Contractors Facing Government Claims Need To Be Aware Of The Potential Need To Submit A Contractor Claim To Perfect Defenses Against The Government's Claim

Contractors that face government claims need to be aware of the potential need to submit a contractor claim to perfect defenses against the government's claim.

A government claim can come in the form of a demand for liquidated damages, a termination for default, a demand for excess re-procurement costs, and/or a demand to recoup indirect costs for a violation of the cost accounting standards. In M. Maropakis Carpentry, Inc. v. United States, 609 F.3d 1323 (Fed. Cir. 2010), the Federal Circuit ruled that a contractor's defense to a government claim for liquidated damages that alleged government caused delay had to be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because the contractor had never submitted the defense as an affirmative claim properly certified under the Contract Disputes Act, 41 U.S.C. Section 7103 et. seq. In Sikorsky v. United States, 102 Fed. Cl. 38 (2011) the Court of Federal Claims held that this rule did not apply to common law defenses such as satisfaction, waiver, laches or the statute of limitations. However, in 2014, in TPL, Inc. v. U.S., 2014 WL 4628311 (Fed. Cl. Sept...