CBS Corp. v. United States

90 Fed. Cl. 466, 2009 WL 4729667
United States Court of Federal Claims·Decided December 8, 2009·No. No. 01-79C·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

OPINION

FIRESTONE, Judge.

Pending before the court are the parties’ cross-motions for partial summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”) regarding the proper date for the segment closing of Westinghouse Electric Corporation’s (“Westinghouse’s”) Machinery Technology Division (“MTD”) under the original version of Cost Accounting Standard (“CAS”) 413.50(e)(12) (“CAS 413” or “Original CAS 413”), 4 C.F.R. § 413-50(c)(12) (1986).1 Westinghouse, now CBS Corporation (“CBS”) and formerly Viacom, Inc., contends that the segment closed on February 1, 1996, when MTD closed its plant and transferred all remaining work on its sole government contract to another Westinghouse segment. The defendant, the United States (“government”), contends that the MTD segment was not “closed” for CAS 413 purposes until July 31, 1997, when all of the subeon-tractor’s work on MTD’s government contract was concluded.

This is the third decision in this case. Previously, the court granted-in-part and denied-in-part the government’s motion for partial summary judgment on whether the government was liable under CAS 413 for a portion of the pension plan deficit retained by CBS following the segment closing. Viacom, Inc. v. United States, 70 Fed.Cl. 649 (2006), amended by CBS Corp. v. United States, 75 Fed.Cl. 498 (2007). The court also issues today a decision regarding the extent of the government’s payment obligation with regard to the sale of another segment, the Electronic Systems Group. See CBS Corp. v. United States, No. 01-79 (Fed.Cl. Dec. 8, 2009) (opinion regarding segment closing calculation). The court in this decision addresses only the date of the MTD segment closing. This date is significant because under CAS 413, the calculation of the closed segment’s pension assets and actuarial liability must be made as of the date of the segment closing. 42 Fed.Reg. at 37,198. Therefore, the issue of the closing date must be resolved in order to make the appropriate segment closing calculation, which includes the calculation of interest.

For the reasons set forth below, the court finds that there are no material facts in [468]*468dispute to preclude resolution of this issue on cross-motions for partial summary judgment and that based on the undisputed facts, the court finds that the segment closed on February 1,1996.

UNDISPUTED FACTS

The following facts are not in dispute. In 1983, Westinghouse established MTD to provide technical and engineering support to the Naval Sea Systems Command (“NAVSEA”). Westinghouse designated MTD as a “segment” for CAS purposes.

MTD was awarded two government contracts. On or about December 28, 1983, NAVSEA awarded Contract No. N00024-84-D-4312 (“Contract No. 4312” or “the 4312 Contract”) to MTD. Contract No. 4312 was an incrementally-funded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, incorporating by reference Defense Acquisition Regulation (“DAR”) 7-104.83(a)(1), 32 C.F.R. § 7-104.83(a)(l) (1978), which required contractor compliance with the CAS. Thereafter, in 1986, NAVSEA awarded MTD a follow-on, incrementally funded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, Contract No. N00024-86-C-4030 (“Contract No. 4030” or “the 4030 Contract”). Deliverables under Contract No. 4030 included technical instructions for the Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage Development Program (“SMES”). Contract No. 4030 incorporated by reference Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.230-3, 48 C.F.R. § 52.230-3 (1984), which required contractor compliance with the CAS.

MTD’s employees (who numbered approximately 190 at any given time) participated in either the Westinghouse Qualified Pension Plan (“WQPP”) or the Westinghouse Executive Pension Plan (“WEPP”). Each year, Westinghouse allocated to MTD a pro rata portion of its employees’ pension costs based upon MTD’s labor costs and then recovered these pension costs from the government by allocating the costs to its government contracts based upon MTD’s labor costs.

By 1995, MTD had completed performance under the 4312 Contract. Thereafter, MTD’s business consisted solely of work remaining under Contract No. 4030. To perform this contract, MTD entered into several subcontracts, including a subcontract with another Westinghouse segment, Science and Technology Center (“STC”). STC employees also participated in Westinghouse’s pension plans.

On November 13, 1995, NAVSEA informed MTD that it would not be awarded the follow-on contract to Contract No. 4030. On November 20, 1995, Joseph Bauer, the controller for MTD, sent a letter to John Dennard (“Mr.Dennard”), the contracting officer at NAVSEA, regarding its intention to close the MTD segment. In this letter, MTD notified Mr. Dennard that it would cease operations as a result of not receiving the follow-on contract and that MTD would begin to issue to its employees the sixty-day advance plant closing notice required by law. MTD stated that it was ceasing operations because of its concern that funds under the 4030 Contract were not sufficient to cover MTD’s segment closing costs. In particular, MTD gave notice under the terms of Contract No. 4030’s Limitation of Funds clause2 that MTD expected that the total cost of performance under Contract No. 4030 would be greater than originally estimated and that “Westinghouse does consider this a segment closing and as such, the pension related costs could be significant.” App. to Def.’s Mot. Al. On December 4, 1995, MTD notified its employees that the MTD segment would close on February 1, 1996 and gave its employees the legally required, sixty-day notice.

[469]*469By letter dated December 8, 1995, Mr. Dennard of NAVSEA wrote to MTD that the Navy did not intend to provide additional funding under the 4030 Contract. In a responsive letter dated December 14,1995, Mr. Bauer, on behalf of MTD, wrote, “We currently estimate that costs incurred exceed the obligated amount by approximately $14[million]. In addition, there ai’e costs relating to unfunded pension liability of the [ ] MTD business segment of approximately $9[million].” App to Def.’s Mot. A4.

Thereafter, by letter dated January 2, 1996, MTD informed the contracting officer that

a [corporate business decision has been made to close the MTD division ... effective February 1,1996____
The immediate effect of this decision requires that we now discontinue all active task (Technical Instruction) efforts in order to provide a final status report on all [Technical Instruction]s by 2/1/96, at which time all direct labor charges to the contract will cease. Outside procurements and other non-salary expenditures will be cancelled as of 1/5/96 [with certain designated exceptions].

Id. at A5. By letter dated January 5, 1996 and entitled “Subject: Limitation of Costs Notification,” Mr. Bauer responded to Mr. Dennard’s December 14, 1995 letter, informing him that “[t]otal costs expected to be incurred under [Contract No. 4030,] including costs arising from CAS 413[,] are estimated to be $259,067,909,” and that the contract had “currently allotted funds of $238,267,909 resulting in a projected shortfall of $20,800,000.” Id. at A7.

In keeping with its decision to shut down its facilities by February 1, 1996, MTD sent its subcontractors formal notice of terminations of convenience effective January 18, 1996.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

CBS Corp. v. United States, 90 Fed. Cl. 466, 2009 WL 4729667 (uscfc 2009).

90 Fed. Cl. 466 (CBS Corp. v. United States) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

CBS Corp. v. United States
90 Fed. Cl. 456 (Federal Claims, 2009)