Engineering Change Proposal (ECP)
An Engineering Change Proposal (ECP) is the formal request, prepared on DD Form 1692 under DoD configuration management practice, to change an approved configuration baseline. A government Configuration Control Board dispositions it; only a modification signed by the contracting officer gives it contractual effect.
ECPs come out of configuration management, not the FAR. Once a program sets a baseline, any change to a configuration item runs through an ECP, with MIL-HDBK-61B supplying the guidance and DD Form 1692 the format. Class I changes, which alter approved requirements or documentation or touch cost, warranties, or milestones, must be dispositioned by a properly constituted government Configuration Control Board; Class II covers changes that fall short of those criteria.
CCB approval changes nothing in the contract. The contracting officer implements the ECP as a bilateral supplemental agreement or as a unilateral change order under the Changes clause with pricing to follow. DFARS 217.7401 treats ECPs as within-scope modifications rather than undefinitized contract actions, but an unpriced change order over $5 million picks up DFARS 243.204-70: a not-to-exceed price, definitization within 180 days, and an obligation ceiling of 50 percent of the NTE before definitization, 75 percent once a qualifying proposal is in.
The CCB chair is not the contracting officer. A contractor that starts cutting metal on a CCB-approved ECP before the modification is signed is working at its own risk.
Regulatory Reference
FAR 43.103; FAR 52.243-1; DFARS 217.7401; DFARS 243.204-70; MIL-HDBK-61B; DD Form 1692
RFO Status
The FAR Overhaul's Part 43 model deviation (RFO-2025-43) keeps the bilateral and unilateral modification framework an ECP rides on, and DoD's class deviation 2026-O0034 (effective January 12, 2026) carries DFARS Part 243 into the overhaul; ECP mechanics themselves live in MIL-HDBK-61B and DD Form 1692, which the overhaul does not touch.
Category
Documents & Artifacts
How AcqBot Helps
AcqBot reads a DD Form 1692 package against the contract's Changes clause and CLIN structure, drafts the SF 30 language that implements an approved ECP, and warns when an unpriced change order will cross the DFARS 243.204-70 threshold without a definitization schedule attached.
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