BMY-Combat Systems Division of Harsco Corp. v. United States

44 Fed. Cl. 141, 1998 U.S. Claims LEXIS 330, 1999 WL 456960
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedAugust 13, 1998
DocketNo. 90-252 C
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 44 Fed. Cl. 141 (BMY-Combat Systems Division of Harsco Corp. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
BMY-Combat Systems Division of Harsco Corp. v. United States, 44 Fed. Cl. 141, 1998 U.S. Claims LEXIS 330, 1999 WL 456960 (uscfc 1998).

Opinion

ORDER

MOODY R. TIDWELL, III, Senior Judge.

At the request of the parties, the consideration of this case has been divided into three phases. The first phase on liability included a trial, after which the court issued its opinion on liability on May 23, 1997, see BMY—Combat Sys. Div. of Harsco Corp. v. United States, 38 Fed.Cl. 109 (1997) (the liability opinion). The court denied plaintiffs claim for an equitable adjustment, allowed defendant’s counterclaim under the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. § 3729 (1994) (FCA), allowed defendant’s breach of contract counterclaim, and denied defendant’s Special Plea in Fraud counterclaim pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2514 (1994). The case is now before the court for the second phase on defendant’s motion for summary judgment on the issue of defendant’s damages for plaintiffs violations of the False Claims Act and breach of contract. The third phase of the litigation will address quantum as framed by the liability opinion and this order. For the reasons set forth below, defendant’s motion for summary judgment is denied as a result of the existence of disputed material facts.

FACTS

The facts set forth below supplement those included in the liability opinion, which are incorporated by reference here. At the commencement of this case, plaintiff, BMY— Combat Systems (BMY), was an unincorporated division of Harsco Corporation that designed, manufactured and sold combat weapons systems, including the product at issue here, self-propelled M109A2 howitzers. The United States, through the Army, entered into Contract DAAA09-82-G-5811 (contract 5811) with BMY on November 15, 1984, from which defendant ultimately ordered 305 howitzers at a total price of $107,-043,177.58.

The M109A2 howitzers each have a trunnion mounting bracket (TMB). The TMB is a large steel easting weighing several thousand pounds that is bolted to the cab of the howitzer. It attaches the howitzer to a vehicle and is an important component because the cannon is mounted through and secured in place by the TMB. Specifications for the TMB were set forth in TMB drawings and a TMB supplemental quality assurance provision (SQAP) incorporated into contract 5811.

Contract 5811 required that TMBs undergo two types of inspection. The first was a [143]*143radiographic (RT) inspection to determine the internal soundness of the easting by detecting internal discontinuities. The RT inspection requirements were set forth on the TMB drawing, the TMB SQAP, and a radio-graphic position chart. According to the TMB SQAP, 100% of the TMBs were to be RT inspected. The second type of inspection required under contract 5811 was a magnetic particle (MT) inspection to detect any discontinuities on the TMB’s surface, such as “cracks & hot tears,” which were termed “unacceptable.” Joint Ex. 27 (Enlargement of Notes from TMB Drawings). The TMB SQAP specified that 100% of the TMBs were to be MT inspected. The contract placed no requirement on the government to perform any inspection or testing of the TMBs.

After each howitzer was manufactured, BMY presented it to a Defense Contract Administration Service (DCAS) official for review. The DCAS official would conduct or observe the final general inspection, subsequent to which BMY would submit to the DCAS representative a “constructive delivery” DD250 government form which would be signed by the DCAS representative. Each DD250 contained language requiring plaintiff to identify “deficiencies or areas of nonconformances” in the howitzer upon submission of the form to defendant. Joint Ex 172 (constructive delivery DD250 forms). After signature and upon receipt of shipping instructions, the vehicles would be prepared for shipment. At that time, plaintiff prepared a second DD250 form to invoice the government for shipping costs. The signed DD250 forms were used to secure payment for the howitzers accepted by defendant.

On November 1, 1984, plaintiff awarded a Purchase Order to the Adirondack Steel Casting Company (ASC) for the manufacture of 123 TMBs for contract 5811, at a price of $2,207 per TMB, for a total price of $271,461. Plaintiff accompanied the Purchase Order with the TMB SQAPs, drawings and specifications and provided ASC with its Procurement Instructions and Requirements Manual. On January 1, 1985, plaintiff issued Change Order No. 1 to the Purchase Order, whereby plaintiff increased the quantity of TMBs from 123 to 193, thus increasing the total cost of the Purchase Order to $425,951.

Beginning in April 1986, plaintiff acquired knowledge that ASC was not meeting the 100% RT and MT inspection requirements, particularly with respect to the journal bearing areas of the TMBs. Plaintiff did not disclose ASC’s failure to properly inspect the TMBs to the government. In fact, plaintiff continued to maintain records delivered with each ASC TMB, certifying that the ASC TMB complied with contract 5811’s specifications, including 100% RT and MT inspection. Subsequent to its gaining knowledge of ASC’s noncompliance, plaintiff also continued to submit DD250 forms to the government invoicing it for acceptance and shipment of the howitzers, certifying that the TMBs complied with the contract specifications.

On August 29, 1988, a DCAS representative observed plaintiff inspecting the dimensional characteristics of an ASC TMB which did not pass inspection, and therefore asked for and received from plaintiffs inspectors the records for the TMB dimensional inspections. ' On August 31, 1988, during a meeting between DCAS and plaintiff on the deficiencies that had come to light, plaintiff confirmed that not all SQAP characteristics were being inspected, that plaintiff could not verify some characteristics plaintiff had documented as acceptable, and that the BMY form 45.95, which would indicate that the inspections had been performed, were incomplete.

As a result of plaintiffs failure to perform all required inspections on the TMBs, plaintiff submitted a Request for Waiver (RFW) on September 13, 1988, for all 305 vehicles produced under contract 5811, asking defendant to accept the TMBs despite the lack of inspections. In October 1988, BMY reported to defendant that it had completed RT and MT inspections on two representative TMBs, which had failed the inspections. The RFW was disapproved by defendant on November 7, 1988, based on discrepancies and nonconformances not addressed in the request.

Subsequently, defendant directed plaintiff to make RT and MT inspection results available for every contract 5811 TMB, and if this could not be done, the TMBs would have to [144]*144be inspected. At a November 22,1988 meeting, plaintiff responded to the government’s directives by arguing that the ASC TMBs were sufficiently sound, and that the government should continue to accept the TMBs even if plaintiff “could not produce” RT and MT inspection results. Plaintiff based its contention on a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) it had prepared. Defendant states that an FEA is a complex computer model that assists engineers in determining the stresses in a component when subjected to known forces and loads. Defendant was unsatisfied with plaintiffs FEA because it assumed defect-free material.

On March 27, 1989, defendant directed plaintiff to remove and inspect TMBs in the howitzers that did not have 100% inspection data.

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Bluebook (online)
44 Fed. Cl. 141, 1998 U.S. Claims LEXIS 330, 1999 WL 456960, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bmy-combat-systems-division-of-harsco-corp-v-united-states-uscfc-1998.