If the government asks for consideration...

You should ask the government what they will and will not accept as consideration. As a legal matter, what you have done in the past is probably not good consideration for something you want in the present or in the future.

You should ask the government what they will and will not accept as consideration. As a legal matter, what you have done in the past is probably not good consideration for something you want in the present or in the future.

However, if a product improvement was made in the past, without being made a requirement of the contract, wouldn’t it be legally sufficient to offer the addition of a spec requirement for the product improvement, as consideration for relieving some other spec requirement, thus committing the contractor to deliver improved products, as opposed to the current voluntary delivery of improved products?

If the product improvement has been made and deliveries have already been completed, then I'd say no.

If deliveries have already been completed, I agree. I was thinking that the request for relieving a spec requirement would have to be prospective, and if deliveries were complete, this whole discussion would be moot, but perhaps that's not necessarily so.

In this example, deliveries have not been completed.

In this example, deliveries have not been completed.

Then, I think you may have some room to negotiate. The adequacy of the consideration could be an issue, but if the improvement is, as you say, important to the government, it might not be a problem.

I agree with Navy. If the deliveries are not completed, you could try to negotiate the deal he described. I do not think there would be an issue.