Hybrid No-Cost Contract and Cost Contract?

govt2310 said:

Is it possible for a civilian agency to make a solicitation for services that is a hybrid contract type of both Cost Contract Type and also No-Cost Contract Type?  In other words, can a civilian agency pay a contractor for services, but also, in the same contract, allow the contractor to collect fees from the public, such as for refreshments/meals?

I don't see why not. The contract could have one line item for the services and one line item for the concession, with different clauses applying to each.

govt2310 said:

If it is possible, can anyone think of an example when an agency did this?  I can't find any such.

The never-ending quest for examples. The contract specialist's lodestone. The Grail.

I don't know of any examples, but someone has probably done it. There are very few things that no one has done.

govt2310 said:

Also, if this cannot be done for some reason, do you think it could be done if a civilian agency had Other Transaction Authority (OTA)?

 OT authority. What Congress hath wrought out of its incompetence. Got a problem you can't figure out how to solve? How about OT authority?

I don't know. It depends on what the agency's OT authority covers. If your agency has OT authority, find the statute and read it.

govt2310 said:

If it is possible, can anyone think of an example when an agency did this?  I can't find any such.

Close maybe.  The USDA-Forest Service contract with regard to Smokey Bear licensed items.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/working-with-us/contracts-commercial-permits/licensing-of-smokey-bear

I can’t speak to the rightness, wrongness, or goodness of the approach, but this appears to be an example of what you’ve described:

https://sam.gov/opp/6298cdab77a43118ab9f8722cc1ad7fd/view#general

Vern Edwards said:

Is it possible for a civilian agency to make a solicitation for services that is a hybrid contract type of both Cost Contract Type and also No-Cost Contract Type?

If contract specialists were taught about and understood contract line items and line-item structuring and about how the FAR works, questions like the OP's would never be asked. And does anyone ever look up "hybrid" in a dictionary?

Vern: Thanks, Vern!  You are right, I shouldn't use the word "hybrid" for contract type.  Maybe "Combination Contract Type"?

C Culham: Thanks for hte USDA-Forest Service "Smokey Bear" example.  Well, it says on there that the contractor gets to a royalty type of fee from the sale of items with the Smokey Bear logo.  It doesn't say that USDA will also pay the contractor out of appropriated funds.  So "close maybe" as you said.

awhinton: Thanks for the the SAM.gov link.  That is a NOAA "No-Cost Conference" Event Planner Services RFP.  It does not say that NOAA will also pay the contractor out of appropriated funds.

govt2310:  That was a piece of it, however, there are other pieces: "For this contract, the Contractor agrees to serve the Government as a no-cost conference planner, which includes items a, b, c, and f; and will be under direct contract with the Government for items d and e."

@govt2310"Combination" will work.

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On 9/10/2021 at 8:47 AM, govt2310 said:

Vern: Thanks, Vern!  You are right, I shouldn't use the word "hybrid" for contract type.  Maybe "Combination Contract Type"?

C Culham: Thanks for hte USDA-Forest Service "Smokey Bear" example.  Well, it says on there that the contractor gets to a royalty type of fee from the sale of items with the Smokey Bear logo.  It doesn't say that USDA will also pay the contractor out of appropriated funds.  So "close maybe" as you said.

awhinton: Thanks for the the SAM.gov link.  That is a NOAA "No-Cost Conference" Event Planner Services RFP.  It does not say that NOAA will also pay the contractor out of appropriated funds.

See also, for example: https://www.gao.gov/assets/2020-01/nocostcontracts.pdf