Termination for Cause

So, the vendor was not eligible for award as specifically stated in the solicitation ?

duke38:

Are you talking about a solicitation that was set-aside for a particular group?

If so, did the "vendor" somehow suggest or represent itself as eligible for award under that set-aside?

Be careful.

Maybe the contractor acted in good faith, and the contracting officer made an error? Does FAR 19.302 apply?

The solicitation was sey aside for a particular group and the vendor was not in that group but they submitted a bid anyway and told the CS they would apply for that group which never happened but the CS did not follow up before making the award and ended up awarding to this vendor. Needless to say it was protested and OSBDU reccommended terminating the contract.

I am curious What does your lawyer say and why, Assuming that she or he has provided one of the mixed answers? Edit: Please disregard that question if you are the contractor. See below for further needed clarification (I.e., who was the protest to? Who provided the recommendation to terminate and what type of termination did they recommend?).

OSDBU recommend termination? Or SBA recommended termination? There is a difference, you know...

Was the protest handled under FAR 19.302? or 19.305? or 19.306? or 19.307? or 19.308? Please pick one. Then, read that section. You cannot get any help here if you are ridiculously cryptic in your postings.

If a termination is appropriate, then I think a termination for convenience is the right course. After all, the contracting officer erred significantly, and a default or cause termination might be converted to a convenience termination by the board of contract appeals.

duke38,

The short answer to your question is that the government can terminate a contract at any time, in whole or in part. There is no such thing as "termination for cause" but there is a "termination for default". A Contracting Officer can terminate a contract and can choose whether to do so on the basis of convenience or default. You may not agree with the CO's choice, which is up to you. You have the right to appeal a decision you don't agree with.

In the circumstances you (quite briefly) outlined, I don't think the contractor has the moral high ground here.

Hope this helps.

help,

There is such thing as a termination for cause - see FAR 12.403( a ) and ( c ), and para. ( m ) of the contract clause at FAR 52.212-4.

ji20874,

Fair point. You are correct.

Are you assuming that this was a commercial item set-aside? Upon what basis?

H2H

The original poster used "for cause" in the original posting, and I used "default or cause" in my comment no. 7. I made no assumption.

Whether you call it default of cause, the idea is the same -- termination for breach of contract.