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Chapter 34 - IT Contract Administration

34.3 Modification processing and administration

34.3.5 Scope

The contract administrator will also process contract scope modifications presented by the business owner/project manager. Careful consideration of scope changes must be promoted to remove potential risks to the agency and the Commonwealth, especially in the areas of budget, schedule, interdependencies that may impact existing or planned legacy systems and/or infrastructures, or in exceeding or reducing the intent and objective of the original procurement.

A scope modification may range from adding another training session to adding another interface or increasing the number of software licenses. Each of these examples would also increase the contract price, so that a modification to the pricing schedule would also be required. An additional training session or adding more software licenses would not likely affect any critical milestones or the project’s schedule; however, a new interface certainly could, so any milestone deliverable and payment dates would need adjustment. Also, access to VITA infrastructure, certain data or Commonwealth facilities could be impacted; planned testing schedule and many other areas may have to be modified due to a single scope change. Supplier price proposals that result from the scope change should be incorporated into the modification document.

Here is another example of how a scope change could impact other contract terms: If a performance or acceptance criteria or service level agreement element were to be modified, it would likely require negotiations between the parties. The supplier or agency may want to adjust any performance incentives or penalties based on the change.

The contract administrator should seek assistance from the business owner/project manager to help identify all areas of the contract that would require modification due to a scope change and incorporate them all in the same modification. Not to do so could introduce conflicts and/or areas of potential dispute. VITA is also available to offer assistance to agencies in this area by emailing: scminfo@vita.virginia.gov.