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Change Orders in Term LOE CPAF Contract


CO1559

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I am a CO managing a large dollar Contract (CPAF, term level of effort, services). Is it proper to direct the contractor to move scope back and forth, or in and out of the Contract’s underlying performance measurement baseline, on the basis of Federal program manager priorities associated with the ever changing budget? Usually this practice will result in some changed work for which I issue change orders.

Second question, given the above culture of Federal managers moving scope around, if the contractor agrees to no change in cost or fee for the changed work portion, is it allowable to not go through the change order administration process of certified cost proposal, review, definitization?

I am new to award fee contracting, but previously managed a CPIF completion contract, and there was no “scope swapping” activity, but there were plenty of directed change orders to administer. Thanks

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Guest Vern Edwards

I don't understand.

What do you mean by "scope"? As used in the FAR changes clauses, "scope" refers to all work encompassed by the contract. In the context of that usage it makes no sense to talk of "moving scope." But sometimes people use "scope" to refer to specific work, i.e., tasks. They talk of "adding scope" or "deleting scope" when what they mean is adding or deleting tasks. They say "scope of work" when what they mean is "statement of work."

In order for us to answer your question we need to know what you mean by "scope."

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Guest Vern Edwards

So when you wrote of "moving scope back and forth, or in and out of the Contract’s underlying performance measurement baseline" you meant changing the order of task performance and moving tasks in and out of the baseline. Is that right?

Is the baseline you're talking about an earned value management (EVM) baseline? If so, are you saying that someone in your program is directing the contractor to change the contract EVM baseline by moving tasks around?

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Im curious as to how you manage or measure earned value for a l;evel of effort task or contract.

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Guest Vern Edwards

CO1559:

I can't say that what they are doing is improper, because that would depend on why they are doing it. There should be a formal procedure for approving programmatic changes and PMB adjustments. Does your agency have such a procedure? Is it being followed?

Joel's question is pertinent if the work is for ongoing severable services. However the use of EVM in an LOE contract can make sense if the service is non-severable and the contract requires the contractor to pursue a goal, even if the contractor's obligation is capped at a level of effort. LOE does not necessarily mean steady state. An LOE contract can require a contractor to aim for a goal and make progress, but allow it to stop wherever it is when it reaches the LOE, which can be based on an estimate of the cost to complete.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks for the responses, I've been out of town and offline. Regarding Joel's question, I totally agree with what Vern said, and he provided more detail than I could.

There is a formal Agency wide procedure for changes to the PMB of a "capital asset project." Note that this large dollar contract (CPAF, term level of effort, services) includes several capital asset projects. These cap asset projects make up approximately 25% of the contract value. I have never seen scope "swaps" on the cap asset projects in this contract.

The question I'm trying to understand is this: If the contractor agrees to no change in cost or fee for these scope swaps, even if some of the scope is changed work, is it allowable to swap work in and out of the Contract without going through the formal change order process of certified cost proposal, review, definitization?

I assume the answer is that a waiver is required from the HCA. Thanks for your time and help.


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