Partial Government Shutdown Impact on Contractors

During the partial shutdown the departments of the Interior, Agriculture, State, Housing and Urban Development, Treasury, Commerce, and Homeland Security would lose funding – and government contractors with existing contracts with those agencies could face a temporary loss of funding.

Government contractors and subcontractors could be impacted with the temporary loss of funding and should be prepared now for the consequences. During previous government shutdowns, government agencies and departments issued stop-work orders, grinding work on government projects and contracts to a halt. 

For small businesses this could have serious impacts. It is important to check on your contracts and sub-contracts to see if a stop work order has been issued. If a stop work order has been issued you will need to ensure all impacts are accounted for and communicated to your customer to ensure you can recover the costs incurred from a stop work order-up to the stop work order date and additional costs from restarting the project once the stop work order is lifted.  Note: If a stop work order has not formally been issued you are obligated to continue the project. 

 Written by Lenny Bean, Norcal PTAC Procurement Specialist.