Specifications and Compliance
Practical impossibility is where the performance of government contract specifications can only be accomplished upon employing commercially uneconomical or unacceptable costs and/or time. It is a subjective measure and implies that the contract may possibly be performed, but only upon expending costs and/or time that are not economical. There is therefore a possibility of performing the contract specifications in this case. On the other hand, actual impossibility is an objective measure of impossibility of performance of government contracts specifications in which the specifications cannot be performed by anyone due to either unrealistic performance requirements, or flawed specifications (O’Connor, Vangemann & Wangeman, 2009). Whereas in practical impossibility there exist a possibility of performing the specifications, in actual impossibility there is absolutely no possibility of performance according to the terms of the contract.
Substantial compliance is used in construction, supply as well as service contracts in order to avoid a harsh decision of termination for default due to a minor breach (Cuneo & Crowell, 2006).In construction contracts, substantial compliance allows the contractor an exception from strict compliance in the sense that the contractor gets paid for the value that has been installed even though it does not fully comply with the contract. In supply contracts, a contractor is given a second chance to fully comply with the contract under substantial compliance. This comes with specific requirements on the part of the contractor which, if not met, the contract can be terminated for default. Substantial compliance in service contracts closely resembles that in supply contracts. It also offers contractors another opportunity to correct defectives on services offered which may require reasonable additional time. Like in service contracts, failure to fulfill the requirements can result in termination for default.
References
O’Connor, M. T., Vangemann, A. M. & Wangeman, A. M. (2009) Federal Contracting Answer
Book, Second Edition. New York: Sage.
Cuneo, A. G. & Crowell, H. E. (2006) Impossibility of Performance: Assumption of Risk or Act
of Submission? Law and Contemporary Problems, 531-551.
