Jackson Holcomb LLP secured summary judgment for Vigor Marine, LLC in Vigor Marine, LLC, ASBCA No. 63405, a ship-repair contract dispute arising from the Navy’s unilateral extension of the pier side availability for the USS Chosin.
The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals granted summary judgment on entitlement for Vigor’s $11,024,797 claim arising from a unilateral Navy modification requiring 161 additional pierside-availability days at $5,000 per day. The Board denied the Navy’s motion for summary judgment and granted Vigor’s cross-motion.
The Board held that CLIN 0054 unambiguously authorized a fixed-price option for 85 days at $5,000 per day, or $425,000 total. The Board concluded that the Navy could not use the contract’s extension-rate provisions to require additional pierside days at that rate after the 85-day option had been exhausted. The Board held that the unilateral 161-day extension changed the contract and remanded the matter to the parties to decide the quantum due Vigor.
The decision has significance beyond this contract. Pre-priced daily-extension CLINs are common in Navy ship-repair contracts, and the Board confirmed that a fixed-quantity CLIN means what it says. If the government intends an open-ended extension mechanism, it must use plain language to create one.
Vigor was represented by Mark Jackson, Stowell Holcomb, Matthew Emmons, John Barr, and Charles Olmsted.
Read the Board’s decision here.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.