The suspension of work clause, codified at FAR 52.242-14, lets a federal contracting officer temporarily halt all or part of the work on a construction contract without terminating it. If the pause runs for an unreasonable length of time, you can recover the added costs the delay caused (but not profit) and get a matching extension to the completion date. The clause exists because large projects hit disruptions that don’t justify killing the contract, and both sides need a way to pause work without triggering a breach.
Who Can Order a Suspension and How It Happens
The contracting officer holds the authority to suspend, delay, or interrupt work under FAR 52.242-14. The order must be in writing, and it can cover the whole project or just specific portions. There is no fixed maximum duration in the clause itself; the contracting officer decides what period is “appropriate for the convenience of the Government.”1eCFR. 48 CFR 52.242-14 – Suspension of Work That open-ended language gives the government flexibility and creates the question at the heart of most disputes: was the length of the pause reasonable?
Not every suspension comes through a formal written order. A constructive suspension happens when government action or inaction effectively stops the work even though no one signed a suspension order. Classic examples include failing to respond to submittals within the time the contract specifies, withholding site access, or delaying delivery of government-furnished materials. Boards of contract appeals treat these constructive suspensions the same as written orders, and your right to recover added costs applies to both.1eCFR. 48 CFR 52.242-14 – Suspension of Work
The Unreasonable Period Standard
The clause only triggers a cost adjustment when the suspension lasts an “unreasonable period of time.” The regulation sets no bright-line number of days. Reasonableness gets evaluated case by case, considering the project’s complexity, the reason for the pause, and how quickly the government moved to resolve it. A two-week hold for a genuine safety concern on a multi-year project might be entirely reasonable. A six-month halt because an agency misplaced a submittal package probably is not. You carry the initial burden of showing the delay was unreasonable, so documenting the timeline from day one matters.
Why Suspensions Happen
Most suspensions fall into a few categories. Administrative delays are the most common: the government needs more time to review shop drawings, respond to requests for information, or secure environmental permits from other agencies. Budget shortfalls force suspensions when appropriations run out mid-project and work must pause until the next fiscal year’s funding comes through.
Discovery of unexpected site conditions, particularly hazardous materials, can shut a project down immediately to protect workers and the public. Shifting political priorities sometimes prompt a pause so the agency can reevaluate scope. And occasionally a suspension comes out of coordination failures between multiple agencies working on overlapping projects at the same site. All of these triggers center on the government’s operational situation rather than on the contractor’s performance.
When Sovereign Acts Block Cost Recovery
One important limit on recovery involves suspensions caused by the government acting in its broad sovereign capacity rather than as a contracting party. If Congress passes a new law or an agency issues a regulation that happens to delay a specific project, the sovereign acts doctrine may shield the government from liability for the resulting costs. Broad legislative or regulatory actions affecting the public generally are treated differently from actions the government takes in its role as project owner. When the doctrine applies, you typically get a time extension but no additional money. It does not apply when the government’s action is directed at a specific contract or contractor rather than the public at large.
Suspension of Work vs. Stop-Work Order
Federal contracts use two different clauses to halt performance, and confusing them leads to missed deadlines and forfeited rights. The suspension of work clause (FAR 52.242-14) and the stop-work order clause (FAR 52.242-15) overlap but are not the same.
A stop-work order under FAR 52.242-15 has a built-in time limit: the government must either cancel the order or terminate the contract within 90 days, or a mutually agreed extension.2eCFR. 48 CFR 52.242-15 – Stop-Work Order That clock forces a decision. The suspension of work clause has no equivalent deadline, which can leave you in limbo far longer.
The financial differences matter too. FAR 52.242-14 expressly bars profit on the cost adjustment. The stop-work order clause calls for an “equitable adjustment” when the order is canceled, and equitable adjustments in government contracting generally can include a reasonable profit component.2eCFR. 48 CFR 52.242-15 – Stop-Work Order If a stop-work order leads to termination for convenience instead, your reasonable costs from the stoppage fold into the termination settlement. Knowing which clause the government is operating under determines what you can recover and how fast you need to act.
What You Can Recover
When the suspension qualifies as unreasonable, you are entitled to an adjustment covering the added cost of performance. FAR 52.242-14 expressly excludes profit from this adjustment, so recovery is limited to the actual increase in expenses the suspension caused.1eCFR. 48 CFR 52.242-14 – Suspension of Work The typical cost categories include:
- Idle equipment: rental or ownership costs for machinery sitting unused on site during the suspension.
- Labor escalation: if wage rates rise during the delay through union contracts or market conditions, the difference between the original and higher rates is recoverable.
- Demobilization and remobilization: the expense of pulling crews and equipment off the site and later bringing them back.
- Unabsorbed home office overhead: your ongoing fixed costs (rent, insurance, executive salaries) that the suspended project was supposed to help cover. This is usually the largest and most contested component.
- Extended job-site overhead: continued costs of maintaining the project office, site security, temporary utilities, and supervision during the suspension.
Beyond money, you receive a schedule extension equal to the suspension period so liquidated damages don’t accrue for missing the original completion date. The extension itself carries no additional compensation; it simply moves the contractual deadline.
Eichleay for Unabsorbed Overhead
Proving unabsorbed home office overhead is where most suspension claims get contentious. The Eichleay formula, originating from a 1960 Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals decision, is the standard method for calculating this cost in federal contracts. Courts have called it the exclusive means for computing unabsorbed overhead in government delay cases.
The formula works in three steps. First, you figure how much of your total home office overhead is allocable to the delayed contract by multiplying total overhead for the contract period by the ratio of the delayed contract’s billings to your total billings across all contracts. Second, you divide that allocable overhead by the total days of contract performance to get a daily overhead rate. Third, you multiply the daily rate by the number of delay days to arrive at the claim amount.
Before you reach the math, you have to clear a threshold. You must show three things: the government caused the delay, you were required to remain on standby (meaning you couldn’t simply walk away and return later), and you were unable to take on replacement work during the suspension to absorb the overhead the halted project would have covered. Failing any of those defeats the Eichleay claim regardless of how clean the arithmetic is.
What Limits Your Recovery
FAR 52.242-14 contains a built-in limitation that trips up contractors who don’t read the clause carefully. No adjustment is allowed “to the extent that performance would have been so suspended, delayed, or interrupted by any other cause, including the fault or negligence of the Contractor.”3Acquisition.GOV. 52.242-14 Suspension of Work If your own scheduling failures or defective work would have caused a delay during the same period as the government suspension, the overlapping time is not compensable. This concurrent delay problem is one of the most litigated issues in suspension claims, and the government will always look for it.
The clause also bars recovery when “an equitable adjustment is provided for or excluded under any other term or condition of this contract.”3Acquisition.GOV. 52.242-14 Suspension of Work If the delay falls under the changes clause or the differing site conditions clause and you’ve already received an adjustment there, you cannot recover again through the suspension clause.
Your Duty to Mitigate
You have an obligation to take reasonable steps to minimize the financial impact of a suspension. Reassigning idle crews to other active projects, canceling unnecessary material deliveries, and releasing rented equipment are all examples. Failing to mitigate doesn’t just look bad in negotiations; it directly reduces the recovery. The contracting officer reviewing the claim will ask what you did to limit costs, and any expenses that could have been avoided through reasonable effort get disallowed.
Notice, Certification, and Documentation
The 20-Day Notice Rule
The 20-day notice rule in FAR 52.242-14 works differently depending on how the suspension happened. For a constructive suspension where no formal order was issued, you must notify the contracting officer in writing within 20 days of the government act or failure to act. Costs incurred more than 20 days before that written notice are not recoverable. For a directed suspension where the contracting officer issued a written order, the 20-day notice requirement does not apply, because the government already knows about the stoppage.1eCFR. 48 CFR 52.242-14 – Suspension of Work
Either way, the actual claim must be submitted in writing stating a specific dollar amount “as soon as practicable after the termination of the suspension,” and no later than the date of final payment under the contract.1eCFR. 48 CFR 52.242-14 – Suspension of Work Waiting until final payment is technically allowed but practically dangerous. The longer you wait, the harder it is to reconstruct records, and the less credible the claim looks.
Certification for Claims Over $100,000
Any claim exceeding $100,000 must include a formal certification under the Contract Disputes Act. You must certify that the claim is made in good faith, the supporting data are accurate and complete, the amount requested reflects the adjustment the government owes, and the signer is authorized to do so on behalf of the company.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 41 USC 7103 – Decision by Contracting Officer Skipping or botching this certification is a common and costly mistake. The contracting officer has no obligation to issue a final decision on an uncertified claim over $100,000. A defective certification can be corrected later, but the correction delays the process and invites skepticism about the claim.
Building Your Documentation
The FAR does not prescribe a specific form for suspension claims. Some agencies have templates, but the general requirement is a written submission that breaks down costs in reasonable detail. The package should include daily logs showing which crews were idle and what equipment sat unused, payroll records proving affected workers’ rates, equipment schedules documenting rental or ownership costs during downtime, and a critical-path schedule analysis showing how the suspension shifted the project timeline.
Documentation of mitigation matters just as much. If you reassigned workers to another phase, show it. If you released rented equipment early, include the cancellation records. A gap in that narrative weakens the entire submission.
Decision and Appeal
The claim goes to the contracting officer. For claims of $100,000 or less, the contracting officer has 60 days after receiving a written request for a decision. For claims over $100,000 (which most suspension claims are), the contracting officer also has 60 days after receiving the certified claim, but if a decision won’t be ready in that window, the officer must tell you when to expect it.5Acquisition.GOV. FAR 33.211 – Contracting Officer’s Decision Complex suspension claims routinely take longer in practice.
If the decision is favorable, the parties execute a contract modification adjusting price and schedule. If the decision is unfavorable or the officer never issues one, you have two appeal paths:
- Agency Board of Contract Appeals: file a written notice of appeal within 90 days of receiving the final decision.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 41 USC 7104 – Contractor’s Right of Appeal From Decision by Contracting Officer
- U.S. Court of Federal Claims: file suit within 12 months of receiving the final decision. This is a new trial on the merits, not a review of the board record.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 41 USC 7104 – Contractor’s Right of Appeal From Decision by Contracting Officer
These deadlines are strict. Missing the 90-day window for the board or the 12-month window for the court forfeits that appeal path entirely. Let both pass and you have no further recourse.
Interest While You Wait
When a suspension claim drags on, the Contract Disputes Act entitles you to simple interest on the amount ultimately found due. Interest begins accruing on the date the contracting officer receives the claim (or the date payment would otherwise have been due, whichever is later) and runs until the government pays.7Acquisition.GOV. FAR 33.208 – Interest on Claims The Secretary of the Treasury sets the rate and adjusts it every six months. For the first half of 2026, the rate is 4.125 percent per year.8Federal Register. Prompt Payment Interest Rate; Contract Disputes Act On a large claim that takes years to resolve, interest alone can be substantial.
How a Suspension Flows Down to Subcontractors
A suspension order flows downhill. When the government suspends a prime contract, the prime almost always directs its subcontractors to stop as well. Whether those subcontractors can recover their own added costs depends heavily on what the subcontract says.
Many subcontracts include no-damages-for-delay clauses that limit the subcontractor’s remedy to a time extension, with no cost adjustment regardless of cause. Enforceability varies by jurisdiction. Some courts refuse to enforce them when the prime’s or owner’s conduct was particularly egregious, or when the subcontractor had no real bargaining power. Other courts enforce them as written, reasoning that the subcontractor accepted the risk when it bid the job.
On federal projects, subcontractors who don’t get paid have the additional option of filing a claim against the prime’s payment bond under the Miller Act. Whether a surety can invoke a no-damages-for-delay clause as a defense against a Miller Act claim is an open question in federal courts, with decisions going both ways. The safest approach for a subcontractor is to review the subcontract terms before a suspension hits and understand whether delay-cost recovery is limited to whatever the prime recovers from the government.
Prime contractors who expect to pass suspension costs through to the government should make sure their subcontracts include flow-down provisions that mirror the federal suspension clause. Without them, the prime can end up liable to its subcontractors for delay costs the government’s adjustment doesn’t fully cover.