This morning the Federal Circuit released one nonprecedential opinion and one nonprecedential order. The lone nonprecedential opinion comes in a government contract case on appeal from the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals. The nonprecedential order dismisses an appeal from the Merit Systems Protection Board. Here is the introduction to the opinion and a link to the order.
WSP USA Solutions Inc. v. Secretary of the Army (Nonprecedential)
WSP USA Solutions Inc., a private contractor, appeals the final decision of the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals that WSP was properly compensated for its services rendered pursuant to a contract with the United States Army Corps of Engineers. WSP submitted a certified claim under the Contract Disputes Act, 41 U.S.C. §§ 7101–09, alleging costs it was owed by the government because of incorrect pricing for services performed under three specific task orders. The Contracting Officer determined the services were correctly priced and denied the claim. WSP appealed the Contracting Officer’s final decision, and the Board concluded the underlying contract unambiguously provided that pricing for the contested task orders was determined by the time the orders were first issued and denied the appeal on this basis. Because we conclude the Board did not properly consider the contract in its entirety as modified by the later-issued task orders in evaluating each of the parties’ purported unambiguous interpretations of the contractual pricing scheme and reject both parties’ arguments that the pricing scheme is unambiguous, we vacate the Board’s finding that the contract was unambiguous and remand for proper investigation of the contract terms, including modifications made to task orders issued pursuant the contract.