Request for Equitable Adjustment (REA)

The Changes clause at FAR 52.243-1 lets the contracting officer order in-scope changes and promises an equitable adjustment when the change moves cost or time. The REA is the contractor's opening number. It must assert the right to an adjustment within 30 days of receiving the written order, though the contracting officer may accept a later proposal before final payment. Failure to agree is a dispute, and the contractor keeps performing as changed while the argument runs.

An REA is not a claim. It carries no request for a final decision and does not start the 60-day decision clock in 41 U.S.C. 7103. What it does carry, in DoD, is the DFARS 252.243-7002 certification for any request over the SAT: good faith, and supporting data that are accurate and complete. That language comes from 10 U.S.C. 3862 and is narrower than the claim certification in 41 U.S.C. 7103(b), which applies above $100,000 and adds that the amount is what the contractor believes it is owed and that the signer can bind the company.

Threshold math trips people. DFARS 243.204-71 adds the absolute value of every increase and decrease to test the SAT, so a modification that nets near zero can still need the certification.