Federal contractors say it is fairly common to be asked to perform work that goes above and beyond the terms of their contracts--and the problem may be hitting small vendors harder.

In a recent survey, 85% of government contractors said officials occasionally or frequently request that they perform “out of scope” work, often without a contract modification.

“I have been burned by this myself,” said Lou Crenshaw, national aerospace and defense practice lead at Grant Thornton, who presented highlights of the firm’s annual government contractor survey at a recent industry event.

In response to the requests for the out-of-scope work, 10% of the federal vendors said they always agreed to do it, and 74% sometimes agreed.

However, only 23% said they regularly seek equitable contract adjustments for the additional work performed.

If you don’t ask for reimbursement, “it is basically free work” and may negatively impact your profits, Crenshaw said.

Small business owners may be more severely affected because they fear that refusing an out-of-scope task may mean losing a customer, Onelia Codrington, principal of Performance Value Management in Fairfax, VA, told Set-Aside Alert.

“They absolutely would be worried about losing business or losing a relationship if they refused,” Codrington said. “They would have a harder time saying ‘no.’”

Crenshaw suggested larger businesses may be more casual about accepting out-of-scope work because the responsibility for doing so may be diffused.

He urged companies, regardless of size, to seek reimbursements for all work performed.

The survey did not differentiate the impact on large or small firms.