Universal Restoration, Inc. v. United States

32 Cont. Cas. Fed. 73,704, 8 Cl. Ct. 510, 1985 U.S. Claims LEXIS 944
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedJuly 19, 1985
DocketNo. 77-84C
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 32 Cont. Cas. Fed. 73,704 (Universal Restoration, 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
Universal Restoration, Inc. v. United States, 32 Cont. Cas. Fed. 73,704, 8 Cl. Ct. 510, 1985 U.S. Claims LEXIS 944 (cc 1985).

Opinion

OPINION ON CROSS-MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

WHITE, Senior Judge.

In this case, the court is called upon to review, under the standards prescribed in the Wunderlich Act (41 U.S.C. §§ 321, 322 (1982)), certain actions taken by the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (the ASBCA). The case comes before the court on the plaintiff’s motion, and the defendant’s cross-motion, for summary judgment.

[512]*512The Facts1

The actions by the ASBCA under review involved a negotiated contract, No. DAHC30-74-C-0138 (the contract), which provided for the performance by the plaintiff of repair and restoration work on the ceiling and clerestory vaults of the National War College (the NWC), a National Historic Landmark located at Fort McNair, Washington, D.C.

The NWC’s inner dome and clerestory vaults are constructed of Guastavino terracotta tiles. The tiles, arranged in the curving symmetry of the ceiling and walls of the building, are layered in depth and constitute the primary support for the central dome of the structure. They also serve a decorative purpose. In May 1974, some tiles, which formed part of the ceiling’s decorative layer, fell to the floor of the rotunda, a distance of 65 feet. This created a safety hazard and brought into question the structural integrity of the dome.

The plaintiff, Universal Restoration, Inc., is a small business firm with a recognized expertise in the restoration and renovation of historic buildings. Having considered the plaintiff’s competency in that field, engineering personnel of the Department of the Army requested the plaintiff to examine the dome of the NWC and submit a price proposal for all necessary emergency repair work.

On May 28, 1974, the plaintiff submitted a price proposal of $65,000 for the repair and restoration work on the NWC. In this connection, the plaintiff furnished information concerning the hourly rates of pay for its various categories of personnel that would be involved in the project, and inserted, at the end of the data, the following statement:

Overhead to cover our General and Administrative costs is 115%. Profit rate will be 10%.

Determinations were made by the Department of the Army that the plaintiff was the only source available to perform the necessary emergency repair work on the NWC, and that the plaintiff’s price proposal was fair and reasonable when compared with similar contracts for time and materials and with the Government's own cost estimate for the NWC project.

The contracting officer did not make any attempt to negotiate with the plaintiff for a reduction in any part of its proposal.

The contract, a time and materials contract, was awarded to the plaintiff on May 31, 1974. It included (among other provisions) the standard “Disputes” clause.

By means of a contract modification dated August 26, 1974, the scope of the work to be performed under the contract was enlarged and the contract price was increased to $250,000. The price increase was based on the plaintiff’s price quotation for the increased work, which was determined by the contracting officer to be fair and reasonable and which was accepted without any attempt to negotiate a lower price.

During the period beginning December 31, 1974, and extending through March 12, 1975, four additional contract modifications, further increasing the work requirements under the contract and also increasing the contract price, were agreed to by the parties. The final contract modification greatly expanded the work requirements and increased the final contract price to a figure substantially in excess of a million dollars.

The plaintiff satisfactorily completed the performance of the work under the contract on September 23, 1975.

During the contract period, the plaintiff’s billings to the Government for work performed under the contract totaled $1,220,-644.87.

The Government paid the plaintiff a total of $1,021,204, and withheld the remainder of the amount requested, pending audit clearance of the plaintiff’s billings.

[513]*513Various audits were made by the Government. Errors in billings were discovered, and, on this basis, the ASBCA later determined that the correct total of all billings should have been $1,128,574. It appears that the plaintiff does not object to the ASBCA’s finding on this point.

The Government’s final audit was made on the theory that, as direct labor dollars greatly increased because of the various contract modifications, the overhead rate of 115 percent specified in the base contract should have been decreased correspondingly due to the broadening of the labor base. The audit concluded that, because of the plaintiff's excessive overhead rate in the charges for the work performed under the contract modifications, the plaintiff had overcharged the Government in the total amount of $130,561.

On the basis of the report of the final audit, the contracting officer determined that, because of the use by the plaintiff of the 115 percent overhead rate in its pricing data for all phases of the contract, the Government had actually overpaid the plaintiff to the extent of $23,173.

Proceedings Before ASBCA

The plaintiff took an appeal to the ASBCA from the refusal of the contracting officer to pay the full amount of the contract price, as determined by the plaintiff. In the appellate proceeding, the defendant sought to recover an additional sum of $23,173 from the plaintiff as an amount allegedly overpaid the plaintiff because of the latter’s use of the 115 percent overhead rate in pricing the contract modifications.

The plaintiff’s appeal to the ASBCA was referred to Division No. 6 of the Board for consideration and decision. Division No. 6 at that time consisted of Administrative Judges John J. Norman, Paul E. Williams, Monroe E. Freeman, Jr., Harris J. Andrews, Jr., and William J. Ruberry.

Judge Norman conducted the hearing on the plaintiff’s appeal to the ASBCA. The decision of the ASBCA on the appeal was rendered by Division No. 6 on April 9,1982; and, by a vote of 3 (Judges Norman, Williams, and Andrews) to 2 (Judges Freeman and Ruberry), the appeal was sustained. The Board declared that “[t]he monies withheld should be released to the appellant [plaintiff here] forthwith with appropriate interest as authorized by the contract.”

The Government subsequently filed a motion for reconsideration with the ASBCA. By that time, Judge Norman had retired from the ASBCA, and he had been replaced in Division No. 6 by Judge John M. Brady.

On February 2, 1983, by a vote of 3 (Judges Freeman, Ruberry, and Brady) to 2 (Judges Williams and Andrews), Division No. 6 reversed the previous decision of April 9, 1982, on reconsideration, and denied the plaintiff’s appeal.

Thereafter, the plaintiff filed with the ASBCA a motion to vacate the decision of February 2, 1983. This motion was denied by Division No. 6 in a unanimous decision dated October 7, 1983. The membership of Division No. 6 had not undergone any change since the previous decision of February 2, 1983, was rendered.

The plaintiff filed its complaint with the court under the Wunderlich Act on February 17, 1984.

Discussion

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Related

Universal Restoration, Inc. v. United States
35 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,612 (Court of Claims, 1989)
Universal Restoration, Inc. v. The United States
798 F.2d 1400 (Federal Circuit, 1986)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
32 Cont. Cas. Fed. 73,704, 8 Cl. Ct. 510, 1985 U.S. Claims LEXIS 944, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/universal-restoration-inc-v-united-states-cc-1985.