Choice of Contract Type and Other Policy Initiatives for Reducing Contract Prices

Harmon, Bruce R.; Arnold, Scot A.

doi:10.21236/ada594093

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…While defense contracting involves unique challenges (e.g., warzone acquisitions) and is governed by the Defense Federal Acquisition Supplement (DFAS), the same basic dynamics present in government contracting in general are also present in defense contracting (e.g., U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2012). Furthermore, the basic product characteristics and market characteristics that influence contracting in general should have similar effects on contracting by the DoD (Harmon & Scot, 2013;McGowan & Vendrzyk, 2002;Rogerson, 1994;Williamson, 1967).…”

Section: Expectationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Product Characteristics and Market Conditions on Contract Type: Use of Fixed-Price Versus Cost-Reimbursement Contracts in the U.S. Department of Defense

Kim

Roberts

Brown

2016

Public Performance & Management Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ABSTRACT:Transaction cost economics is used to produce a conceptual framework that helps explain public-sector contract decisions. When a product is easy to specify, easy to produce, and there is a thick market of buyers and sellers, fixed-price contracts are more likely; when a product is difficult to produce, difficult to specify, and the market has few buyers and sellers, costreimbursement contracts are more likely. These arguments were tested with five years of data (FY 2004(FY -2008

show abstract

Section: Expectationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Product Characteristics and Market Conditions on Contract Type: Use of Fixed-Price Versus Cost-Reimbursement Contracts in the U.S. Department of Defense

Kim

Roberts

Brown

2016

Public Performance & Management Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Trudelle et al (2017); Bolten et al (2008) and Arena et al (2006) document several potential variables to be predictive factors for determining if a program will experience cost growth. Additionally, Harmon and Arnold (2013) performed an assessment on contracts types, attempting to understand the impact of overall contract price. They determined that for a series of production contracts in which the system design is mature and stable, the best choice of contract type is FFP.…”

Section: Likelihood and Cost Impactmentioning

confidence: 99%

Likelihood and cost impact of engineering change requirements for DoD contracts

Ellis

White

Ritschel

et al. 2018

JDAL

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose There appears to be no empirical-based method in the literature for estimating if an engineering change proposal (ECP) will occur or the dollar amount incurred. This paper aims to present an empirically based approach to address this shortfall. Design/methodology/approach Using the cost assessment data enterprise database, 533 contracts were randomly selected via a stratified sampling plan to build two regression models: one to predict the likelihood of a contract experiencing an ECP and the other to determine the expected median per cent increase in baseline contract cost if an ECP was likely. Both models adopted a stepwise approach. A validation set was placed aside prior to any model building. Findings Not every contract incurs an ECP; approximately 80 per cent of the contracts in the database did not have an ECP. The likelihood of an ECP and the additional amount incurred appears to be statistically independent of acquisition phase, branch of service, commodity, contract type or any other factor except for the basic contract amount and the number of contract line item numbers; both of these later variables equally affected the contract percentage increase because of an ECP. The combined model overall bested current anecdotal approaches to ECP withhold. Originality/value This paper both serves as a published reference point for ECP withholds in the archival forum and presents an empirically based method for determining per cent ECP withhold to use.

show abstract

Choice of Contract Type and Other Policy Initiatives for Reducing Contract Prices

Cited by 2 publications

References 12 publications

Impact of Product Characteristics and Market Conditions on Contract Type: Use of Fixed-Price Versus Cost-Reimbursement Contracts in the U.S. Department of Defense

Impact of Product Characteristics and Market Conditions on Contract Type: Use of Fixed-Price Versus Cost-Reimbursement Contracts in the U.S. Department of Defense

Likelihood and cost impact of engineering change requirements for DoD contracts

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About