The subject is Federal Contracting

1. You are a Contracting Officer’s Representative, and the Contracting Officer has given you a draft of what may be a unilateral change order. The first “ballpark” estimate judges costs may increase by $5-10M. Delivery will likely be set back by 3-6 months. Far more stringent inspection requirements will be involved. Experts within your agency disagree wildly on the impacts. You know the contractor has remedies if they judge the change to be outside the scope of work. How will you advise the CO to minimize delays to achieving contract outcomes beyond impact of the change itself?

2. You are a Contracts Administrator for a Government contractor. One of your engineering managers found an inconsistency in the specification on a FFP solicitation. He said the worst case could be a $3M loss for defaulting on the spec. You asked him what if the government modified the specs or the price after the award. He beamed, “My division will likely make $3M in profit!” Your CEO wants to win this one because it will lead to more orders from other agencies as well as commercial firms! What is your advice on how your firm should proceed?

3. You are a small business that has done some Government contracting so you know about FAR Part 49 regarding terminations. You have been approached by a large business to be a subcontractor to them on a new program. You are ecstatic! The subcontract document that they send you says that the prime contractor can terminate you for their convenience. Should you accept this term or not? Explain.