Is it legal to modify a contract after a competitive procurement?

Each year, the Government solicits millions of bids for procurement contracts,

the total value of which is estimated in the billions of dollars. On

many occasions, a need arises to modify the terms of a contract after it had

been signed. 2 From a pure contract law perspective, this type of change presents

no diffi culty, as long as the parties to the agreement consent thereto.

A totally different situation arises, however, when the contract to be modifi ed

was awarded following a competitive bidding procedure. Whether and under

what conditions an administrative agency is permitted to modify the terms of

a contract executed following a competitive bidding procedure is the topic of

this Article.

See "Modification of a Government Contract Awarded Following a Competitive Procedure" by Omer Dekel, Public Contract Law Journal (2009).

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1391242