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Overlapping Period of Performance


C. Rich

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I have researched to better understand the Government and allowing overlapping Period of Performances. I am working on a subcontract for DoD services where, per direction of Govt to Prime, one option year starts before the other ends. I was under the impression that this was not allowable because essential the Govt would be paying for the same service. I search FAR part 17 and 42 hoping to find language that does not permit this, let alone speak to it, and came up empty. Can someone point me in the right direction in FAR or to a GAO case for overlapping PoP references? Thanks for any insight provided. 

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I don't think you will find what you are looking for.  I m not aware of any written bar to overlapping POPs.  Indeed, I can envision circumstances where it might make sense, and I have done it myself.  Are you talking about overlapping POPs with (1) the same contract, (2) the same contractor, and (3) the exact same work?

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As a contractor I have never liked overlapping PoPs because it makes figuring out where the costs get charged a bit of a challenge. But it's not just overlapping PoPs, it's FY-funded CLINs and related PoPs.

Example:

A contract for repair services. Services consist of inspect, repair/replace determination, obtain government approval, take the appropriate action IAW the determination.

CLIN 001 is for 10/01/2010 through 09/30/2011. Funded with GFY 2010 current year funds.

CLIN 002 is for 10/01/2011 through 09/30/2012. Funded with GFY 2011 current year funds.

Government requests repair services for a widget on 08/30/2011.

Contractor inspects and makes the R/R determination. Submits to government 9/26/2011, government agrees on appropriate action effective 11/02/2011.

Contractor performs action IAW agreed-upon determination during the period 11/05/2011 through 03/15/2012.

Subcontractor billings for their actions come in from 01/15/2011 through 06/30/2012.

What gets charged where?

The tendency is to charge where the funding is, but somehow I don't think that's the correct answer. 

What's the right answer? Does everything get charged to CLIN 001 because that's where the obligation was created? And then CLIN 002 is only for the costs of widgets received within the CLIN 002 PoP? Or do we charge the costs based on the date the costs were recorded, thus splitting the activity of repairing a single widget between the two CLINs?

Even harder when the CLINs have overlapping PoPs. By "harder" I mean virtually impossible to get right unless there is a separate agreement between government and contractor regarding what gets charged where.

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6 hours ago, C. Rich said:

Can someone point me in the right direction in FAR or to a GAO case for overlapping PoP references?

There is no mention of overlapping periods of performance anywhere in the FAR System. The word "overlapping" does not appear in the FAR. It appears once in the Department of Agriculture FAR Supplement in the phrase "overlapping provisions" and once on the Agency for International Develop FAR supplement in the phrase "overlapping decision phases."

The word "concurrent" appears much more frequently, but I'm not going to devote any more time to an inquiry such as the one that initiated this thread, in which the OP provided no background information. Nor will I devote time to searching GAO decisions.

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C. Rich,  Yes, please clarify what you mean by “overlapping period[s] of Performances [sic]. From personal experience as a sub on a government contract,  I can easily see where a subcontractor might not be fully informed about what is in the prime contract.

One example might be where line item quantities in one period of performance are or will be fully ordered before the end of the current period, so the government exercises the next option period early - while the initial line item order(s) are being performed.

The sub often is the last to know and often not coordinated with for actions between the government customer and the prime.

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