{"id":27474,"date":"2022-02-17T19:17:01","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T00:17:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/?page_id=27474"},"modified":"2022-02-18T15:45:24","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T20:45:24","slug":"28-eiba","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/guidance\/adrguide-home\/28-eiba\/","title":{"rendered":"An Early Interest-Based Approach"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\" style=\"background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\"><style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><div class=\"fusion-title title fusion-title-1 fusion-title-text fusion-title-size-two\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:31px;margin-left:0px;\"><h2 class=\"title-heading-left\" style=\"margin:0;\">An Early Interest-Based Approach<\/h2><span class=\"awb-title-spacer\"><\/span><div class=\"title-sep-container\"><div class=\"title-sep sep-double sep-solid\" style=\"border-color:#e0dede;\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p>Consider the following hypothetical dispute during contract performance:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>Hypothetical Dispute<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A contractor says that the contracting officer has unreasonably interpreted a specification requirement. This, the contractor claims, is a constructive change to the contract. The contractor fears this will cost thousands of dollars over his bid amount. The contracting officer believes that his interpretation is reasonable, and insists on continued performance.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In this case, three steps in an early negotiation or mediation can help the parties find a creative solution:<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Step I – Assessing Interests<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Narrowly presented, our hypothetical involves an interpretation of a specification. \u00a0The contracting officer and his technical representative believe that their favored interpretation will achieve the necessary performance requirement. \u00a0Meeting the performance requirement, therefore, is one narrow agency interest. \u00a0The agency, however, has other interests as well:<\/p>\n<div>\u00a0 \u00a0 – Staying within budget<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 \u00a0 – Obtaining an otherwise suitable facility<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 \u00a0 – Completing the project on time, or at least by the time it is needed<\/div>\n<p>The contractor has interests too. \u00a0Chief among these are making a reasonable profit, receiving a good performance review, retaining bonding capacity, and maintaining cash flow.<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Step 2 – Assessing Resources<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Assessing resources is the key to finding a creative solution in this hypothetical. \u00a0It requires imagination and expansive discussion. \u00a0By assessing the actual performance criteria, the parties might find another alternative to the design or an acceptable interpretation that has little or no impact. \u00a0The parties also could look to deductive changes to offset cost increases, preserve the contractor’s profit, and stay within the agency’s budget. \u00a0For example, they could explore the painting specification. \u00a0If they find that a lower grade of paint than what was specified would work just as well, they can apply the savings from a paint change to offset the interpretation issue.<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Step 3 – \u00a0Finding the Deal<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After extensive exploration of the resources, it is a matter of negotiating the best combination to meet everybody’s interests.\u00a0 At this stage the parties might get competitive as they distribute the resources they have identified. \u00a0It is entirely up to them to decide whether settlement is in their best interests, or if further legal action is appropriate.<\/p>\n<p>The type of negotiation described above relies on starting early, when the parties have the maximum flexibility to meet their separate interests. \u00a0In fact, in government contracting, it is easy to identify a set of almost universal interests and resources for both an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/adr.gov\/guidance\/adrguide-home\/28-list-agency\/\">agency<\/a>\u00a0and its\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/adr.gov\/guidance\/adrguide-home\/28-list-contractor\/\">contractor<\/a>. \u00a0Imagine however, if the contracting officer imposed his interpretation, the contractor performed with excess costs, and the case went to a hearing after performance has ended. \u00a0Ideas that could benefit both parties–like changing the paint, or finding a less expensive alternatives–are no longer options. \u00a0Instead,\u00a0one party will win, and the other will lose as a judge decides their fate.<\/p>\n<div><strong>LEARN MORE<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/adr.gov\/guidance\/adrguide-home\/28-great-case\/\">Why do this when we have a great case?<\/a><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/adr.gov\/guidance\/adrguide-home\/ch14\/\">Can we use a judge from a board of contract appeals to help before an appeal is filed<\/a>?<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/adr.gov\/guidance\/adrguide-home\/17-pre-disputes\/\">If I have an FAA contract or old TSA contract, does the ODRA offer assistance before a contract dispute is filed?<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"grayLine\"><\/div>\n<p>Subpages <span id=\"subpages-total-number\">(3):<\/span> <a dir=\"ltr\" href=\"https:\/\/adr.gov\/guidance\/adrguide-home\/28-great-case\/\">But We Have a Great Case!<\/a> | <a dir=\"ltr\" href=\"https:\/\/adr.gov\/guidance\/adrguide-home\/28-list-agency\/\">List of Agency Interests and Resources<\/a> | <a dir=\"ltr\" href=\"https:\/\/adr.gov\/guidance\/adrguide-home\/28-list-contractor\/\">List of Contractor Interests and Resources<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":27194,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27474"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27474\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}