Government Systems Advisors, Inc. v. United States

36 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,937, 21 Cl. Ct. 400, 1990 U.S. Claims LEXIS 338, 1990 WL 124978
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedAugust 28, 1990
DocketNos. 793-86C, 122-87C
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 36 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,937 (Government Systems Advisors, Inc. 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
Government Systems Advisors, Inc. v. United States, 36 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,937, 21 Cl. Ct. 400, 1990 U.S. Claims LEXIS 338, 1990 WL 124978 (cc 1990).

Opinion

ORDER

MOODY R. TIDWELL, III, Judge:

This case is before the court on cross-motions for partial summary judgment addressed to four claims, the determination of which is intended by the parties to guide them to settlement of numerous other similar claims. Defendant also moved to strike two affidavits offered by plaintiff in support of its claims. The case was originally assigned to Judge John L. Napier, who has since resigned from the bench. The case was transferred to these chambers. After completion of initial briefing, but prior to transfer, the United States Claims Court filed its opinion in Pacificorp Capital, Inc. v. United States, 15 Cl.Ct. 663 (1988). The parties, believing that Pacificorp might be helpful in addressing the issues in this case, requested, and were granted, an opportunity to supplement their earlier motions by a round of briefing on the impact of Pacificorp.1 Oral argument followed.

FACTS

The issues at bar arose from delivery orders initially placed by the United States Air Force for word processors from CPT Corporation, Inc. against FY 1984 and 1985 General Services Administration (GSA) Lease to Ownership Plan (LTOP) contracts. Government Systems Advisors, Inc. (GSAI) was CPT’s funding source for the contracts.2 A total of twentyone initial delivery orders were placed against CPT’s FY 1984 and 1985 base LTOP contracts.

The LTOP was an agreement whereby defendant agreed to pay for word processing equipment for a specified period of time at a set monthly payment rate. At the end of the agreed period, ownership of the equipment would pass to defendant. The delivery orders issued against each fiscal year base LTOP contract gave defendant the right to purchase the equipment at any time during the term of the delivery order by payment of an amount to be determined [403]*403by a buy-out formula included in the contract. According to plaintiff, all lease debt burden was eliminated from the buy-out formula; the buy-out price merely completed payment for the equipment as if purchased initially, including, we assume, a profit factor.

Government Systems Advisors, Inc. informed CPT that it would finance the delivery orders only if it were assured that defendant would maintain them to completion and not take earlier title to the equipment except through the buy-out formula. Its proposal to CPT envisaged payment for two to four years with the transfer of ownership to defendant at the end of the fixed period, unless funds were not available to renew the delivery orders. The GSA contracting officer could not accept the terms of the base LTOP contracts as proposed by GSAI/CPT but, instead, negotiated a “Statement of Intent” that was incorporated into the resulting FY 1983-1985 base LTOP contracts and delivery orders. The “Intent” clauses therein were succinct and clear. They provided in relevant part:

It is understood by all parties to this contract that this is an ownership arrangement, that is[,] a lease to title contract. In that regard the Government, as lessee, contemplates fulfilling that agreement. Further, the Government intends not to terminate this contract prior to completion of its specified Aggregate Contract Term. This includes their intent not to terminate the contract for non-avalability [sic] of funds if funds are available during the Aggregate Contract Term to pay for functionally equivalent tasks for which CPT equipment have [sic] been acquired.

The caveat contained in the last sentence of the Intent clause was intended by the parties to mean that if funds were available for the acquisition of equipment from any other source to perform “functionally equivalent tasks,” the CPT delivery orders would be considered constructively funded and defendant obligated to renew them for the following fiscal year. In FY 1986 the “Intent” clause was amended by deletion of the third and fourth sentences.

Each fiscal year base LTOP contract stated that the term of any delivery order against it was to run from the date of execution until the end of the first fiscal year.3 Thereafter, the term would be for the full fiscal year and all following fiscal years through the aggregate terms of the delivery orders. Other pertinent terms of all of the CPT fiscal year base LTOP contracts were:

Subject to the provisions of this Paragraph, the Government has the option to renew the CPT FLTOP4 each fiscal year for an additional twelve (12) month Renewal Term for the equipment contracted under this Plan until completion of the Aggregate Contract Term specified in Paragraph l.b.(l), at the prices set forth in the Price List, by giving written notice of renewal to CPT on the first of October of each fiscal year or as soon as practicable but not more than 45 days after the date the Government receives formal notification from its funding source that funds are available. The Contracting Officer for the Government shall provide written notice of Government’s intention to renew at least sixty (60) days prior to the expiration of the Initial Term or any Renewal Term. Such notice of intention to renew shall not bind the Government. Actual renewal shall occur annually throughout the Aggregate Contract Term, subject to availability of funds.
******
All orders shall remain in effect through the earlier of September 30 of the fiscal year or the Expiration Date of the CPT FLTOP, unless the Government exercises its right hereunder to acquire title to the machine prior to the Plan expiration date or to terminate the CPT FLTOP pursu[404]*404ant to [the buy-out provision of the contract].
* # * * * *
Machines leased under the CPT FLTOP may not be discontinued during a fiscal year except by the Contracting Officer exercising the provisions of “Termination for Convenience of the Government.” (41 C.F.R. 1-8.701, F.P.R. 1-8.701).
* * * * * *
In the event the Government desires, at any time prior to the expiration date of the CPT FLTOP, to acquire title to a machine leased hereunder, the Government may make a one-time lump sum payment. The lump sum payment shall be computed by CPT in accordance with the formula ... [herein].

The 1983 report of the House of Representatives on the Department of Defense FY 1984 appropriation strongly criticized automated data processing equipment LTOP’s as uneconomical and required that defense agencies discontinue LTOP delivery orders forthwith and purchase needed equipment outright. The Committee’s Report was prefaced with “[a] partial listing of examples of uneconomical leasing [by] DoD [characterized as] a litany of waste and mismanagement.”5 Congress mandated termination of the LTOP’s as quickly as could be done, taking into consideration the availability of funds and the possibility that economically, it might be more feasible or otherwise necessary, in a few instances, to continue some delivery orders.6 Thereafter, defendant selectively terminated at least one LTOP delivery order for the convenience of the government and did not renew other delivery orders prior to completion of the full aggregate term of the delivery orders.

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42 Cont. Cas. Fed. 77,349 (Federal Claims, 1998)
Pacificorp Capital, Inc. v. United States
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
36 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,937, 21 Cl. Ct. 400, 1990 U.S. Claims LEXIS 338, 1990 WL 124978, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/government-systems-advisors-inc-v-united-states-cc-1990.