We persuaded the agency to pay our client a multimillion dollar settlement by deposing the contracting officer.
The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) replaced the Iraqi government after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The CPA wanted to train Iraqi police officers for what would be the new Iraqi government. The Baghdad Police Services Academy (BPSA) was one of the locations at which that training was to occur.
The CPA issued a contract to our client to provide life support services for all personnel at the BPSA. After the Interim Iraqi Government (IIG) was formed, however, and without any notice to or approval from our client, the CPA transferred that contract to the IIG. Shortly after award of the first contract, the US Government (USG) awarded a second contract to our client to provide identical life support services at BPSA, but for far more personnel. Our client provided these services in a dynamic and dangerous environment, resulting in significant increased costs. The USG refused to compensate our client for the increased costs our client incurred performing both contracts.
We filed suit against the USG in the Court of Federal Claims. We established that our client could recover all of its damages using the second, USG contract because: (1) the services provided under the two contracts were identical, (2) the period of performance of the two contracts substantially overlapped, and (3) the additional goods and services accepted by the USG via DD 250 could only have been ordered and accepted by the USG under the second BPSA contract.
Notwithstanding a vigorous and aggressive series of motions by the Department of Justice, our remained intact. Then, after our depositions of the contracting officer and contracting officer’s technical representative, the government agreed to settle the case, and our client received a multimillion-dollar recovery.
