You are the Contracting Officer for a contract awarded to ABC Company for the replacement steam lines at a major installation. Upon beginning work, ABC found that there were more valves than were shown on the government provided drawings. The government did not show all necessary valves on the drawings attached to the contract. The site visit consisted of looking down manholes, because lines that were to be replaced were leaky, and safety concerns dictated that no one could enter the area; service requirements on the other hand dictated that the steam could only be unavailable for a short time, so the system could not be shut down. Although drawings did not show all valves, the solicitation and subsequent contract required "replacement of all valves."

While ABC was installing the replacement pipe, the government inspector directed some of the contractor's workers to add a line to connect to a separate area of the building; the inspector thought that this work was included in the contract, and that he was simply clarifying what the workers needed to be doing. ABC's superintendent discovered this new line when it was half completed and determined that it was not a part of the contract requirement. The superintendent told his workers to discontinue work, and asked the government for direction. ABC was directed to continue work on other areas pending further guidance from the government.ABC had its workers do what work could be done and then asked for further direction from the government.After the passage of two weeks, ABC was given a change order to add the questioned line thereby increasing the amount of needed pipe by 20 sections. The original contract required 100 sections.

Assignment:Identify, discuss, and explain relevant issues and viable resolutions strategy or strategies.Your answer should include (but is not limited to) a thorough discussion of these issues:

1.Is there a changes clause in this contract?Explain why or why not and identify any clause by FAR reference and prescription.

2.Explain the contractor's contractual responsibilities with respect to "replacement of all valves" as stated in the contract statement of work.

3.Is the government, contractor or both parties liable for increased contractor costs associated with the work already performed to add the 20 sections of pipe?Explain fully.

4.Is the written change order's addition of the added lines within the changes clause of the contract and what significance does that have?Explain your answer fully.