On April 4, 2024, Christopher Griesedieck and Michael Francel published, “New Rules, Pre-Existing Contract: A FAR-Reaching Issue?” in The Procurement Lawyer. The following is an excerpt:
The US Court of Claims’ assumption in 1970 that the federal government would rarely seek to apply new rules to preexisting contracts has not aged well. In recent years, the federal government has increasingly sought to insert brand new clauses into its contractual arrangements with private industry.
This article first addresses basic principles relevant to, and traces the development of, this new phenomenon and then discusses a specific problem raised by it. The federal government is increasingly requiring the insertion of new Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clauses into existing contracts when the government exercises an option to extend performance. This approach ignores that options that purport to add new terms (or that are conditioned upon the contractor’s acceptance of new terms) are invalid.
Click here to access the article.