Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company

June 22, 2021Judge Page

Sustained / Appellant PrevailedQuantum / DamagesContract Changes / Constructive ChangesDelay / Disruption / SuspensionStatute of Limitations / Timeliness

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company sought partial summary judgment on the government's affirmative defense of laches in an appeal involving a certified claim for alleged cumulative impacts from over-and-above work on a fixed-price aircraft-upgrade program. The Board granted the motion, holding that laches was unavailable against the CDA claim because Congress had enacted a six-year statute of limitations.

Material Facts

The Air Force awarded Contract No. FA8625-07-C-6471 to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company for the Reliability Enhancement and ReEngining Program.
The contract required upgrades to specified C-5 Galaxy aircraft, including installation of new CF6-80C2 commercial engines and other enhancements to subsystems and major components.
The work was performed under mostly fixed-price contract line items.
The contractor's claim alleged that excessive over-and-above work changes resulted in an additional constructive change and cumulative impacts to the fixed-price efforts.
The contractor calculated production hours attributable to the cumulative disruptive impacts of over-and-above changes in pricing its claim.
The government asserted laches as an affirmative defense in its answer.
The government argued that delay in asserting the cumulative-impact claims prejudiced its ability to defend against numerous Manufacturing Deficiency Reports and hours of over-and-above work.

Parties

Appellant: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company
Respondent Agency: Air Force
Contracting Agency: Air Force
Contract Number: FA8625-07-C-6471

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