Federal Government Considering Inflation Relief for Contractors

Deborah K. Vick

The two the Common Expert services Administration (“GSA”) and the Office of Defense (“DOD”) are recognizing the impression of the eight % charge of inflation on federal contractors. On September 9, 2022, DOD introduced a memo providing advice to contracting officers “about the array of techniques accessible to them” to regulate the impact of inflation on existing company set selling price contracts. Similarly, GSA supplied new route to its contracting officers allowing a lot easier access to the economic rate adjustment clause in GSA contracts. 

Regretably for contractors, this does not suggest an automated, or necessarily an easy, route to recouping the prices dropped to inflation. However, it does imply that the federal government is recognizing the fears and contemplating avenues of reduction on organization-set selling price contracts, perhaps providing some wiggle-room on the extended-held position that contractors bear the risk of price boosts below agency mounted price tag contracts, even with the onset of extenuating situation.

DOD Caveats

The memo from DOD’s Principal Director, Protection Pricing and Contracting (DPC) states that exactly where there are “extraordinary circumstances” efficient promptly, DOD will consider adjustments to the contract cost in buy to “address acute impacts on tiny businesses and other suppliers.” Notably, while contacting out tiny businesses, the Memo leaves the doorway open up to other contractors and does not limit the software. DOD encouraged that it will contemplate these upward adjustments beneath Portion 50.101 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (Far), which governs aid less than Community Law 85-804. Customarily, acquiring reduction underneath Community Regulation 85-804 (a 1958 law allowing amendments to contracts to aid national protection) is an exceptionally demanding path. The applicable sections of Significantly Part 50 permit contracting officers to desire in-depth supporting documentation in furtherance of any request for relief, which includes information on the impacts to contractor gains for approval or denial of the ask for, business fiscal statements, assessment as to how the adjustment was determined, interviews with staff with particular awareness, assessment of any mitigation steps taken by the contractor and any other “contemporaneous evidence” that supports the ask for. The recent DOD memo does not change all those demands, nor does it alleviate the probability of a DCAA audit. Contractors will will need to be prepared to demonstrate what inflation amount was assumed at the time of bid, and any other fundamental bid assumptions as to their pricing, as well as any documentation they have that substantiates the raise of the company-fixed price deal. In shorter, the DOD’s Memo reminds contracting officers that avenues for aid do in actuality exist for contractors, and that the traditional governing administration position that contractors bear all of the possibility for their agency fastened selling price contracts, will need not necessarily be the situation in the confront of the latest economic instances.

GSA Policy

On September 12, 2022, the primary procurement executives at GSA knowledgeable their contracting officers, that they no for a longer time necessary “additional approvals” to invoke the financial price adjustment clause (GSAR Clause 552.216-70) contained in the GSA contracts.    

In GSA contracts, a ceiling percentage for upward adjustments is normally set forth in the solicitation. However, in March of this 12 months, GSA issued a memorandum creating “temporary flexibility” and lowered the acceptance amount to “one stage earlier mentioned the contracting officer” and also comfortable the time limitations and constraints on the amount of rate adjustments that a contractor could ask for. Now, with the most recent memorandum, the authority to look at the equitable price tag adjustment rests right with contracting officers, and there is an emphasis on the quick overview and resolution of the requests.  

Nonetheless, even with this optimistic news from GSA, compared with DOD contracts, the GSA adjustments are not applicable to organization set rate contracts, unless of course the contractor can build governing administration-brought on hold off. GSA’s senior procurement formal clarified: 

“In a fixed-cost deal lacking an EPA clause, the contractor is obligated to conduct at the mounted-value, and can only get better for increases to the mounted cost that are the result of changes or other actions/inactions by the governing administration. As a basic rule, due to the fact inflation is not a government-directed change, it are not able to kind the basis for an equitable adjustment. However, if the inflated prices are the immediate consequence of federal government motion (for case in point, when govt delays the do the job into a time period when bigger prices are encountered), compensation is appropriate.”

Practical Effects for Contractors

Contractors with GSA provide contracts will need to verify the existence of the economic price adjustment clause in their respective contracts. The inclusion of this clause opens the doorway to the contracting officer’s skill to deliver pricing reduction beyond the ceiling percentage contained in the applicable solicitation. However, even with the short term moratorium on time limits, contractors really should immediately make the requests for adjustment including in-depth analyses conveying the requirement of the adjustment. 

People contractors with company-fastened selling price contracts for DOD should also instantly make any inflation or offer chain related requests for equitable adjustment, as DOD warned that these kinds of requests had been “subject to offered funding.” In building these requests contractors will have to outline the foundation for the ask for, including the underlying bid assumptions, and offer a clear and detailed supporting package deal in get to lessen the again and forth with the contracting officer. The a lot more comprehensive and supported the request, the far more likely the contracting officer will approve and the more rapidly the contractor will experience relief. Contractors really should meticulously get ready each the offer for submission, and the related workforce users for interviews with DOD and DCAA.  

Conclusion

As inflation proceeds to rise, and the fear of recession looms, there is most likely to be extra relief from other federal organizations and/or updated guidance from DOD and GSA. In the interim, cautious job charge information should be managed to document the need to have for any long term requests and contractor teams should really routinely be monitoring their bid assumptions towards the present market place expenditures to be certain they are not lacking an possibility to recoup misplaced costs.

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