Monarch Painting Corp. v. United States

35 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,623, 16 Cl. Ct. 280, 1989 U.S. Claims LEXIS 20, 1989 WL 9184
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedFebruary 8, 1989
DocketNo. 792-86C
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 35 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,623 (Monarch Painting Corp. 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
Monarch Painting Corp. v. United States, 35 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,623, 16 Cl. Ct. 280, 1989 U.S. Claims LEXIS 20, 1989 WL 9184 (cc 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

NETTESHEIM, Judge.

This case is before the court on defendant’s renewed motion for partial summary judgment. Plaintiff has opposed, and argument has been held. After a motion based on the same grounds was denied from the bench by an order entered on January 27, 1988, defendant conducted additional discovery and brought its renewed motion on the basis of a supplemental record.

FACTS

The following facts are undisputed.1 On June 18, 1984, the Contracting Division of the 172d Infantry Brigade, now the Directorate of Contracting, 6th Infantry Division of the United States Army (the “Army”), issued Invitation for Bids No. DAKF70-84-B-0047 (the “IFB”), entitled “Interior Painting and Floor Refinishing in Military Family Housing,” located at Fort Richardson, Fort Wainwright, and Fort Greely, Alaska. The IFB provided a Price Schedule calling for prices for each of the three posts. The Price Schedule supplied estimated squire footage quantities for bid items listed on the Price Schedule and requested fixed unit prices per square foot for the different types of painting and floor refinishing requirements listed. There was no estimate or price requested for the painting of trim, window trim, or doors. The IFB was for award of a “requirements” contract.

On September 27, 1984, pursuant to the IFB, Monarch Painting Corporation (“plaintiff”) was awarded the contract. 48 C.F.R. (“FAR”) § 252.236-7002 (1985), entitled “Contract drawings, maps, and specifications,” was incorporated into the contract at clause 59. The pertinent part of this section provided:

(b) Omissions from the drawings or specifications or the misdescription of details of work which are manifestly necessary to carry out the intent of the drawings and specifications, or which are customarily performed, shall not relieve the Contractor from performing such omitted or misdescribed details of the work but they shall be performed as if fully and correctly set forth and described in the drawings and specifications.
(c) The Contractor shall check all drawings furnished to him immediately upon their receipt and shall promptly notify the Contracting Officer of any discrepancies ____

Since the contract would be performed at three separate posts, the Technical Specifi[282]*282cations included a separate Statement of Work for each location. Paragraph 4, entitled “Scope of Work,” provided:

The Contractor shall furnish all labor, materials, and equipment necessary to paint the interior and refinish floors of various buildings ... [at each post] in accordance with the technical specifications and drawings. Contractor shall paint the interiors and refinish hardwood floors in the buildings as noted on the drawings.

Specification 150(1), appearing in all three Statements of Work, described the methodology used by the Army to measure the square footage of all types of family housing dwellings at each post: “Three apartments of each type were measured to form an accurate square footage table. Payment for painting and refinishing will be made according to these square footages.” Three separate Building Schedules listed the total amount of square footage within each apartment unit for each post.

Specification 8.3 found in the Statement of Work for each post stated:

The table below depicts total square footages for wall and ceiling painting in apartment types:
APARTMENT SQUARE FOOT TOTALS
Fort Richardson
Unit Type Wall Ceiling
1 6.568 2,810
2 4,305 1,627
3 4,278 1,382
4 3,762 1,251
5 5.569 2,279
6 5,590 2,099
7 4,805 1,398
8 4,463 1,143
9 3,855 1,148
10 3,370 1,043
11 3,592 972
12 3,853 1,027
13 3,481 944
14 3,069 979
15 1,661 625
Fort Wainwright
1
2 7,087 1,988
3 4,739 1,500
4 3,990 988
Unit Type Wall Ceiling
5 4,539 1,288
6 3,716 1,226
7 3,114 1,010
8 3,535 959
9 4,075 1,130
10 3,369 832
11 3,518 952
12 1,825 646
Fort Greely
A 3,731 1,354
B 4,624 1,359
C 4,184 1,222
D 3,984 1,226
E 3,667 1,136
F 3,409 1,034
G 3,857 1,064
H 2,995 969
I 3,170 945
Upstairs Apt. 1,499 639
J Downstairs Apt. 1,479 617
Common Hall 1,336 320

The drawings for each post contained a Building Schedules listing the type of apartments and rooms to be painted and the estimated square footage for walls and ceilings in each type of apartment unit. A separate table captioned “Window & Door Schedule and Dimensions” was provided on the Building Schedule for each post. Two of the Building Schedules did not include square footage estimates for doors, trim, or window trim. The Building Schedule for Fort Richardson noted that door measurements were excluded in the square footage and that trim around the windows was not computed in the total square footage. The Building Schedule for Fort Greely noted that doors were included, but not windows. The Building Schedule for Fort Wainwright contained no notes pertaining to trim, windows, or doors.

The painting of doors, trim, and window trim is substantially more expensive and labor intensive than the painting of flat surfaces comprising walls or ceilings. In order to calculate accurately the adjustment in total square footage, so as to fully compensate the contractor for the more difficult task of painting the trim, window trim, and doors, plaintiffs bid item unit price, including painting of flat surfaces, must be adjusted by a “difficulty factor.” The contract documents did not direct the [283]*283calculation or inclusion of a “difficulty factor” to make an adjustment. Instead, the drafters of the Army’s specifications expected that a bidder would include an additional amount in its bid for windows and doors and for trim based on the amount of trim the.bidder calculated from the window and door dimensions listed on the Building Schedules.

In sum, the Price Schedule, the tables of Apartment Square Foot Totals contained in the specifications for each post, and the Building Schedules in the contract drawings did not contain separate square footages for all the trim work. However, note

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Bluebook (online)
35 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,623, 16 Cl. Ct. 280, 1989 U.S. Claims LEXIS 20, 1989 WL 9184, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/monarch-painting-corp-v-united-states-cc-1989.