Slowing down a contractor's production line

[Itdepends]

I have an IDIQ, FFP production contract. My customer wants to slow down the contractor's production line by half(because funding is less, need is less and usage rate going down). I have a current Delivery Order on contract for 100k units over a period of about a year. My main question is can i mod the delivery order to cut the quantity per month? Which means the period of performance would be longer. I assume i can as long as the contractor agrees to it(bi lateral mod)?

[Guest Vern Edwards]

I know of no contractual reason why you cannot negotiate a supplemental agreement to change to the delivery rate. I suspect that slowing the rate and extending the performance period will increase your costs, perhaps significantly.

You might want to check on your funding. I don't know, but I wonder if there would be any bona fide need implications to slowing the rate. You might want to inquire about that.

Having said that, I can't help but wonder about your customer. Will they need the stuff or not? Have they done enough requirements analysis? Right now it sounds like they think they'll need it, but not as soon as previously planned. If slowing delivery would increase the unit prices, you might want to consider alternatives.