---
title: Trends in Government Contracts
description: With pressure to reduce the Federal Budget, what are the trends being observed in Government Contracts?
---

# Trends in Government Contracts

[ Mike Anderson ](https://www.reliascent.com/blog/author/mike-anderson)  February 8, 2013

Most of the core requirements for contracting with the Federal Government originate in the Federal Acquisition Regulations or [FAR](https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far).  These series of documents describe in great detail the how and the why of government procurements.  The FAR may reference other regulations and may infer other regulations.  This eventually turns into what we affectionately refer to as a "rat maze" to chase down all the requirements that may be imposed on a contractor. 

Today I just want to concentrate on the different types of contract vehicles that are available to the Contracting Officer (CO).  [FAR Part 16](https://www.acquisition.gov/far/current/html/FARTOCP16.html#wp226194) controls this description.  The basic contract types in Part 16 are:

- Fixed Price Contracts
- Cost Reimbursement Contracts
- Incentive Contracts
- Indefinite Delivery Contracts
- Time and Materials, Labor Hour and Letter Contracts
- Agreements

We have seen trends over the last several years for the government to try and move as much procurement as possible to the Fixed Price type contracts.  Certainly, much of what the government purchases may not fit easily in that category.  Regardless, it has been a [priority of the existing administration to reduce waste ](http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Memorandum-for-the-Heads-of-Executive-Departments-and-Agencies-Subject-Government)in Federal procurements, including trying to use more Fixed Price Contracts.  We have also seen recently an increase in the number of IDIQ contracts (Indefinite Delivery Contracts).  This trend allows the government to control budget a little better and also control the amount and delivery time.  Some of the biggest IDIQ type contract vehicles currently are vehicles such as Seaport-e, LOGCAP IV, SEWP IV, EAGLE, Alliant and Encore II to name a few of the big ones.  Small business may want to investigate these vehicles as they are becoming preferred ways for the government to do business.  Give me a call if you don't know where to start.

 

#### Topics:

[Cost Type Contracts](https://www.reliascent.com/blog/tag/cost-type-contracts) , [Government Contracts](https://www.reliascent.com/blog/tag/government-contracts) , [IDIQ](https://www.reliascent.com/blog/tag/idiq)

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Mike Anderson",
    "url" : "https://www.reliascent.com/blog/author/mike-anderson"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2023-04-26T19:30:52.330Z",
  "datePublished" : "2013-02-08T07:00:00.000Z",
  "headline" : "Trends in Government Contracts",
  "mainEntityOfPage" : {
    "@id" : "https://www.reliascent.com/blog/trends-in-government-contracts",
    "@type" : "WebPage"
  },
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "url" : "https://www.reliascent.com/hubfs/ReliAscent_Logo_larger%20for%20social%20media.jpg"
    },
    "name" : "Reliascent"
  }
}
```