A History of Contractor Indemnification and Its Implications for Air Force Policy.

Indemnification is an assurance from one party freeing another from risk of loss. Under certain circumstances, such as the use of nuclear power or hazardous materials, the government may elect to indemnify a contractor. The focus of this effort was to determine the parameters of the global government contractor indemnification problem and then examine the implications for th Air Force. To accomplish this task, an historical perspective on government indemnification was presented, studies and investigations on indemnification were examined, relevant litigation was reviewed, legislative attempts to change indemnification and product liability laws were described, and finally the evolution of Air Force policy on indemnifications was examined. With this basis, an in-depth discussion of primary indemnification issues facing the Air Force--those of insurance, catastrophic risk and product liability--was undertaken. The results were 1 a primer on the indemnification of government contractors and 2 genral recommendations for future Air Force indemnification policy.