Any substantial modification of a public contract needs to be carried out via a new award procedure, and failure to conduct that procedure can lead to ineffectiveness of the relevant contract. However, ineffectiveness of an unlawfully modified public contract can be accompanied by the wider legal implications and fundamental contradictions that this article is intended to ‘map’. To this end, the article firstly analyses questions related to establishing locus standi of third parties in public-contract modification disputes, using US government contract law as a reference point. Secondly, the scope of and collateral implications following from a case of contract ineffectiveness are examined.
Desiderata: Objectives for a System of Government Contract Law