City of Tacoma v. United States

38 Cont. Cas. Fed. 76,532, 28 Fed. Cl. 637, 1993 U.S. Claims LEXIS 67, 1993 WL 218315
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedJune 22, 1993
DocketNo. 90-816C
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 38 Cont. Cas. Fed. 76,532 (City of Tacoma 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
City of Tacoma v. United States, 38 Cont. Cas. Fed. 76,532, 28 Fed. Cl. 637, 1993 U.S. Claims LEXIS 67, 1993 WL 218315 (uscfc 1993).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

HARKINS, Senior Judge:

Plaintiff’s claims are before the court on cross-motions for summary judgment. Oral argument was heard on June 10,1993; bench rulings were made and stated on the record at the close of argument. Reasons' for the rulings follow.

Plaintiff’s claims arise from a contract dated November 20, 1972, for the purchase of electrical services for McChord Air Force Base (McChord AFB) from the City of Tacoma, Department of Public Utilities, Light Division. Under previous contracts, plaintiff supplied electrical services to the United States for the military installation at McChord Field since at least 1945.

The contract was for an indefinite term. The schedule in item II provided:

II. TERM. This contract shall continue in effect until terminated at the option of the Government by the giving of written notice not less than 30 days in advance of the effective date of termination.

General Provision No. 2, provided the Government would pay for all services at rates specified in Rate Schedule E-4 attached to the contract. Rate changes were made part of the contract by amendments that deleted a current rate schedule and incorporated a new rate schedule.

The General Provisions provided rate changes would be renegotiated and would become effective as mutually agreed:

3. CHANGE OF RATES
At the request of either party to this contract with reasonable cause, the rates set forth herein shall be renegotiated and the new rates shall become effective as mutually agreed PROVIDED that any rates so negotiated shall not be in excess of rates to any other customer of the Contractor under similar conditions of service.
No increase shall be requested in the contract rate unless the Contractor has placed into effect a general rate increase to all of his customers under similar conditions of service. If the Contractor has placed into effect a general rate decrease, a corresponding decrease in the contact rate shall be made.

Pursuant to this procedure, the parties by bilateral modifications to the contract agreed upon nine rate changes during the period 1973-77.

The General Provisions included the January 1958 version of the Disputes article, which included:

... Pending final decision of a dispute hereunder, the Contractor shall proceed diligently with the performance of the contract and in accordance with the Contracting Officer’s decision____

and

(c) The provisions of (a) above shall not apply to disputes which are subject to the jurisdiction of a Federal, State, or other appropriate regulatory body. The [640]*640provisions of (a) above shall also be subject to the requirements of the law with respect to the rendering of utility services and the collection of regulated rates. (1968 SEP)

Modification No. 3 (P00003 or Mod 3) signed by the City’s Mayor on April 1, 1980, and by the Contracting Officer (CO) on April 7, 1980, in addition to changes in rates, deleted General Provision No. 10, Disputes, and replaced it with a new Disputes article that contained subparts (a) through (f). Subpart (a) provided:

(a) This contract is subject to the Contract Disputes Act of 1978 (41 U.S.C. 601, et seq.). If a dispute arises relating to the contract, the contractor may submit a claim to the Contracting Officer who shall issue a written decision on the dispute in the manner specified in DAR 1-314 (FPR 1-1.318).

Subpart (b) defined the term “claim”; subpart (c) provided for certification of disputes exceeding $50,000; subpart (d) provided for payment of interest on amounts found due on claims from the date the CO received the claim to the date of payment; and subpart (e) provided the decision of the CO would be final and conclusive unless an appeal or action “is timely commenced within the times specified by” the Contract Disputes Act (CDA).

Subpart (f) provided:

The contractor shall proceed diligently with performance of this contract, pending final resolution of any request for relief, claim, appeal or action related to the contract, and comply with any decision of the Contracting Officer.

By Ordinance No. 24050, effective April 20, 1988, the City established new electric service rates. Schedule E-2, applicable to McChord AFB, established new rates for the period April 10, 1988, to March 1, 1989, when the schedule would be discontinued. Schedule G established new rates that would apply to McChord AFB after March 1, 1989.

The Air Force paid electricity invoices for April and May 1988 at the new rates established in Ordinance No. 24050. On July 27, 1988, the CO advised the City that the invoices had been paid at the new rates through administrative error, that the new rate schedule had not been incorporated in the contract, and that the amount overpaid would be offset against the next billing. Thereafter, the Air Force withheld payments for electricity pending review of the new rate schedules and modification of the contract.

By letter dated December 20, 1988, the CO advised the City the new rate schedule G-l did not take into account differences in service conditions between customers that owned and maintained their own distribution systems and thus was discriminatory. The CO asserted the new rate schedules would not become effective until renegotiated and mutually agreed. The letter acknowledged that the old rate schedules were valid, that an increase in electrical rates were due, and requested additional information for negotiations.

Thereafter representatives of the parties met in numerous negotiating sessions. The CO withheld payment on all invoices, but continued to agree that the new rates in schedule E-2 were reasonable and that they would be incorporated in the contract when there was mutual agreement on all rate schedules. The City throughout contended the rates established by Ordinance No. 24050 were valid and applicable to the electricity provided to McChord AFB.

The CO in a letter dated January 10, 1990, and the Base Commander in a letter dated March 22, 1990, emphasized that a negotiated settlement would be preferable to resolution through the Disputes article. On March 1, 1990, the CO, to avoid litigation proposed a payment based on the following schedules:

—for the period 10 April 1988 thru 31 January 1989 under Phase I and Phase II of Rate Schedule “E-2” as implemented by your Ordinance 24050.
—for the period 1 February 1989 thru 30 June 1989 under Rate Schedule “G” as implemented by your ordinance 24050.
—for the period 1 July 1989 thru 2 April 1990 under your “CP” Rate Schedule.

[641]*641The March 1, 1990, proposal provided a total $611,336 for electricity through March 1990. In a letter dated March 13,1990, the City offered to settle for $678,000.

The City enacted Ordinance No. 24584, effective April 2, 1990. This ordinance incorporated a new rate schedule G, with an applicable 10.3 percent discount to the monthly bill.

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Bluebook (online)
38 Cont. Cas. Fed. 76,532, 28 Fed. Cl. 637, 1993 U.S. Claims LEXIS 67, 1993 WL 218315, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-tacoma-v-united-states-uscfc-1993.