Garco Construction, Inc. v. Secretary of the Army

by
Tightened security at base, preventing access by contractor's ex-felon employees, did not justify contract adjustment. Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls, Montana, houses intercontinental ballistic missiles. Garco's contract to construct base housing incorporated Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.222-3, providing that contractors may employ ex-felons and requiring contractors to adhere to the base access policy. Malstrom’s access policy indicated that it would run the employees’ names through the National Criminal Information Center. “Unfavorable results will be scrutinized and eligibility will be determined on a case-by-case basis.” Garco’s subcontractor, JTC, experienced difficulty bringing its crew onto the base. JTC used workers from a local prison’s pre-release facility. JTC had not encountered access problems in its performance of other Malmstrom contracts over the preceding 20 years. Security had been tightened after an incident where a prerelease facility worker beat his manager. JTC requested an equitable adjustment of the contract, stating that its inability to use convict labor greatly reduced the size of the experienced labor pool so that it incurred $454,266.44 of additional expenses; JTC did not request a time extension. The Federal Circuit affirmed the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals’ denial of the claim, rejecting a claim of constructive acceleration of the contract. The court concluded that there was no change to the base access policy. View "Garco Construction, Inc. v. Secretary of the Army" on Justia Law