미국 정부조달계약상의 과업(설계)변경권 및 과업(설계)변경의 의제에 관한 판례 법리

The U.S. Federal Acquisition Rules give the government the power unilaterally to order contractual modifications. Common elements of the changes clauses can be identified as, (1) contracting Officer shall be able to unilaterally change the task at any time within the general scope of the contract, (2) contractor shall be entitled to an equitable adjustment, and (3) contractor must assert rights against the Government within a certain period of time to ensure equitable adjustment of the contract. Change order should be made in writing, but in practice, they often do not take formal written form. In response to this practice, U.S. case law has developed the theory of constructive changes since around World War II. Constructive changes theory is typically applied in those disputes which arose from (1) contract interpretation, (2) governmental interference, (3) defective specification, (4) constructive acceleration. Government contract law in Korea generally regulates changes clause under the term of task(design) change. Korean courts recognize task(design) changes that can adjust the contract amount even if there is no formal order for design change. Therefore, it can be assessed that they are adopting a theory of constructive changes that is virtually in line with the U.S case law.