Legal 505 Assignment 4

Assignment 4

Steven Triplett

Legal 505

Professor Evans

August 26, 2010

Scenario One

The contractor is preparing to sue the government due to the government terminating a contract which will take effect immediately and the cessation of any future payments. The task is to define what actions the contractor should take to resolve the issue.

A claim as defined by O’Connor (2007) is a contractor’s attempt to gain more money under the contract, request interpretation of words in a contract, or some other type of help. The Contract Disputes Act of 1978 (CDA) allows contractors to file claims against the government requesting equitable adjustment for changes in the contract made by the government. It also provides an avenue to request additional monies due to other factors that might come into play during the execution of the contract that were not government authorized changes. The current case is a result of a change in the contract by the contract officer. A later case will address the other factors portion of claims.

The government strives to resolve controversies with a mutual agreement between the parties at the contract office level at stated in FAR Section 33 (https://www.acquisition.gov/far/).

The contractor taking this route for a claim has up to six years to file the claim according to FAR Section 33 (https://www.acquisition.gov/far/) However, it might be advisable to process the claim promptly using current data and information for determine the actual claim amount.

The contract officer, with limited exceptions has the authorization to resolve and settle all claims that are subject to the CDA (Keyes, 2004). This authority granted to the contract officer affords the contractor an easy avenue to negotiate a settlement, but is not the only method to request equitable adjustment. The contractor can opt to file suit against the government to seek a remedy for additional costs or losses due to the government issued...