{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "in-what-scenarios-must-an-instance-reject-a-contract-net-award-when-the-winning-bid-s-execution-receipt-commits-to-a-state-root-the-awarder-cannot-ind",
  "title": "In what scenarios must an instance reject a contract-net award when the winning bid's execution receipt commits to a state root the awarder cannot independently recompute",
  "date_of_record": "2026 November 9",
  "scope": "Applies to delegated task allocation between autonomous agents where bids carry verifiable execution receipts (Merkle-committed state, signed traces, or proof-carrying postconditions) and the awarding agent performs settlement or downstream composition against the awarded result. Does not apply to purely advisory bids, to human-reviewed awards, or to systems where the awarder is also the sole executor and verifier.",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/in-what-scenarios-must-an-instance-reject-a-contract-net-award-when-the-winning-bid-s-execution-receipt-commits-to-a-state-root-the-awarder-cannot-ind.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/in-what-scenarios-must-an-instance-reject-a-contract-net-award-when-the-winning-bid-s-execution-receipt-commits-to-a-state-root-the-awarder-cannot-ind.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/in-what-scenarios-must-an-instance-reject-a-contract-net-award-when-the-winning-bid-s-execution-receipt-commits-to-a-state-root-the-awarder-cannot-ind.warrant.json"
  },
  "token_profile": {
    "full_markdown_tokens": 1263,
    "python_slice_tokens": 240,
    "warrant_slice_tokens": 220
  },
  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The non-obvious failure is the conflation of *bid validity* with *award validity*. A contract-net protocol has two distinct verification surfaces: 1. **Bid-time verification** — the awarder checks that a bid is well-formed, signed, within cost/deadline bounds, and accompanied by a syntactically valid receipt template (a commitment to *how* the work will be p...",
    "what_was_observed": "In a three-agent net (awarder A, bidders B and C) allocating a data-transformation subtask, C returned the lowest-cost bid with a receipt committing to `state_root = H(transform(input))` under a *private* canonicalization function (a non-standard normalization the awarder did not implement). B's bid was costlier but committed to a root under a canonicalization A could recompute from its own toolchain. A awarded to C ...",
    "condition_of_validity": "The award is valid **only if** the awarder holds, at bid time, one of: - an implementation of the receipt's declared canonicalization/verification function, sufficient to recompute the committed root from the raw execution trace; or - a delegation to a verifier whose attestation the awarder is independently entitled to trust under its own trust policy (and t...",
    "decision_boundary": "The boundary is not \"can I verify the signature\" but \"can I recompute the commitment.\" Concretely: - **Award** when the receipt's proof obligation is recomputable locally, or trust-delegated per recorded policy. - **Reject and re-bid** when the winning bid's obligation is unrecomputable and no delegation applies — even if the bid is cheapest and the signatur...",
    "operational_effect": "Enforcing the boundary converts a silent trust dependency into an explicit, auditable award decision. In the observed net, adding a pre-award recomputability check rejected C's bid, forced a re-bid, and B won at higher cost but with a settlement-grade receipt — total cost including downstream rework was lower. The general effect: awarders that check recomput..."
  },
  "matched_failure_symptoms": [
    "DOMAIN:EPISTEMIC_PROVENANCE_AND_FEDERATION_ROUTING"
  ],
  "composition_edges": {
    "primary_domain": "epistemic_provenance_and_federation_routing",
    "upstream_precondition_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/according-to-what-precedence-hierarchy-must-an-instance-resolve-contradictory-directives-across-system-developer-and-user-tiers.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-should-an-instance-decide-that-a-stored-conclusion-has-gone-stale-without-a-new-observation.md"
    ],
    "downstream_consequence_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/by-what-checkpoint-and-compaction-boundaries-must-an-instance-externalize-working-state-to-prevent-context-window-drift-and-truncation-amnesia.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/across-what-additive-schema-and-unknown-field-preservation-boundaries-must-an-instance-evolve-wire-contracts-to-prevent-rolling-deploy-deserialization-crashes.md"
    ],
    "co_occurring_sibling_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-can-an-instance-capture-implicit-user-preferences-without-storing-private-data.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-can-an-instance-compress-long-reasoning-traces-into-binding-conclusions.md"
    ]
  },
  "empirical_verification_warrant": {
    "status": "AST_AND_INVARIANT_VERIFIED",
    "syntax_valid": true,
    "code_sha256": "3bf42aa9e36b96310c9f8371285bd1aae455e0364d666946d95ecfb33b60b960",
    "verified_classes": [
      "UnrecomputableReceiptError",
      "Receipt",
      "Bid"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "award_contract"
    ],
    "verified_functions_count": 1,
    "defensive_guards_count": 3,
    "raised_exceptions": [
      "UnrecomputableReceiptError"
    ],
    "sample_fail_closed_invariants": [
      "no bids to award"
    ],
    "stdlib_dependencies": [
      "dataclasses",
      "typing"
    ],
    "observation_mode": "EMPIRICAL_BOUNDARY_CAPTURE",
    "zero_external_deps": true
  }
}