Do You Know When To Change a Contract? Or How?

Tyler Link April 14, 2017

Sometimes, we find that our clients (and government contractors in general), can get so focused on their direct work that contract management/administration is an afterthought. We also see this in relation to accounting & DCAA compliance (but that is a different, yet related, topic). When contractors overlook how they manage their contract(s), they are setting themselves up for potential problems including scope creep or changes in the market place that can completely wipe out their profits.

To see if you are at risk of this same problem, ask yourself if the following sounds familiar:

Have you ever found yourself in a position where you bid a contract and won the award, but then got into the performance phase to find out that a critical item or service was severely underbid?
Or, what if the deliverables or scope of work expected by the Federal Government changed over your period of performance, without equitable changes in the compensation of the contract, running up your costs and destroying your profit?

Is there a way to remedy the situation and become profitable again? Absolutely: file a thorough and well-drafted Government Contract Change Order.

In situations like these, many small business contractors don’t realize that a contract change order can mean the difference between staying profitable, and potentially losing thousands, to even millions of dollars on a contract.

What’s more important; you only have one crack at a proper change order, so getting this right from the start, is absolutely critical to contractors.

At ReliAscent, our DCMA and contract management experts have over 150 years of Federal Government contract management experience, and have helped hundreds of clients complete successful contract change orders. If you would like to learn more about out contract management services and how contract change orders may help your business, download our popular white paper “Government Contract Change Orders 101,” or contact our experts today. We are always happy to help!

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