B-231116, Jun 6, 1988, Office of General Counsel

B-231116, Jun 6, 1988, Office of General Counsel

PROCUREMENT - Contract Management - Contract modification - Federal procurement regulations/laws - Amendments DIGEST: In response to a request for comments on proposed changes to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Parts 43, 47 and 52, the General Accounting Office has no objection to an amendment which would, in essence, add a clause of general applicability limiting the authority to modify contracts to properly designated contracting officers and providing that the contractor assumes all risk for performing in accordance with any order not issued by authorized individuals.

Margaret A. Willis

FAR Secretariat

General Services Administration:

This responds to your request for our comments on a proposal to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) with respect to the authority to modify contracts. This is FAR Case No. 88-21.

The proposed amendment would in substance: (1) add a new paragraph (b) to FAR Sec. 43.106, which would permit contracting officers to include a clause describing who is authorized to make contract modifications on behalf of the government in contracts which are less complicated than those presently covered by that section; (2) remove and reserve FAR Sec. 47.207-8(b), which presently directs contracting officers to include a clause entitled "Contract Not Affected by Oral Agreement" in transportation contracts; (3) add a new clause of general applicability, FAR Sec. 52.243-8, which would specifically limit the authority to modify contracts to contracting officers who are properly designated under FAR Subpart 1.6, and which would provide that the contractor assumes all risk for performing in accordance with any order not issued by authorized individuals.

We have no objection to the proposed changes.