Contract Severability is one of those concepts that has one meaning in the commercial world, and a slightly different meaning in the GovCon world. In non-government contracts, a simple definition is of severability is that when one part of a contract is found to be inapplicable (or illegal, etc), the rest of the contract remains enforceable – meaning the parties can “sever” out the part that does not apply. In GovCon, severability means that too…but there is another, more impactful application of Severability. Namely, whether a service contract can cross over a fiscal year.

In this episode, Kevin and Paul explain the difference between severable and non-severable service contracts. They outline what Severability is, why it matters, and how to navigate it in the context of the funding appropriations that drives the issues with “crossing” fiscal years. 

Whether you award service contracts (from the government side) or are awarded service contracts (from the industry side), it’s important to understand this concept of Severability.  

Thank you to one of our Podcast 2.0 subscribers, Jeanne Cassidy, for requesting we cover “Severability” in this episode. Neary 450 episodes in and Kevin and Paul still have a lot of topics to cover.  They appreciate when they get to make episodes directly for our subscribers.