Contingent means that an event may or may not occur in the future, depending on the fulfillment of some condition that is uncertain. This term is often used in contracts where the event will not take effect until the specified condition occurs.
A contingency clause is a contract provision that requires a specific event or action to take place in order for the contract to be considered valid.
What Is a Contingency? A contingency is a potential occurrence of a negative event in the future, such as an economic recession, natural disaster, fraudulent activity, terrorist attack, or a pandemic.
This contingency is normally calculated as a percentage. If the phase is 100 days of effort, contingency at 20% would be another 20 days. As the project progresses, the level of risk reduces as the requirements and issues become known, so the percentage will be reduced.