I am faced with what I once thought was a simple question, which is when does a contract end? We are having a difference of opinions on this topic in my office. Some believe that if you have a contract for a specific period of time and you don't get what you paid for then the contract is still valid and can be modified. I believe that the contract ends when the period of performance ends and any modifications to the period of performance have to occur prior to the period of performance ending.
Here is an example, a contract for repair of a boat has a period of performance of 12 months and the repair is not complete at 12 months and at month 15 it is discovered that more parts are needed to complete the repair and therefore more money is needed on the contract, can you do a mod to the contract to add more money at month 15 when the period of performance ended at month 12?
I would think that the period of performance is part of the scope and therefore any work outside of the period of performance unless modified before hand is out of scope and would require a J&A but that may not be correct.
I have searched extensively to get a definitive answer on this, can anyone help?