Thanks for the discussion.
The contract is CPFF for non-performance based, level of effort, engineering services. Some of the requirements are only for 12-months, which the prime claims to be a deterrent to hiring people to fill those requirements.
One option was to subcontract the shorter term requirements, but the prime is only at 50% cost incurred for employees, and cannot subcontract anymore of the labor due to the limitation in 52.219-14(c)(1).
I didn’t consider the impact this change would of had on the competition. Thanks, I’ll get legal’s opinion, but I’m thinking this is not the answer to the problem.