Cover v. United States

356 F.2d 159, 174 Ct. Cl. 294
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedFebruary 18, 1966
DocketNo. 41-59
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 356 F.2d 159 (Cover v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cover v. United States, 356 F.2d 159, 174 Ct. Cl. 294 (cc 1966).

Opinion

ConuiNS, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

In June 1956, the Department of the Army awarded to plaintiff a contract for the installation of heating and lighting systems in four maintenance shops.1 Plaintiff’s bid was the only one submitted. After the contract had been awarded, plaintiff discovered that, in computing his bid, he had overlooked the item of ceilings. The Government insisted that plaintiff install the ceilings, and ultimately he did so.2

After the work had been completed, plaintiff submitted to the contracting officer a claim for $4,039.79 which, according to plaintiff, represented the cost of installing the ceilings and the insulation. Plaintiff’s request for additional payment was forwarded to the General Accounting Office. The GAO accepted the recommendation of the contracting officer that plaintiff’s claim be allowed to the extent of $1,865.60, and this amount was paid to him.

[296]*296In the present action, plaintiff asserts that the disputed work cost $3,549.50. He seeks to recover $1,683.90, the difference between bis alleged costs and the amount received from the GAO. We conclude, for reasons to be explained, that plaintiff’s claim must be denied.

Plaintiff asserts that the error in his bid was due partly to his negligence and partly to negligence on the part of the Government. Therefore, according to plaintiff, he is entitled to recover the cost of installing the ceilings and the insulation. It is plaintiff’s position that he received from the Government an incomplete set of specifications; i.e., that the last two pages, the ones which pertained to ceilings, had been omitted. Although defendant suggests that it was plaintiff who mislaid the last two pages, we can accept, as did Commissioner Day, the view of plaintiff regarding this matter.

The crucial fact is that, even without the pertinent sections of the specifications, the contract clearly indicated that ceilings were required. First, one of the contract drawings included detailed illustrations of ceiling components. This drawing in itself should have made obvious to plaintiff the fact that installation of ceilings was required.3 Secondly, the section entitled “Work To Be Done” expressly called for “installation of ceilings.” (See finding 7, infra.) In view of these provisions, there is no basis for attributing to the Government any part of the responsibility for plaintiff’s error in bidding. We find that, under the facts of this case, plaintiff himself must bear full responsibility.4 Cf. Russell & Pugh Lumber Co. v. United States, 154 Ct. Cl. 122, 127, 290 F. 2d 938 (1961).

The General Accounting Office, which determined that plaintiff was entitled to some reimbursement, paid to him an amount which the GAO and the contracting officer considered to be a reasonable approximation of plaintiff’s additional [297]*297costs. Under the circumstances, this adjustment was certainly fair, and the fact that plaintiff received it is an additional reason for denying his claim for further compensation.

We hold that plaintiff is not entitled to recover. The petition is dismissed.

BINDINGS OF FACT

The court, having considered the evidence, the report of Trial Commissioner William E. Day, and the briefs and argument of counsel, makes findings of fact as follows:

1. Commonwealth Engineering Company, P.O. Box 1087, N. Station, Arlington, Virginia, is wholly owned by Richard Root Cover, who is referred to hereinafter as plaintiff.

2. On June 1, 1956, the defendant, through the Department of the Army, Quartermaster Activities, Cameron Station, Alexandria, Virginia, invited bids for the installation of heating and lighting systems in prefabricated metal motor maintenance shops at four (4) National Guard AAA gun sites in nearby Virginia, within the military District of Washington.

3. The plaintiff submitted his bid and was awarded a contract dated June 15,1956, No. DA44-109 QM 2080 at a contract price of $5,284 for the performance of the work. On the above date, the contracting officer wrote to the plaintiff notifying him of the award of the contract and advising that a formal contract would be prepared for execution by the parties (which was later accomplished), and that notice to proceed would be given when the formal contract was forwarded for execution. The notice to proceed was thereafter given, with work to begin 15 days from June 20 and to be completed 60 days from that date, or on August 19, 1956.

4. By July 1, 1956, the plaintiff had discovered that he had overlooked an item of ceilings (which required the installation of 2 x 4 wood joists in buildings 20 feet wide by 48 feet long) in computing the bid which formed the basis of the contract price. The discovery of such mistake was communicated to the contracting officer on that day.

5. The contracting officer in reply advised the plaintiff that the specifications were quite clear in requiring the in[298]*298stallation of the ceilings. He further advised that, since no other bids had been received by the defendant, it had not been possible to compare the plaintiff’s bid with others, and that the 'bid price did not appear so unreasonably low as to indicate to him that an error had been made. He further said that the award had been made in good faith to the plaintiff, thus implying that when making the award, he had no information upon which to conclude that the plaintiff’s bid was the result of an error on the part of the plaintiff.

16. Shortly thereafter, the plaintiff conferred with the contracting officer concerning the mistake. He told the contracting officer that he had not received a complete set of specifications, in that the last two pages thereof were missing.

That the plaintiff did not include any computation concerning the ceiling item is corroborated by reference to the plaintiff’s original work papers which are in evidence as plaintiff’s Exhibit 15. It may fairly be inferred from the record that the plaintiff was correct in his statement as to having received an incomplete set of specifications.

■7. The contract which the plaintiff signed did contain a complete set of specifications. They contained a cover sheet which reads as follows:

DEPAETMENT OF THE AEMY SPECIFICATIONS FOE HEATING SYSTEM, HOEIZONTAL, PEESSUEE ATOMIZING TYPE, OIL BUENEE YrAEM AIE UNIT HEATEE AND LIGHTING OF MOTOE POOL PEEFABS AT NATIONAL GUAED AAA GUN SITES NOS. 17,18, 22 & 23 LOCATED IN VIRGINIA C.S. SPECIFICATION NO. 27-56 EEV-1.

The specifications were broken down into four parts, STATEMENT OF WOEK, GENEEAL CONDITIONS, SPECIAL CONDITIONS and TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS.

The pagination of the contract specifications was such that when the last two pages were detached, the specifications did not appear to be incomplete. There was no reference at the beginning or on the cover sheet indicating the total number of pages in the complete specifications.

The last two pages of the specifications contained all of the detail concerning the installation of ceilings excepting that [299]*299which appeared on one of the contract drawings. PART I, STATEMENT OF WORK, which appeared immediately following the cover sheet, contained three references to ceilings.

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64 Fed. Cl. 229 (Federal Claims, 2005)

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356 F.2d 159, 174 Ct. Cl. 294, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cover-v-united-states-cc-1966.