Contract Disputes

The Contract Disputes Act (P.L. 95-563) allows federal government contractors to sue the United States government for monetary damages related to their contractual dealings. This act is tremendously important to the numerous contractors that provide the federal government with more than $200 billion of services, supplies, and construction each year. The act waives the government’s sovereign immunity, permitting contractors to sue the government in either an administrative tribunal (a board that hears appeals) or in a court. The act establishes the procedures to be used by contractors and contracting officers (those authorized to bind the government in contract) in resolving disputes involving contracts with the federal government, specifically the executive branch.

Congress intended the act to replace the existing system for resolving government contract disputes, a system that had developed over time without good planning, and to impose order on the process. Accordingly, the act contains detailed provisions for handling contract claims by and against the government, which, ultimately, evolve into disputes. It is important to distinguish disputes, which arise between a contractor and the government during or after the performance of a contract, from protests, which involve an offeror, or prospective contractor, contesting the award of the contract or the conduct of the contractor selection process.

article source: http://www.answers.com/topic/contract-disputes-act-1978