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(SBIR) CPFF Completion Type Contract Mod


Leslie

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We have a SBIR contract that was awarded as a Performance Based CPFF Completion type. Per the contract and the FAR Clause Matrix this is set up as a CR SVR contract, however the CR R&D type seems more appropriate to me. Case in point, the 52.227-20 clause & 27.409(h) policy for solicitation provisions and contract clauses would apply which is associated with the CR R&D type not the CR SVR. How hard is it to change something like this if in fact there is a mistake on the part of the awarding agency?

Secondly, this contract has BY and 3 Options and we are in option year 1. We kind of inherited this contract from another group and it was poorly bid and/or understood. It would appear that we need to pull all the funds from the remaining options into option 1. For various reasons, we don't have time to do a cost mod at the moment, but will need to come back and do that and add option years in the very near future. We are proposing that the no cost mod be done with very little ceiling left in the remaining options (like $1) and then followed up with a cost mod for those other options. Our technical customer is in agreement, but I'm wondering if this is doable at all. I've looked in the FAR and I can't find anything that really addresses it. Advice?

As always-Thanks!

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Do you mean CR SVC (instead of CR SVR)?

Are you saying that the contract clause at FAR 52.227-20, Rights in Data--SBIR Program, is not included in your contract but probably should be?

Are you saying you need to increase the funding for the first option year by an amount equal to the other two option years, and cancel the those other two option years?

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CR SVC - yes I have fat fingers!

From what I understand 52.227-20 should definitely be there because this is a SBIR III contract (CR R&D). After finding that yesterday, I built a spreadsheet using the FAR Matrix and added a column to indicate which clauses are incorporated by reference and which by text from our contract. I was really kind of surprised to see such a great discrepancy between the clauses on the contract and those required by the matrix. I just sent the spreadsheet to the government agency's contract manager assigned to this contract. I imagine that a mod will be issued.

WRT the option year ceiling- we do need to pull all the ceiling forward, but we want to leave a small amount in each option as to not cancel the other options. We would like to request a cost mod next and most likely add option years too. There is not enough time to get the cost mod in place before seriously impacting the performance of the program. Poor planning - I know. Thoughts? Thanks!

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Is this what you want to do?

BEFORE THE MOD AFTER THE MOD

-------------- -------------

BASE YEAR $100,000 $100,000
OPTION 1 $100,000 $298,000 (edited)

OPTION 2 $100,000 $ 1

OPTION 3 $100,000 $ 1

------------- -------------

$400,000 $400,000

(amounts are notional except for the $1 values)

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Well, I suppose it will if both parties agree to it, and the Government can afford to change its funding profile, and no one else objects (will anyone else ever hear about it?)...

I don't know enough about SBIR or your contract to know if the change is merely a funding change, or is a within scope acceleration, or a change outside the scope of the contract...

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Pretty similar response to the one I have been saying for months. The entire funding profile will change as will the scope and I don't think it has been properly POM'd for. There was just a really poor understanding of the work when it was first bid. Thanks for your advice today!

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Leslie,

I wouldn't rely on the FAR Matrix to determine whether a clause should be in a particular contract--I would read the prescription. First, the matrix contains mistakes. Second, most of the entries on the matrix are "A", which means "required when applicable." You're going to have to look up the prescription to determine if something is applicable. Third, the FAR matrix may say to use a clause, but an agency supplement may say not to use that FAR clause. For example, the clauses prescribed at FAR 27.409 don't apply to DoD.

As far as the options, if you are renegotiating, the CO would have to comply with FAR Part 6. Read Vern's last blog entry:

>

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Guest Vern Edwards

Leslie:

What type of funds do you have: annual (one-year), multiple-year, or no-year?

You say that you have an R&D contract. (R&D is a type of service.) Is the contract for a single project that is divided into phases, each phase to be acquired as an option, or is it for recurring or ongoing R&D work acquired on a year-by-year basis, each option being for one year of work?

Have options two through four been exercised?

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Second Attempt- I started this post and for some reason it locked up...starting over. :(

Don-Thank you for the advice. There were many discrepancies even in the required "R" clauses ; but yes-I am actually in the process of reading through the clauses and prescriptions on my new handy dandy iFAR Smartphone App so I can recommend and give quick/dirty summary. My PM thinks I am weird because I'm excited about my new app.. Applying all the right clauses demands PM engagement and is a daunting task, which is why (not to be ugly but) many are sloppy about it. Not recognizing the important of being in proper compliance just infuriates me. So many just don't seem to care, but that's the culture these days. Off my SB-I did hear back from the CO and he agrees that this deserves attention. It's not going to happen right away, but at least it has been brought to his attention. I need time to finish my reading anyway.

Vern, Thank you for your input as well. We have a SBIR contract (encourages SB innovation w/i fed gov) that was not set up as a CR R&D type respective to the FAR Clauses. I know that R&D is a service-I've worked as a BFM for 13 years. By R&D type I am referring to the format of the FAR Matrix which lays out a template for FP SUP, CR SUP, FP R&D, CR R&D, FP SVC, CR SVC, etc....I have just started reading through the prescriptions, so until I'm done I won't know how bad it really is. We have only received annual and multi year procurement funds-no R&D- It's my opinion that many of the tasks should be funded with R&D. This is a SBIR III-so SBIR I was small amount for feasibility studies; SBIR II prototype, SBIR III (where we are) commercialization into military market. Our Phase III (Base + 3 OYs) is a continuous effort. We are in OY 1 of the SBIR III. Is that what you are asking for?

R,

Leslie

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Guest Vern Edwards

No. Let me explain why I asked those questions. I am not interested in the issue of whether the contract is or is not for R&D. I am interested in these statements in your first post: "[T]his contract has BY and 3 Options and we are in option year 1... It would appear that we need to pull all the funds from the remaining options into option 1."

You cannot "fund" an option (obligate funds for it) until you exercise it. If you have not exercised Options 2 and the others, what funds do you want to "pull" and transfer? If the future options are to be funded with annual appropriations, how can you "pull" funds to be appropriated for future years to use on a current year?

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Why didn't you say so... :D

A ceiling value is allotted to each of the option years and we want to reallocate all the ceiling in the out years to OY 1. Better?

Happy Friday! Get your ladies something nice!

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Why didn't you say so... :D

A ceiling value is allotted to each of the option years and we want to reallocate all the ceiling in the out years to OY 1. Better?

Happy Friday! Get your ladies something nice!

So, you intend to change Option year 1, am I correct?

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Guest Vern Edwards

Leslie:

I think only one person should ask questions at a time and others should wait their turn. So, since Joel has taken over the questioning, I'll leave this to the two of you.

Good luck.

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Vern, Thank you and your opinion is always valued in my book. Thank you very much.

Joel, We did have option year 1 modified. I was surprised at how quickly too.

Leslie

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Guest Vern Edwards

Some thoughts, Leslie:

I just don't understand the situation. Options are not "funded" until exercised. Since your contract is CPFF completion-type, what you should have is an estimated cost and a fixed fee for each option. However, you said in your initial post and afterward that you have "ceilings". CPFF contracts ordinarily don't have "ceilings".

It sounds to me like you want to increase the estimated cost of Option 1, and it sounds like you think that in order to do that you have to reduce the estimated costs of one or more of the other option periods so as to "transfer" costs in some way. I don't know why you think you have to do that.

However, let's suppose that the base year and each option year has some kind of dollar "ceiling" on the amount of work to be done. If so, then increasing any such a ceiling would be increasing the scope of the work, which ordinarily would mean that you would either have to get new competition or prepare a sole source justification. Ordinarily, you could not "transfer" ceiling dollars from one option to another by decreasing one and increasing the other.

Moreover, if each option year is to be funded with annual money from different fiscal years, you can't transfer such money from a future year to a current year. That's why I asked if you have a multiple year appropriation and if the options were just for phases of a single undertaking.

I don't know much about the SBIR program, and maybe your thinking has something to do with the terms of that program, which are different than those of other CPFF contracts, I don't know. In order to understand you better I would have to ask and you would have to answer some questions. The problem is that Joel is in this thread now and he will have questions, too, and I simply won't get involved in a question-asking free-for-all. I don't have the patience for it in my old age.

Please don't consider this an answer to your original question. It's just a summary of things I don't know and don't understand about your situation. The entire second paragraph of your initial post is very confusing to me. Make sure you are clear about the terminology you are using and know what kind of funds you have or will have. I just don't understand what you were talking about. You must be prepared to clear that up for the other participants here.

Again, good luck.

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