Saudi Logistics & Technical Support v. United States

85 Fed. Cl. 747, 2009 U.S. Claims LEXIS 40, 2009 WL 440563
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedFebruary 17, 2009
DocketNo. 08-142C
StatusPublished

This text of 85 Fed. Cl. 747 (Saudi Logistics & Technical Support 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
Saudi Logistics & Technical Support v. United States, 85 Fed. Cl. 747, 2009 U.S. Claims LEXIS 40, 2009 WL 440563 (uscfc 2009).

Opinion

OPINION

FIRESTONE, Judge.

This case comes before the court on a motion by the plaintiff, Saudi Logistics and [748]*748Technical Support (“plaintiff” or “SALTS”) to dismiss the counterclaim brought by the United States (“government” or “defendant”) for lack of jurisdiction pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) of the Rules of the Court of Federal' Claims (“RCFC”). The plaintiff has brought various claims for relief from a U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command (“AMCOM”) Contracting Officer’s final decision, which found that the plaintiff engaged in defective pricing and demanded that the plaintiff remit to the government with interest the excess profits that resulted. The government’s counterclaim is based on the same final decision and seeks recovery of those profits and accrued interest. The plaintiff argues that the decision is not valid under 41 U.S.C. § 605(a) (1997) and applicable federal regulations and that therefore, the government’s counterclaim must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

For the reasons set forth below, the plaintiffs motion to dismiss the government’s counterclaim is DENIED.

I. BACKGROUND FACTS

SALTS is a sole proprietorship organized under the laws of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Compl. 112. In 1995, SALTS and AMCOM entered into Basic Ordering Agreement DAAHO 1-96-G-0001 (“the contract”) to supply services in support of the Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces’ PATRIOT missile program. Id. H 4. AMCOM issued án undefinitized contract action Delivery Order 0004 (“the Delivery Order”) against the contract to SALTS on September 14, 1999 for the “fabrication, test[ing], delivery, and integration of PATRIOT Air Defense System Prime Power Sets in Support of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces.” Def.’s Countered. 113. Pursuant to Delivery Order 0004, SALTS agreed to provide the foregoing at a not-to-exceed price, with the final contract price remaining to be negotiated and definitized. Mem. in Support of Mot. Dismiss (“Ptf.’s Mem.”) at 1-2. SALTS immediately began performance at the government’s request. Id. at 2. The contract was ultimately adjusted to a firm, fixed price, executed on March 29, 2000, and made payable in U.S. dollars (“USD”). Id. SALTS executed a subcontract with a German company to acquire the generators. Id. The subcontract was payable in either USD or German Marks (“DM”) at a set ratio of 1 USD to 1.5 DM. Id. The subcontractor billed SALTS in DM, and because SALTS had obtained a more favorable exchange rate for DM on the open market than the identified 1 USD to 1.5 DM, SALTS obtained a significant profit from the transaction.

The Defense Contract Audit Agency (“DCAA”) conducted a post-award audit, the report of which (“Audit Report”) was issued on or about September 19, 2002. Id. at 2-3. The 18-page Audit Report stated in its Executive Summary:

Our examination disclosed that SALTS overstated subcontract costs as a result of failing to disclose the impact of its actual incurred exchange rates on proposed subcontract costs____
SALTS did not provide the most current cost or pricing data in regards to the actual exchange rate data it was incurring in purchasing the foreign currency to pay Lechmotoren (subcontractor), even though this was significantly different from the exchange rate that the proposed subcontract costs were based on. We recommend a subcontract cost adjustment of $5,054,953.

Id. at 3 (quoting Audit Report at 1); App. to Def.’s Resp. to Ptf.’s Mot. Dismiss (“App. to Def.’s Resp.”).

The Audit Report included a lengthy section on SALTS’s comments on the proposed audit findings, which SALTS had been given in advance of receiving the final report. The Audit Report noted that for a variety of reasons, SALTS did not concur in the DCAA’s conclusion that SALTS had an obligation to disclose its actual exchange rate data to the government. In the subsection of the Audit Report entitled “Contractor Comments on Subcontract Costs,” SALTS stated that it “did NOT have knowledge at the time of negotiation that Lechmotoren was going to bill the 36,248,719 DM and not the $24,165,813. SALTS ... had to be mindful of reaching agreement that would provide adequate funds for SALTS to cover any final [749]*749settlement with the subcontractor.”1 App. to Def.’s Resp. (Audit Report at 7) (emphasis in original). SALTS also noted “the very significant volatility of the exchange rates during the time period and ... the fact that it was impossible to predict the future exchange rate.” Id.

The DCAA responded to SALTS in the Audit Report and explained that although subcontractor negotiations were not complete, “SALTS did have knowledge of the subcontract cost under run resulting from the difference between the actual exchange rates experienced and the proposed exchange rates. Supplying this information to the government negotiator would have had a significant impact on negotiated subcontract costs.” App. to Def.’s Resp. (Audit Report at 8). Furthermore, the DCAA noted that “[e]ven if SALTS was unsure as to the total billed subcontract costs, SALTS still had an obligation to inform the ACO ((‘Administrative Contracting Officer’)] of the most current cost or pricing data at the time of negotiations.” Id. With regal’d to the volatility of future exchange rates, the DCAA stated in the final report:

In out opinion, the risk in future exchange rates being volatile was minimized because only six months remained on the contract ... [, and] exchange rates in 1999 and 2000 were stable with the exchange rate at the beginning of 1999 being 1 USD = 1.68 DM and at the time of negotiations in February 2000 the exchange rate making a steady climb to 1 USD = 2.01 DM. [750]*750the contract, and in accordance with FAR [(“Federal Acquisition Regulation”)] 32.610[, 48 C.F.R. § 32.610 (2005)],2 the Government hereby makes a demand for payment of excess profits of $7,379,180 and interest due through March 31, 2007 in the amount of $3,126,896, for a total amount due of $10,506,076. Interest charges will accrue, at the approximate rate of $1,536.56 per day, until paid.

[749]*749Id. In a letter dated April 14, 2003, the AMCOM Contracting Officer (“CO”) requested that SALTS conduct an evaluation and provide findings and resolutions of the pricing issues identified in the Audit Report. Ptf.’s Mem. at 3. SALTS responded in a ten-page letter with six attachments dated August 6, 2003, in which it set forth various arguments as to why it had not engaged in defective pricing and why, therefore, a price adjustment was not appropriate. Id.; App. 2 to Ptf.’s Mem. In particular, SALTS argued that for reasons similar- to those it had asserted before the DCAA, the actual exchange rates it received on DM were not relevant to the SALTS subcontract. SALTS explained that the subcontractor used the contract rate of 1 USD = 1.5 DM to bill SALTS for the subcontract, and thus any exchange rate changes did not affect the contract terms.

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85 Fed. Cl. 747, 2009 U.S. Claims LEXIS 40, 2009 WL 440563, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/saudi-logistics-technical-support-v-united-states-uscfc-2009.