As opaque and oppressive as it sometimes can be, I highly recommend that people at least understand the kinds of contracts listed in the FAR (Federal Acquisitio

As opaque and oppressive as it sometimes can be, I highly recommend that people at least understand the kinds of contracts listed in the FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation): https://www.acquisition.gov/?q=browse/far/16 https://www.acquisition.gov/?q=browse/far/16 These contract structures apply to more than just federal contracts and have helped me dramatically understanding different contract structures. Anyway, long story short, each contract type has a different amount of risk and reward and it's extremely important that both parties understand and choose the contract type most appropriate for the work. Even fixed priced contracts have a lot of variation: http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/ccap/cc/jcchb/Files/Topical/Contract_Type_Comparison_Table/resources/contract_type_table.docx http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/ccap/cc/jcchb/Files/Topical/Cont... Anyway, it does take time to learn this language, but the there are many local chapters of the National Contract Management Association (http://www.ncmargc.org/ http://www.ncmargc.org/) that run seminars and study groups that can help understand this kind of language.