Permissible Changes in Scope of Work for Construction Contracts

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Legal Research Digest 67: Permissible Changes in Scope of Work for Construction Projects explores whether there are statutory, procedural, or legal tests to determine when the issuance of a contract modification is permissible. This digest will cover the following topics: the policy issues underlying restrictions on contract modifications; state and federal statutes and regulations affecting contract modifications; case-law defining tests and examples of where contract modifications triggered competitive bidding requirements; the importance of including contract modification provisions in construction contracts; and case studies of how representative state departments of transportation determine the permissibility and scope of contract modifications versus competitive bidding.