What is Unique about the Government Contract?

Like humans and chimpanzees, 98% of contractual DNA is shared between contracts involving a government party and those involving no government party. The principles of offer, acceptance and consideration apply to the same extent when one party is a government agency. However there also key differences. In the residual 2% lie risks and opportunities for both parties. This presentation will consider unique aspects of the government contract that advisers to both government agencies and the private sector should be aware of. It will address the sources of and limits on the government’s contracting power, the nature of government entities and who can bind the government, the peculiar nature of grants and public utilities and the principle that contracts cannot fetter executive or legislative action.

Level: Intermediate