Lockheed Martin Corp. v. United States

49 Fed. Cl. 241, 87 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1799, 2001 U.S. Claims LEXIS 69, 2001 WL 471871
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedMarch 30, 2001
DocketNo. 96-161T
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 49 Fed. Cl. 241 (Lockheed Martin Corp. 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
Lockheed Martin Corp. v. United States, 49 Fed. Cl. 241, 87 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1799, 2001 U.S. Claims LEXIS 69, 2001 WL 471871 (uscfc 2001).

Opinion

Opinion and Order

WEINSTEIN, Judge.

Plaintiff, Lockheed Martin Corporation (Lockheed), seeks a refund of $63,745,727 in federal income taxes for tax years 1984-1988. The case is before the court on the parties’ cross-motions for partial summary judgment on the so-called “subcontracts and materials issue.”1 The cross-motions concern plaintiffs claim that it is entitled to include, in calculating a tax credit, approximately $200 million in payments to various subcontractors as qualified research expense (QRE) for in-house research expenses for supplies (Supply QRE) pursuant to section 41(b)(l)(A)(2)(ii) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC).2 Plaintiffs basic contention is that any property received that is tangible is a supply. Defendant argues, essentially, that the expenses are for contract research by subcontractors, and not qualified as contract research expenses (Contract Research QRE) because the subcontractors bore the risk of failure.

The court deems oral argument unnecessary. The court concludes that the facts proffered by the parties are insufficient to demonstrate whether plaintiff met the statutory test for Supply QRE, because it is not clear that it used the property it received from its subcontractors, even if tangible, in the conduct of qualified research. Therefore, the court denies both motions for partial summary .judgment. Disputed material facts regarding whether some of the property was not qualified because depreciable also require denial of the cross-motions. Finally, disputed facts regarding the precise costs plaintiff incurred in obtaining the property warrant denial of plaintiffs motion.

Facts

The following facts, taken from the parties’ stipulations and RCFC 56(d) submissions, are undisputed unless otherwise noted.

Although plaintiffs overall complaint seeks QRE incurred in performing over 200 different contracts with the government and private entities, the parties have agreed to litigate the subcontracts and materials issues presented here by means of a single contract, with the United States Department of the Navy (Navy), to design, fabricate, and test a Supersonic Low Altitude Target (SLAT) device. This device was a reusable missile that would mimic the speed and travel path of a Soviet anti-ship missile. Sailors would practice using their ships’ anti-missile defense systems on SLAT device targets. However, [243]*243the program never proceeded pas the full-scale design phase.

As designed, a SLAT device had three main sections. The front section (the “fore-body”) was to be cone-shaped and contain all of the guidance, electronic, and parachute-recovery components of the device. The middle section would contain a “ramjet,” one of the device’s two propulsion systems. The rear section would contain both a solid rocket fuel motor (rocket) to bring the device up to speed and the ramjet’s combustion chamber. Each of the three sections contained subsystems. Each section and subsystem is referred to as a “component.”

Although plaintiff was the prime contractor and had overall responsibility for providing the Navy with a functioning SLAT device, many of the components of the device were designed and built by subcontractors. For example, the Northrop Corporation (Northrop) was to produce guidance and ground support equipment for the forebody; the Thiokol Corporation (Thiokol) was to provide the rocket motor; and the Marquardt Corporation (Marquardt) was to manufacture the ramjet.

Producing many of the components clearly required technologically-challenging research and design efforts. For example, the Northrop subcontract required it to:

[Cjonduct a program ... for the design, development, fabrication, assembly, inspection, test, acceptance, qualification, documentation and supply of the YAQM-127A Supersonic Low Altitude Target System (SLAT) Full Scale Engineering Development (FSED) phase avionics, recovery system and support equipment together with software and services____

Defendant’s Motion, App. B at 9.

The Northrop subcontract provides that it is for both “supplies” and “services,” Defendant’s Reply, App. C at 23. It also contains a contract line item (CLIN) showing that forebodies cost $236,368 each, id. at 25, and provides that “[fjorebody deliveries may be billed individually upon acceptance at a billing rate of $236,368 each.” Id. at 27. Payments are due even if Northrop delivers no forebody, but only a design or test result. For example, the subcontract requires plaintiff to pay Northrop $1,500,000 on July 31, 1985, for the “PDR Complete” (for completion of the program design review), see id., when no forebody or other component is to be delivered. See Jt.App. Vol. I at 113-14, Dep. at 327-28 (describing PDR as preliminary design review).

Whether for achievement of a design milestone or for delivery of a completed component, each of plaintiffs payments was contingent upon the subcontractor’s success: the subcontracts “placed the subcontractor ... at risk [of non-payment] until the contract requirements were successfully performed and Lockheed Martin accepted the work done by the subcontractor ____” Jt. Stip. 11180.

Plaintiff claims that it used the delivered components for its own engineering and research for the SLAT program. Although the facts are unclear, by “engineering and research” plaintiff means assembling and flight testing complete SLAT devices on the Navy’s test rage from these components. What these flight tests achieved is unclear. For example, one test demonstrated that a component performed inadequately because of faulty workmanship. Jt.App. Vol. I at 55, Dep. at 157 (power supply failed because of workmanship). Another flight test allegedly caused plaintiff to take “corrective action, redesign, retrofit, [and] rebuild targets.” Jt. App. Vol. I at 30, Dep. at 118.

Standard of Review

Summary judgment is appropriate when the court finds both that “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” RCFC 56(c); see also Celo-tex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). “The moving party bears the burden of demonstrating the absence of genuine issues of material fact.” Dairyland Power Coop. v. United States, 16 F.3d 1197, 1202 (Fed.Cir. 1994).

“In a tax refund case, the taxpayer bears the burden of establishing the right to a refund.” Abrahamsen v. United States, 228 F.3d 1360, 1364 (Fed.Cir.2000). Therefore, [244]*244summary judgment in plaintiffs favor is appropriate only if it provides evidence of undisputed facts sufficient to entitle it to judgment as a matter of law, even if defendant fails to present opposing evidence. See Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 160, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970) (“where the evidentiary matter in support of the motion does not establish the absence of a genuine issue, summary judgment must be denied even if no opposing evidentiary matter is presented”); Broomall Indus. Inc. v.

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49 Fed. Cl. 241, 87 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1799, 2001 U.S. Claims LEXIS 69, 2001 WL 471871, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lockheed-martin-corp-v-united-states-uscfc-2001.