Ambiguity in PWS

[DEEFARRD]

I have recently inherited a Clinical Acquisition Support Services (CLASS) contract for medical personnel. CLASS is a new concept to me as well as service contract administration. The CLASS system streamlines the award process for medical staffing services because the Air Force has determined that the proposed 22 contractors are 'qualified' at providing staffing needs.

Due to a court case which I'm unfamiliar with, an award was made to Contractor A for 1 calendar year of performance. One of the stipulations of this award was that no modification can be done to increase hours worked on this contract thus no extra funds can be added that was not negotiated prior to the award and that at the time of the award, we did not have sufficient funds to fully fund the whole year thus we incrementally funded the requirement IAW DFARS 252.232-7007. Due to the rush of this award, the hours awarded in this contract was miscalculated by the customer and thus awarded insufficiently. The PWS calls for medical staff positions to work 40 hours a week and let's say we have about 30 working weeks left which will be about 1,200 hours per Full Time Equivalent (FTE, (40 hour worker)).

The contract is now fully funded but the vendor has discovered an issue. 10 FTEs hours have only 6,000 hours left on the contract. In order for these FTEs to work 40hours a week for 30 weeks, they required 12,000 hours. We cannot modify the contract to increase the alotted hours and Contractor A has to conform with the PWS to keep the workers working 40 hours a week. At this rate, Contractor A will run out of hours at week 15 and will not be able to fufill the other 15 weeks.

Contractor A has notified the Government in advance that 85% of performance will be reached prior to 90 days of when the work will reach the point at which the total amount payable by the Government IAW DFARS 252.232-7007©

The vendor does not know what to do because they feel the PWS is preventing them to decrease the hours worked by employees to meet the 30 week timeline and at the same time, if they decrease their employees hours by half, the customer and the contracted employees will be irate.

"© Notwithstanding the dates specified in the allotment schedule in paragraph (j) of this clause, the Contractor will notify the Contracting Officer in writing at least ninety days prior to the date when, in the Contractor's best judgment, the work will reach the point at which the total amount payable by the Government, including any cost for termination for convenience, will approximate 85 percent of the total amount then allotted to the contract for performance of the applicable item(s). The notification will state (1) the estimated date when that point will be reached and (2) an estimate of additional funding, if any, needed to continue performance of applicable line items up to the next scheduled date for allotment of funds identified in paragraph (j) of this clause, or to a mutually agreed upon substitute date. The notification will also advise the Contracting Officer of the estimated amount of additional funds that will be required for the timely performance of the item(s) funded pursuant to this clause, for subsequent period as may be specified in the allotment schedule in paragraph (j) of this clause, or otherwise agreed to by the parties. If after such notification additional funds are not allotted by the date identified in the Contractor's notification, or by an agreed substitute date, the Contracting Officer will terminate any item(s) for which additional funds have not been allotted, pursuant to the clause of this contract entitled "TERMINATION FOR THE CONVENIENCE OF THE GOVERNMENT"

[ji20874]

So, what's the question?

If a consent decree or other court case has established limits or demands on the Government's administration of the contract, and if you're the contracting officer, then you need to understand the court case.

if the contractor runs out of money, then the contracting officer will terminate the contract for the Government's convenience. He or she has a choice under the clause -- add more money or terminate the contract. It's really quite simple.