willow Posted January 23, 2013 Report Share Posted January 23, 2013 Frequently I am seeing contracts identified as hybrid that do not clearly identfy the specific types covered by the contract. For example, In B the contract is identifed as firm fixed price and cost plus award fee and all CLINS listed reflect FFP or CPAF. However in I. Notice of Hybrid Contract, you may find a statement that says "This is a hybrid contract. The contract types are FFP and Cost Plus Award Fee". Then under that you may see, "The applicable contract types are--- and then a list of every conceivable contract type under the sun.. For example, T&M, Cost Share, Cost Plus Fixed fee, Labor hour, FFP-L, CPIF. However, there are FAR clauses in the contract related FFP and CPAF but there ane no clauses or other language to support, for example T&M or cost share orders. So the question is, in the scenario above, what is the applicable contract type assuming the solicitation was advertised as a FFP/CPAF IDIQ task order type contract? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Vern Edwards Posted January 23, 2013 Report Share Posted January 23, 2013 You simply have a carelessly written contract. What they probably meant is that they can issue orders of any contract type. They just carelessly neglected to include clauses for all of the types. The underlying IDIQ contract is itself neither one type nor another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Vern Edwards Posted January 23, 2013 Report Share Posted January 23, 2013 By the way, "hybrid" is wrong. FAR 16.102( says: Contracts negotiated under Part 15 may be of any type or combination of types that will promote the Government's interests, except as restricted in this part.... Contract types not described in this regulation shall not be used, except as a deviation under Subpart 1.4. The second sentence is very important. A hybrid is something made by joining two or more things together in order to form a separate and distinct thing. A mule is a hybrid creature created by breeding a horse and a donkey, but a mule is neither a horse nor a donkey. If you do that with contract types you will have created a type that is not described in the FAR. A combination of types, on the other hand would be a contract with line items, each of which is of a distinct type described in the FAR. Although some dictionaries define the word combination as synonymous with hybrid, the second sentence in FAR 16.102( precludes use of the word in that sense when discussing contract types. You cannot combine two contract types into a third, distinct type. Hybrid contract types, in the dictionary sense, are not permitted without a deviation. This is important, because many very important FAR contract clauses -- payment, inspection, termination, changes, etc. -- are prescribed by contract type. Create a hybrid type and you have a type to which standard clauses are not applicable, and use of a nonstandard clause is a deviation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willow Posted January 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2013 Thanks. In some cases the contract is awarded under FAR 36.6. Shouldn't the agency include all contract types in the Sol and not wait to identify them at contract award? There have been some instances where performance on a TO is mandatory when awarded a contract so requirements like cost share and cost no fee added after advetrising the sol as FFP may be problematic for a contractor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Vern Edwards Posted January 23, 2013 Report Share Posted January 23, 2013 Shouldn't the agency include all contract types in the Sol and not wait to identify them at contract award? Yes. Of course. But did the contractor sign the contract even though the agency had not done that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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