DAWIA Certification Practice Exam

The situation hinges on who has the authority to bind the Government to a contract modification. Only contracting officers, acting within the scope of their delegated authority, may modify a contract. Government personnel must not step into that role by executing modifications, by acting in a way that could lead the contractor to believe they have authority to bind the Government, or by directing or encouraging work that should instead be covered by a contract modification. These behaviors bypass the proper approval and accountability chain and can create unauthorized obligations for the Government. Seeing None of the above as the best choice emphasizes that the essential idea is to keep modification authority exclusively with the contracting officer and to avoid any actions that could be interpreted as bypassing that authority. The practical takeaway is to defer all modification-related decisions to the CO and refrain from actions that could be construed as binding the Government outside that official channel.