Work Needed to Address Performance Failures Does Not Amount to a Compensable Contract Change; ASBCA No. 59903, Appeal of Innoventor Inc.

Appeal of the contracting officer’s final decision denying a request for equitable adjustment is denied, where the agency’s cure notice and direction to the contractor to address failures in its brake assembly test system did not amount to a constructive change to the contract because the contract already defined the expected results and the agency enforced its provisions without dictating how the contractor should do so; and where the engineer working with the contractor had no authority to direct changes or require additional work on the contract, even though he suggested ways the contractor might address performance failures.