question: private Date backoffTime ( Date startTime ) { if ( startTime . before ( DateUtils . addMinutes ( new Date ( ) , - 5 ) ) ) { return DateUtils . addSeconds ( startTime , - 1 ) ; } return DateUtils . addSeconds ( startTime , - BACKOFF_TIME ) ; }
target:  Adds backoff time to start time. If the start time is too close to now, add backoff time, to avoid race conditions.