United Launch Services, LLC v. United States
12-380 · cofc · 2018-09-12
Summary
In this Court of Federal Claims breach-of-contract action, Boeing/United Launch Services sought to recover deferred support and production costs from the Air Force's restructuring of its Delta IV EELV launch contracts, and the court denied Boeing's motion for summary judgment because genuine factual disputes existed over whether Boeing's cost-accounting practices complied with GAAP and the Cost Accounting Standards. The opinion notes that the original 1998 EELV development was awarded under the Air Force's 'Other Transaction (OT) authority' (10 U.S.C. Sec. 2371) and that neither the OT development agreement nor the initial launch-services contract was subject to the CAS or FAR, unlike the restructured FAR Part 15 contracts at issue. It matters for other transactions in showing the contrast between CAS/FAR-exempt OT agreements and the cost-recovery limits that attach once work migrates to follow-on FAR-governed contracts.