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Contract Closeout by CLIN?


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Say you're a contractor and have a contract that has both severable and non-severable tasks, identified by CLIN. Then say you received your final rates and it's time to closeout your contract. But you can't because some of the non-severable tasks extend into years for which you haven't received final rates yet. Is it possible to start closing out a contract by CLIN?

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A contract has to be physically complete before it is closed out (FAR 4.804 - (1) & (2)). 

FAR 4.804-4:

"Physically completed contracts.

      (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, a contract is considered to be physically completed when-

           (1) (i) The contractor has completed the required deliveries and the Government has inspected and accepted the supplies;

                (ii) The contractor has performed all services and the Government has accepted these services; and

                (iii) All option provisions, if any, have expired; or

           (2) The Government has given the contractor a notice of complete contract termination.

      (b) Rental, use, and storage agreements are considered to be physically completed when-

           (1) The Government has given the contractor a notice of complete contract termination; or

           (2) The contract period has expired."

 

Short answer - No. 

 

 

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Constricting, how do you apply this test to a cost reimbursement contract or T&M contract when the contractor has reached the estimated cost or ceiling price and the government decides not to add funds?  Also, would you allow the severable service CLINs to remain open if the appropriations used to fund them are to be cancelled?

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17 hours ago, Retreadfed said:

Constricting, how do you apply this test to a cost reimbursement contract or T&M contract when the contractor has reached the estimated cost or ceiling price and the government decides not to add funds?  Also, would you allow the severable service CLINs to remain open if the appropriations used to fund them are to be cancelled?

CR/T&M - estimated funds reached/government decides not to add funds makes the contract physically complete and it can be closed. 

SS CLINS  on a contract that no appropriation available for ordering does not make it complete. If no appropriation is available then it is illegal to order against those CLINS and them being there is not the issue. To remove those CLINS would require a termination, not a close out. 

Edited by Constricting Officer
amend thought
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Let me add a nuance please. Suppose the contract contains CLINs that have one-year money and CLINs that don't. At the end of the year (plus some months) I have final rates. Am I permitted to close-out and final invoice the one-year CLINs for which I have final rates? Or must I wait until the end of the contract?

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1 hour ago, here_2_help said:

Let me add a nuance please. Suppose the contract contains CLINs that have one-year money and CLINs that don't. At the end of the year (plus some months) I have final rates. Am I permitted to close-out and final invoice the one-year CLINs for which I have final rates? Or must I wait until the end of the contract?

I don't see a problem with making final payment on line items that have been performed and accepted while other line items are being performed. I've known contracting officers who do that.

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On ‎4‎/‎28‎/‎2020 at 12:46 PM, Constricting Officer said:

a contract is considered to be physically completed when-

           (1) (i) The contractor has completed the required deliveries and the Government has inspected and accepted the supplies;

                (ii) The contractor has performed all services and the Government has accepted these services; and

                (iii) All option provisions, if any, have expired;

How does reaching the estimated cost or a contract or the ceiling price meet these requirements?

I think you misunderstood by question concerning funds being canceled.  Funds are canceled five years after the period of obligation has passed.  My question was addressed to the situation where severable CLINs were funded with funds that are approaching the time when they will be canceled.  Would you defer closing those CLINs even to the point of letting the funds used on those CLINs to be canceled so that any amount due on those CLINs would be paid with current funds?

I'm not trying to play gotcha here.  These are questions that I have asked myself on several occasions.

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33 minutes ago, Retreadfed said:

How does reaching the estimated cost or a contract or the ceiling price meet these requirements?

I think you misunderstood by question concerning funds being canceled.  Funds are canceled five years after the period of obligation has passed.  My question was addressed to the situation where severable CLINs were funded with funds that are approaching the time when they will be canceled.  Would you defer closing those CLINs even to the point of letting the funds used on those CLINs to be canceled so that any amount due on those CLINs would be paid with current funds?

Contracts hit their ceilings/estimated cost all of the time. They are either determined to be complete and closed or modified and continues (moon rover). The FAR doesn't address those situations very well, but there is a lot of things that it does not. 

I personally don't think that "closing those CLINS" is the correct way to word it. If it is a fiscal law issue, those CLINS could be terminated and legally shouldn't have been awarded in the first place for a period extending past the appropriations availability. 

Hopefully I am in the right ballpark now. 

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