The U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals on Friday dismissed an appeal filed by the management and operations contractor of the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site over a dispute on the allowability of certain contract costs.
In 2013 a DOE contracting officer “disallowed” $1.3 million paid to Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) under the contract terms, which the contractor disputed as allowable. Early last year DOE filed a Justice Department suit under the False Claims Act, which was followed by SRNS’ claim requesting the contracting officer to make a decision on the allowability of the disputed costs.
Another contracting officer last March wrote a letter to SRNS in which the official denied having the authority to settle claims involving fraud. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions in April 2016 filed its appeal with the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, followed by a DOE motion in June to dismiss the contractor’s appeal.
The court in its latest decision granted the motion to dismiss due to lack of jurisdiction. The decision said, “as the contracting officer determined he did not have authority to issue a final decision, there is no failure by the contracting officer to issue a final decision, and therefore no deemed denial of the claim. Without a final decision or deemed denial, we lack jurisdiction in this appeal.”
