Code of Massachusetts Regulations
815 CMR - COMPTROLLER'S DIVISION
Title 815 CMR 8.00 - Contingent Contracts For Non-tax Revenue Maximization
Section 8.04 - Contract Terms and Conditions
Current through Register 1531, September 27, 2024
(1) The Office of the Comptroller will furnish "standard" contract terms and conditions to be used for all contingency contracts. Also the Comptroller's office will furnish "standard" terms and conditions to be used in each Interdepartmental Service Agreement required to support a contingency contract. Any modification to such standard terms and conditions requires the prior written approval of the Comptroller.
(2) Contingency contracts, or Interdepartmental Service Agreements relating to contingency contracts, must be personally signed by the Comptroller. In a situation where the Comptroller's office is a party to a joint venture, the Comptroller will co-sign the contract after the signatures of relevant department heads, as members of the joint venture, are obtained. In a situation where the Comptroller's office had delegated in writing the authority to issue an RFP to other departments, the Comptroller will evidence final approval to such contracts by personally signing the documents prepared by those parties. It is expected that a typical contingency contract may thus demonstrate multi-party participation and have requisite signatures from departments and the Comptroller's office.
(3) All contingency contracts will specify the maximum obligation of the Commonwealth to the outside party. In addition to maximum obligation, contingency contracts may specify compensation as a percent of the increase of federal financial participation or other reimbursement only over the measurement basis. It is expected that most contingency contracts will be structured as a percent of the increase of federal financial participation or other reimbursement only over the measurement basis not to exceed the maximum obligation; however in some cases fee for service arrangements may be appropriate. Within the compensation structure, a differential set of percentages related to differential increments over the measurement basis is allowable.
(4) All contingency contracts, including multi-year contracts will specify additional elements including but not limited to:
(5) Each contingency contract can include as a deliverable:
(6) Contingency contracts determined by the Comptroller to be fiscal conduits are prohibited. Decisions as to the applicability of the prohibition to fiscal conduits shall be made by the Comptroller and the determination of the Comptroller in this matter will be conclusive. The Comptroller's Office may also issue supplementary guidance and individual interpretations in this matter.
(7) Compensation will be paid to the outside party under a contingency contract or related interdepartmental service agreement after certification by the department, and approval by the Comptroller's Office, of both of the following steps:
(8) Each contingency contract will contain explicit written directives to be applied in those circumstances, if any, when action outside the contracted time frame causes a change to the amount calculated under the measurement base. It is recognized that actions in a future period, may be applied retroactively and thus cause a change to amounts previously calculated under the measurement basis. An example of a possible future change that would decrease the initial measurement basis is the retroactive application of an audit disallowance; an example of a possible future change that would increase the initial measurement basis in the retroactive application of a rate increase. Each contingency contract must have written directives that will govern the effect of such changes on the measurement basis and thus on the compensation to the outside party.