Evaluation Report on Defense Contract Audit Agency Audits of Requests for Equitable Adjustment

摘要

Contractors may submit requests for equitable adjustment (REAs) of costs or prices as proposals under the Federal Acquisition Regulation governing contract modifications or as claims under the Contract Disputes Act. When changes result in an increase or decrease in costs or period of contract performance, a contractor can request an equitable adjustment to the contract price or other contract terms. Contractors may also submit REAs due to Government-caused delay or disruption to contract performance. The requested adjustments can include actual costs, forecasted costs, or both and can result from changes made by the contracting officer within the general scope of the contract. Because of the controversies applicable to claims, they often lead to litigation before a board of contract appeals or the courts. The need for accuracy and credibility of the Defense Contract Audit Agency audit reports is, therefore, heightened. Claims are often complex, presenting many varied and unique audit problems, and are susceptible to contractor inflation well beyond the Government- caused inequity. For FY 1995 the Defense Contract Audit Agency completed 763 REA audits and examined about $1.4 billion. For FY 1996, it completed 622 REA audits and examined about $ 1.7 billion.