Johnson Controls World Services, Inc. v. United States

43 Cont. Cas. Fed. 77,468, 43 Fed. Cl. 589, 1999 U.S. Claims LEXIS 88, 1999 WL 274833
United States Court of Federal Claims·Decided May 4, 1999·No. No. 97-357C·Published·Cited by 18 cases

Opinion

ORDER

MILLER, Judge.

This case is before the court on plaintiffs motion to dismiss. At issue is whether the court has jurisdiction over two claims in one of defendant’s counterclaims that allegedly were not addressed by the contracting officer’s decision. Argument is deemed unnecessary.

FACTS

This case (the “357 action”) is the companion to Johnson Controls World Services, Inc. v. United States, No. 98-612C (Fed.Cl., filed July 27, 1998) (the “612 action”). On April 28, 1999, the court granted plaintiffs partial motion to dismiss. See Johnson Controls World Serv., Inc. v. United States, 43 Fed.Cl. 506 (1999). Because the 357 action and the 612 action involve the same operative facts, this order will recite only those facts necessary for the proper disposition of plaintiffs motion.

The two contracts involved are among a longstanding series of contracts awarded by the Department of the Air Force (the “Air Force”) for the performance of services on the Eastern Test Range (the “ETR”) dating back to 1953. After numerous business reor[591] ganizations, name changes, and asset transfers, Johnson Control World Services, Inc. (“plaintiff’), succeeded Pan American World Airways, Inc. (“Airways”); Pan Am World Services, Inc. (“PAWS”); and Pan Am Corporation under Contract No. F08606-78-C-0004, (the “1978 ETR contract”) and Contract No. F08606-84-C-0001 (the “1984 ETR Contract”).1. On March 5, 1997, Air Force Contracting Officer Susan A. Crockett issued a final decision asserting several claims:

This is my Final Decision and Demand for Payment of $56,115,322 for noncompliance with contractual and regulatory requirements to identify and refund the pension plan surplus (Contracts [1978 ETR contract] and [1984 ETR contract]) and provide credits for known overbilling of pension costs ([1978 ETR contract]).

This final decision is necessary due to the following:

Your unwillingness to recognize your liability for obligations under [the 1978 ETR contract], contract clause J.33, “Funding of Pension Benefits”.
Your unwillingness to recognize the entitlements due the Air Force under [the 1984 ETR contract], contract clause H.871, “Pension Plan Revision”.
Both of these clauses represent advance agreements between the Air Force and [plaintiff] regarding the treatment of costs for a defined benefit pension plan. Your failure to perform an asset versus liability assessment and redetermine pension costs has resulted in overbilling and overfunding of your pension plan. Your noncomplianee in failing to refund surplus pension dollars as required under the terms of these clauses has resulted in a credit due the Government totaling $54,923,068.
Your unwillingness to recognize the Air Force’s right to reversionary credits under [the 1978 ETR contract], [Defense Acquisition Regulation] clauses 15-201.1 (Composition of Total Cost) and 15-201.5 (Credits).
The Government is owed $1,192,254 which represents credits received by [plaintiff] under the old Airways participating insurance contracts. These credits rightfully belong to the Government, and your failure to disclose the credits to the Government has put you in noncomplianee with contract clause DAR 15-201.5 (Credits).

On May 20, 1997, plaintiff filed its Complaint in the Court of Federal Claims, and subsequently, its First Amended Complaint on September 17, 1997, seeking relief from the contracting officer’s final decision. In its Answer filed December 9, 1997, defendant asserted a counterclaim setting forth two Counts: Count I, “[t]o determine the Government’s rights to its equitable share of the reversionary credits resulting from termination of the ... pension fund under Defense Acquisition Regulation (DAR) 15-201.1, ‘Composition of Total Cost,’ and DAR 15-201.1[sic] ‘Credits,’ ” Ans. filed Dec. 9, 1997, at 39; and Count II, “[t]o determine the Government’s rights to contract price adjustments resulting from a redetermination of pension costs pursuant to ETR contract clause J.33, ‘Funding of Pension Benefits,’ resulting from the closure of the ETR segment.” Id. at 41.

Count I demands $56,960,751: $54,923,068 as a result of the overbilling and overfunding of the pension plan; $1,192,254 as a result of plaintiffs failure to refund the Air Force’s share of credits received by plaintiff under prior Airways participating insurance contracts; and $845,429, “additional pension rate credits from prior Airways insurance contracts” that the Air Force “discovered” after the contracting officer issued her final decision. Ans. ¶ 269.2 Count II demands $54,-923,068 for plaintiffs “failure to comply with ETR Contract Clause J.33,” as well as “interest accruing from the date of its noncompliance to the present time.” Id. ¶ 283. On [592] December 23, 1998, plaintiff filed its motion to dismiss Count I, except for the claim for $1,192,254, on the ground that the remaining two components of Count I — for $54,923,068 and $845,429 — were not asserted in the contracting officer’s final decision. Count II is not involved in plaintiffs motion.

DISCUSSION

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Johnson Controls World Services, Inc. v. United States, 43 Cont. Cas. Fed. 77,468, 43 Fed. Cl. 589, 1999 U.S. Claims LEXIS 88, 1999 WL 274833 (uscfc 1999).

43 Cont. Cas. Fed. 77,468 (Johnson Controls World Services, Inc. v. United States) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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