Zafer Construction Co. v. United States, No. 21-1547 (Fed. Cir. 2022)
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In 2008, Zafer entered a $40 million contract to build water systems on the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Zafer completed the project and submitted a request for equitable adjustment in September 2013, which it timely amended in December 2014. Zafer alleged that the government increased the cost of the project by causing delays and modifying the contract. Zafer’s detailed request sought $6.7 million and provided a breakdown of the reasons for the claimed amounts. Zafer certified its request under 41 U.S.C. 7103(b)(1), beyond what is required by 48 C.F.R. 252.243-7002(b) to certify mere requests for equitable adjustment. The parties negotiated for four-and-a-half years but did not fully resolve Zafer’s request.
In February 2018, Zafer asked to convert its request for equitable adjustment into a claim. The contracting officer determined that most of the claim was time-barred because the government’s alleged conduct had transpired more than six years before Zafer had converted its request into a claim. The Claims Court found that Zafer’s claim had “accrued no later than August 1, 2011,” meaning Zafer had to have submitted a claim by August 1, 2017, for the claim to be timely, reasoning that Zafer’s request for equitable adjustment “lacks a request for a final decision” and “asks for negotiations.” The Federal Circuit reversed. Zafer’s December 2014 request for equitable adjustment implicitly requests a final decision and therefore is a claim.
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