Outdadted contract?

[ORforestry]

I was awarded a commercial/IDIQ contract in July of 2008. Under FAR-52.216-21 REQIREMENTS in the contract there is a spec that states, "The contractor shall not be required to make any deliveries under this contract after December 30th, 2009." Due to the numerous delays on the government?s inaction, they were not able to complete their prep-work so I could start my work. Because of their delays, I could complete only one half of the work specified in the contract by 9/15/09. The government realized that an extension was needed and the C.O. made a unilateral modification to extend the contract to 9/30/10.

There was no discussion between the C.O. and myself about a modification concerning an equitable adjustment with time and money. Even though in section 13 of form 30, the box was checked stating I was required to sign this modification, it was never given to me to sign and I was never notified of its existence until 7/22/10, 11 months after it was issued. When I asked the C.O. why I was not needed to sign it she stated that the modification just obligated the money for the project. I did however; sign a work order dated 8/18/09, for the remaining work on the contract extending the completion date to 8/15/2010. I completed no work in the remainder of 2009 because of additional delays on the government?s part. When I resumed work in May of 2010, only about 10% of the remaining work to complete the contract was made available to me. The government continually had on going changes on top of that, additional work was being added on to the project outside of the original work order I signed in August of 2009.

In mid July 2010 the government decided that another time extension was needed, they discussed extending the contract through June 2011. However, superiors deemed this work critical and would only extend the contract to October 31, 2010. Some cost adjustment has been discussed between the government and myself but the new timeframe was too short with my original recourses and personnel to be able to complete it.

My two questions are do I still have a valid contract? And am I required to complete the task order at an accelerated delivery schedule?

[ji20874]

ORforestry,

If you sought for and accepted payment for your 2010 work, then you have already acted as though the contract is still alive.

It might be hard for you to maintain on one hand that the contract is still alive (as evidenced by your performing work) and on the other hand that the contract is dead. But, if you want to maintain that your contract is dead, you should prepare yourself for a default determination by the contracting officer -- then, you'll have a chance to make your case.

If your contract contains the clause at FAR 52.233-1 (or, FAR 52.212-4), you will want to pay attention to paragraph ( i ) (or, para. ( d )) -- there, the contractor agrees to proceed diligently with performance of this contract, pending final resolution of any issue in controversy arising under the contract. A contractor who abandons a contract because of an issue in controversy is in default.

You might send a kind note to the contracting officer explaining that the contract's stated period of performance is long past and that you want to start a discussion about appropriate modifications to the contract to keep the contract alive, in the interests of fairness. You might get the relief you seek without formally invoking a claim process.