Request for Equitable Adjustment (REA)
A formal contractor request, common on public and federal contracts, seeking additional compensation or time due to a change, differing site condition, or other qualifying event, submitted and negotiated administratively before escalating to a formal claim or dispute resolution process.
Why it matters
An REA is a voluntary, informal alternative to a formal claim, not a required first step, a contractor can go straight to a certified claim under the Contract Disputes Act with no REA at all. The real risk runs the other way: an REA doesn't trigger the CDA's response-time clock or accrue interest, and isn't treated as a formal claim for statute of limitations purposes, so a contractor that lets informal REA negotiations drag on too long can run out the CDA's six-year limitations period without ever converting the REA into a certified claim.
On a real project
A contractor working on a federal project submits an REA documenting the extra costs from a differing site condition, giving the contracting officer a chance to negotiate and resolve it administratively before either side escalates to a formal, more adversarial claim.
Who this matters most to
A Construction Claims Consultant builds and negotiates the REA package, the cost and schedule documentation behind the request, often preventing the dispute from ever needing to escalate further.
Where this goes wrong
A contractor submits an REA over a differing site condition and spends years negotiating informally with the contracting officer rather than converting it into a certified claim under the Contract Disputes Act. The negotiations stall without resolution, and by the time the contractor moves to formalize a claim, the CDA's six-year statute of limitations has already run, since the REA itself never stopped that clock.