Similarly, our philosophy is to explore
administrative resolution of government contract disputes
before resorting to litigation. To this end, we have prepared
and successfully negotiated numerous equitable adjustment
requests and Contract Disputes Act claims on behalf of
clients. We also recommend alternative dispute resolution (ADR)
methods in appropriate situations, such as the use of
arbitration, mediation and mini-trials.
Our experience teaches that many contract
performance problems can be avoided by education and training
of contractor personnel. To this end, we have prepared
in-house training programs for clients, including
presentations for companies with little or no experience with
government contracts.
Among many examples of our work in the
area of contract administration are the following:
- We devised a negotiation strategy for a contractor
faced with ambiguous contract provisions on a Navy
vehicle maintenance contract; the government contracting
officer ultimately accepted our interpretation and
authorized an equitable adjustment to the contract in our
client's favor.
- We were also successful in settling a CDA-certified
claim we filed with the Department of Labor on behalf of
an architectural firm.
- We also obtained a large equitable adjustment from the
U.S. Agency for International Development after filing a
claim on behalf of a helicopter charter service that
provided emergency airlift services for a United
Nations-sponsored relief mission.
- Through participation in an ASBCA-sponsored ADR, we
negotiated a half-million dollar settlement of a
long-running Navy-contract performance dispute for a
small business client.
- We assisted an aircraft overhaul subcontractor in
successfully resolving several payment issues raised by
the government on a Navy-Coast Guard contract.
- We obtained a favorable settlement of a request for
equitable adjustment of a contract for the supply of
chemical protective gear to the Army, based on
constructive changes and delays.
- We assisted a GSA supply schedule contractor in
avoiding claims for alleged violation of "most
favored customer" clauses.
- We worked with a major advertising agency to convince a
contracting officer not to accept significant cost
disallowances recommended by DCAA on a recruitment
advertising contract.
- We worked with an advanced engineering services firm to
resolve various CAS interpretation issues raised in the
course of audits by DCAA.
- We have worked with a number of contractors on
executive compensation cap issues raised in DCAA audits.
- We successfully negotiated an equitable adjustment
request with the Air Force on behalf of an airline client
whose aircraft was severely damaged by a volcano eruption
while on a military contract mission.
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