60373

The Boeing Company

July 17, 2018Judge D'Alessandris
Sustained / Appellant PrevailedContract InterpretationContract Formation / Existence

The Boeing Company sought partial summary judgment concerning the allocation of software rights under two Technology Investment Agreements and the incorporated DFARS clause. The Board granted the motion, holding that software developed with costs charged to the TIAs was developed exclusively at private expense and that the TIAs did not confer blanket government purpose rights or greater rights in non-specifically addressed software.

Material Facts

  • The LRIP Contract required Boeing to remanufacture AH-64D Block I model aircraft into AH-64D Apache Block III model aircraft using remanufactured Government Furnished Equipment fuselages.
  • The LRIP Contract incorporated DFARS 252.227-7014 and did not contain a specially negotiated clause addressing license rights in software developed under the TIAs.
  • The AMUST-D TIA was a cooperative agreement pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 2358 Research Projects and required Boeing to develop software for the Apache helicopter called the Warfighter's Associate.
  • The MCAP TIA was a cooperative agreement pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 2358 Research Projects for development of an embedded mission avionics processing architecture.
  • Both TIAs expressly stated that they were not procurement contracts.
  • The AMUST-D TIA specified software and source-code deliverables and granted specified government purpose rights in certain deliverables.
  • The MCAP TIA did not specify software or source code as deliverables, and neither Article XIII.B nor Attachment 7 stated that the Army would receive rights in non-deliverable software developed under the TIA.
  • Boeing delivered certain software under the LRIP Contract and marked portions with restricted rights based on its assertion that the software was developed exclusively at private expense under the TIAs.
  • The government challenged Boeing's restricted-rights assertion and asserted that it possessed government purpose rights because the software was developed with mixed funding.

Parties

Appellant
The Boeing Company
Respondent Agency
Army
Contracting Agency
Army Contracting Command - Redstone
Contract Number
W58RGZ-09-C-OI61
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