The guide
The notice clocks: the one door that closes
Every chapter in this guide ends the same way: what starts the clock, and what you must have written down before you act. This chapter explains why that is the spine of the whole book.
Most of the money a federal construction contractor loses is not lost in a courtroom. It is lost quietly, on site, in the first day or two of a problem, because a letter that was required was not sent. Then a process that had a remedy becomes a process with none.
The clearest example is the clause on differing site conditions. It does not merely say you may ask for more money. It makes your right to ask depend on notice that is both prompt and early:
“The Contractor shall promptly, and before the conditions are disturbed, give a written notice to the Contracting Officer of (1) subsurface or latent physical conditions at the site which differ materially from those indicated in this Contract…” — FAR 52.236-2(a)
Read that twice. Notice must be given before the conditions are disturbed. The moment the excavator moves, the government loses its chance to come and look at what you found, and you lose the cleanest version of your claim. No later report, photograph or expert rebuilds that afternoon.
Why this is the spine and not chapter one of nine
Almost every other step in a federal construction job is forgiving. If a change order is priced late, it can still be negotiated. If a pay application is wrong, it can be corrected. If a claim certification has a defect, the regulation itself provides a cure. Those are processes with a remedy.
The notice duty is different. It is time-bound, it runs against you, and it closes. That is the honest answer to what the “secrets” are: not that there are hidden rules, but that the expensive mistakes are procedural and silent, and they happen in the first hours of a problem, not the last.
Which clauses carry a clock
- Differing site conditions (FAR 52.236-2) — notice promptly and before the conditions are disturbed.
- Changes (FAR 52.243-4) — a change is binding only when directed in writing by the contracting officer; perform-and-paper later can put your right to an adjustment at risk.
- Suspension of work (FAR 52.242-14) — a claim for an adjustment must be asserted in writing within the period stated in the clause.
- Terminations (FAR Part 49) — notices and settlement proposals run on their own clocks.
The rest of this guide takes each one in turn, quotes the clause and states the clock. Read it once as a whole, then keep the closing two lines of each chapter where your project team can reach them.
Sources
The clock, in two lines
What triggers the clock: a condition, direction, delay or stop that could cost you money.
What you must have written down before you touch anything: the date, the location or item, what you observed or were told, and a written notice to the contracting officer — sent promptly, and before you disturb the condition.
Sources last checked 2026-10-09. This is general information and a field guide, not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created. For a formal claim or a dispute, engage a qualified government-contracts attorney. Owned and operated by GCExperts LLC.