rdedwards2

Thanks Vern and styrene! Good to know I can come here to get quick and concise answers.

Hi folks, Backstory: We have an employee who has been working on two consecutive task orders for us and we have heard that the government agency wants to issue another follow up task order. The first task order was established in 2010 under an IDIQ contract (the second one as well). The employee agreed to come on board at the rate my supervisor had established when bidding for that work, which was much lower than the rate we would normally bid for the employee. Because of this, we and the employee feels that 2 years later, they are vastly underpaid for their work, and the employee is considering other employment options. Question: Is it okay to go to the COR, COTR, CO, or someone in the agency and let them know that for this upcoming task order we want to pay this employee $X instead of the $Y he has been earning for the past 2 years before they issue us a statement of work for the follow up task order? The goal is to show them that we need to charge more for his services or he will go elsewhere before the agency sets aside money in its budget for this new task order. I have a bad feeling about contacting the agency and pointing this out to them, as it could be unethical and/or present a conflict of interest. Should I call them up and say something to the effect of "Hey govnerment agency, employeeX is vastly underpaid and has discussed leaving unless you can set aside more money for his task order. Oh and by the way, here is a list of our current IDIQ prices, what we charge for services not under the IDIQ, and here is the range of acceptable rates for employeeX"? Thank you and I look forward to hearing what you all have to say.

Thank you Mr. Edwards for your response. Is it still reasonable for there to be deliverables on the contract? This would make it seem like the services are entire, or am I completely misunderstanding that?

Thanks Styrene for the reply. We have brought it up with the Contracting Officer, who insisted that the set up was to allow us to be able to invoice at the end of each month, as a progress payment. I was under the impression, according to FAR 52.216-7(a)(1) that we could already do this. I am reading that wrong?

Hello, My consulting firm currently has several contracts with the Government that are structured in an odd way. They say that they are firm fixed price but the quantity ordered and unit is not for a single job (JO) but for a number of (usually 12) months. The nature of the work (software development with a lot of research) is such that no months are quite like the others. So, how can they issue a contract for 12 months at a fixed price per month? Does this constitute a FFP Level of Effort contract since we are essentially selling the Government 12 individual months of our effort or services? In addition, since the structure of the award is not for a single job, what happens if we fail to deliver on all aspects of the work? Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Edwards. We do have the 52.244-2 in our IDIQ Contract, and from the looks of it, we just need to notify the CO if we plan to do this for a Time and Materials task order.

Hi Everyone, I have a situation that was brought up in a meeting at work, and I was wondering if anyone could help me out. We are a software company that builds custom software for US agencies through Government contracts. Due to the highly technical subject material of some of our work, we often struggle to find suitable employees that can handle the work. Sites like Odesk.com and Elance.com have popped up and offer a huge list of potential employees/subcontractors. However, a majority of those candidates are outside the US. We were wondering if we would be able to subcontract out some of the work on a given contract to a person through Odesk.com and the like? Are there any FAR clauses that would keep us from subcontracting out some software development to a person who resides outside the US? Thank you for your time and suggestions.

Thanks! this was pretty much what I was looking for. Cheers.

Hi everyone, I am hoping someone can help me out with this issue. We are hoping to obtain a contract with the Government and have Business X as a subcontractor. Business X holds a GSA schedule (we do not) for the exact services that are needed under the contract. Do we have to charge the Government the prices that are on the Subcontractor's GSA schedule for the work that they do? Example: We subcontract out the work for an Engineer to Business X. Business X has a GSA schedule with the Engineer Labor Category priced at $80 / hour. Do we have to use that rate when we bill the government, or can we add on our costs to that (G&A, profit, etc..) to say $90 / hour? Or will the Subcontractor most likely charge us more than the GSA schedule in the first place? Thank you for reading, and I appreciate any comments on the issue.

Thanks, I should take a breather and relax.

We have a contract like this as well. There is a line item for xx hours at y dollars per unit. If you did not deliver the units (in this case worked the hours) then you will not get paid for them. If it was a regular FFP, where there is a line item for a "job", then you would get paid the full amount, regardless of the hours spent. It seems the government likes to use these FFP for each hour in jobs where there is not a clear deliverable, such as R&D or consulting. At least that has been my experience.

Hi everyone, I am new here and hope that someone can help me out with this issue. Background: I help run a small software development firm that does work for the government. We currently have 2 separate contracts with an Agency. All of the code we write for this Agency is put in the public domain, and can be used by anyone. We have a piece of software that was developed under Contract A that we are using also for Contract B. To which contract do we charge the labor used to improve the piece of software? Here are a few scenarios: Say John puts in 8 hours improving the efficiency of the software (fits the scope of both Contract A & B ). Does he split his time between the two? Or say John puts in 8 hours for a function/feature intended for Contract A, but it has applicability under Contract B, and the function is placed in for both. Do we still split the time? Or do we invoice by which contract uses the function/feature the most? The main reason I am asking about this, is we do not want to be accidentally charging A and/or B when we should be billing the other. To make matters more complex, what if we have John (primary employee on Contract A) and Suzy (primary employee on Contract B ) both working together on the software? Sorry if this was a bit long. I am open to any suggestions or comments, and I will be glad to clarify anything that is needed. Thank you.