{"id":897586,"date":"2020-06-15T15:41:11","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T21:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=897586"},"modified":"2020-06-15T15:41:16","modified_gmt":"2020-06-15T21:41:16","slug":"claim-under-contract-dispute-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/claim-under-contract-dispute-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Certifying Claim Under Contract Disputes Act"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>David Adelstein | <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.floridaconstructionlegalupdates.com\/certifying-claim-under-contract-disputes-act\/\" target=\"_blank\">Florida Construction Legal Updates<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/contract-disputes-act-every-federal-government-contractor-know\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Contract Disputes Act<\/a>\u00a0(41 USC 7101 en seq.), when a contractor submits a claim to the government in excess of $100,000, the claim MUST contain a\u00a0<strong>certification<\/strong>\u00a0of good faith, as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For claims of more than $100,000 made by a contractor, the contractor shall certify that\u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(A)&nbsp;the claim is made in good faith;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(B)&nbsp;the supporting data are accurate and complete to the best of the contractor\u2019s knowledge and belief;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(C)&nbsp;the amount requested accurately reflects the contract adjustment for which the contractor believes the Federal Government is liable; and<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(D)&nbsp;the certifier is authorized to certify the claim on behalf of the contractor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>41 U.S.C. 7103(b)(1).&nbsp;&nbsp;<em>See also<\/em>&nbsp;48 C.F.R. s. 33.207(c) as to the wording of the certification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The contracting officer is not required to render a final decision on the claim&nbsp;<u>within 60 days<\/u>&nbsp;if, during this time period, he\/she notifies the contractor of the reasons why the certification is defective<\/strong>. 41 U.S.C. 7103(b)(3). &nbsp; Importantly, the contracting officer\u2019s failure to render a decision within 60 days is deemed an appealable denial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, \u201c<strong>[a] defect in the certification of a claim does not deprive a court or an agency board of jurisdiction over the claim. Prior to the entry of a final judgment by a court or a decision by an agency board, the court or agency board shall require a defective certification to be corrected<\/strong>.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<em>Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is important.&nbsp; In a recent decision out of the Federal Circuit,&nbsp;<em>DAI Global, LLC v. Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development<\/em>, 945 F.3d 1196 (Fed. Cir. 2019), a government contractor submitted a claim to the government with a defective certification. &nbsp; The contracting officer waited 70 days (not the required 60 days) before notifying the contractor that the claims did not contain the required certification.&nbsp;&nbsp; The contractor (smartly interpreting the contracting officer\u2019s untimely notification as a denial of the claim) appealed to the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals.&nbsp;&nbsp; The Board dismissed the contractor\u2019s claims for lack of jurisdiction claiming the contractor failed to certify the claims and the contractor\u2019s errors in preparing the certification were not correctible.&nbsp; The contractor appealed to the United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, the appellate court held that the Contract Disputes Act states that a defect in the certification does NOT deprive a board over jurisdiction.&nbsp; Whether the defect is technical in nature or not is of no moment since a board is not deprived of jurisdiction if there is any defect in the certification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second, the appellate court held that that the contracting officer failed to timely notify the contractor of the defective certification.&nbsp; It was required to either issue a final decision on the claim or notify the contractor of the defective certification within 60 days.&nbsp; \u201c<strong>Because the contracting officer failed to issue a decision within the statutory period [60 days], [the contractor\u2019s] claim was deemed denied and became appealable to the Board<\/strong>.\u201d&nbsp;<em>DAI Global, LLC, supra<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is always good practice to work with counsel when preparing or submitting a claim. &nbsp;Here, the contractor had good counsel as counsel treated the contracting officer\u2019s untimely notification to the contractor of a defective certification as an appealable denial of the claim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Adelstein | Florida Construction Legal Updates Under the\u00a0Contract Disputes Act\u00a0(41 USC 7101 en seq.), when a contractor submits a claim to the government in excess of $100,000, the claim MUST contain a\u00a0certification\u00a0of good faith, as follows: For claims of more than $100,000 made by a contractor, the contractor shall certify that\u2013 (A)&nbsp;the claim is&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/claim-under-contract-dispute-act\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Certifying Claim Under Contract Disputes Act<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11015,9],"tags":[9895,224,11192,9437],"class_list":["post-897586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-claims","category-construction-contracts","tag-advise-consult","tag-construction-contract","tag-construction-contract-disputes","tag-contract-disputes-act","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Certifying Claim Under Contract Disputes Act - Advise &amp; 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