. The next update arrived at 02:17 and described progress as "ongoing."