Procedure Library

Stop Work Order

Purpose

A Stop Work Order  is a written instrument issued by the sponsor (or flowed-down from the pass-through entity) to immediately suspend all, or any part, of the work under a contract without terminating the contract.

The order will specify a date beyond which the contractor may not perform. In other words, any costs incurred after that date become unallowable, except to the extent that they were in some way unavoidable.

A stop work order by default can only last for 90 days before the government must do one of the following:

• Authorize work to begin
• Extend the stop work period
• Terminate the contract

Applicability

icon    After receipt of a stop work order, the Principal Investigator (PI) and the University are required to comply with its terms and take all reasonable steps to minimize the incurrence of costs allocable to the work covered by the order during the period of work stoppage.

Instructions

1. Upon receipt of a stop work order, Principal Investigators (PIs) must immediately work with their department administrator to submit the modification via eAward to OSP. 
   1. The request should:
      
      1. Revise the project end dates accordingly;
      2. Revise the budget and budget end dates accordingly; and
      3. Halt any applicable subawards. 
         • If there are subawards on this project, the PI and/or department admin must submit a separate subaward modification, via eAward, for each subaward.
         • Once received, OSP will immediately issue a stop work order to subawardees, giving them the same date to stop work. 
           
           iconIf the University doesn't issue orders to subawardees, the University will be liable for their expenditures, but will not be reimbursed by the  sponsor for any of those costs incurred by the subawardee after the date specified in the stop work order. 
2. The PI/department may need to:
   1. Complete performance of the work not stopped;
   2. Cancel or divert applicable commitments covering personal services that extend beyond the effective date of stoppage; and
   3. Abstain from placing any orders, except as necessary to complete any portion of the work not included in the stoppage.
3. Within a period of 90 days after a stop work order is delivered, or within any extension of that period to which the parties shall have agreed, the sponsor shall either:
   1. Cancel the stop work order; or
      • If a stop work order is canceled or the period of the order expires, the University may resume work after submitting a follow-up eAward modification and after it is processed by Grants and Contracts Accounting (GCA) and marked as "complete". 
        • Additionally, for subrecipients to resume work, PI's and/or department admins must submit a follow-up eAward modification for each subaward.
   2. Terminate the work.
4. The PI can submit a request for adjustment to the period of performance and/or cost if:
   1. The time required to complete the work and/or the University's costs are increased as a result of the stop work order. For example, if project employees left because of lack of work, there could be costs associated with hiring and training replacements once work has been reauthorized. If the government terminates the contract, then the contractor would submit a termination proposal in accordance with the termination clause; and
   2. The University asserts its right to the adjustment within 30 days after the end of the period of work stoppage.
      
      

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