Failure to Provide Maps May Have Caused Compensable Delay

The Civilian Board of Contract Appeals denied the government summary relief on a delay claim because there were issues of material fact as to whether the government complied with a requirement to provide the survey contractor with adequate maps. Seeking lost profits, the contractor alleged the government's failure to provide the maps needed to perform a fungi survey contract led to delays and its inability to secure other work. The government moved for summary relief, arguing it provided adequate maps with the contract documents, the contractor contributed to the delays by giving little or no lead time to respond to requests for map information, and there was no evidence of lost profits.

The board explained the contract clearly required the government to provide the maps for the work and did not require the contractor to contact government personnel to obtain the maps. The contractor submitted enough evidence showing there were problems with identifying and obtaining the maps and that it was not conducting surveys at the same rate in the early stages of performance as in the later stages of performance. Summary relief on a second claim, which alleged the government prevented performance of the contract and requested removal of the contracting officer for failure to oversee the work, was also denied because the underlying facts were intertwined with the facts of the first claim. Finally, the fact the contractor's damages methodology was "somewhat flawed" was an insufficient basis for summary relief. Although it is the contractor's burden to submit evidence to support its costs, the contractor here was a small business that was not expected to have the type of accounting system that a large business would have, and the issue of quantum evidence was premature. (Southern Oregon Ecological v. Dept. of the Interior, CBCA, ¶92,240)

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