CBCA 7714
Board: CBCA
Agency: Department of Transportation
Appellant: Mercer Fraser Company
Date: 2023-04-18
Outcome: dismissed
DISMISSED: April 18, 2023
CBCA 7714, 7715, 7716
MERCER FRASER COMPANY,
Petitioner,
v.
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION,
Respondent.
Richard M. Harris and Neil H. OâDonnell of Rogers Joseph OâDonnell, PC, San
Francisco, CA, counsel for Petitioner.
Jack F. Gilbert, Office of the Chief Counsel, Federal Highway Administration,
Department of Transportation, Lakewood, CO, counsel for Respondent.
LESTER, Board Judge.
ORDER
On March 17, 2023, Mercer Fraser Company (MFC) filed a petition with the Board
under section 7103(f)(4) of the Contract Disputes Act (CDA), 41 U.S.C. § 7103(f)(4) (2018),
requesting that we order the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) contracting officer
to expedite issuance of decisions on three separate certified claims that MFC submitted
seeking monetary relief under a contract for highway repair work. The FHWA contracting
officer received two of the three claims at issue on October 28, 2022, and the third on
December 16, 2022. By letters dated December 28, 2022, and February 15, 2023, the
FHWA, pursuant to 41 U.S.C. § 7103(f)(2)(B), notified MFC that decisions on the three
claims would be issued by April 28, May 31, and October 31, 2023, respectively, instead of
within sixty days after the contracting officerâs receipt of each claim. Because the petition
CBCA 7714, 7715, 7716 2
involved three separate certified claims, the Clerk of the Board viewed the petition as dealing
with three separate matters and assigned a separate docket number to each of the three
claims. The Board, by order dated March 21, 2023, consolidated the three docket numbers.
The parties have now filed what they have titled âJoint Agreement on Petitionerâs
Requested Reliefâ in which they represent that they have resolved their disagreement about
the deadlines for issuance of final decisions, and they ask the Board to memorialize their
agreement in this order. Specifically, the FWHA has agreed, with MFCâs approval, that the
contracting officer will issue a consolidated final decision addressing all three claims no later
than May 31, 2023. The parties have also agreed that, if MFC has any other related claims
stemming out of the contract, MFC will submit them as quickly as possible with the hope
that the FHWA contracting officer can address them in his May 31, 2023, decision. The
parties also agree to address any future claims as expeditiously as possible.
Based upon the partiesâ agreement, the petition referencing the three claims, which
was docketed separately for each claim and then consolidated, is DISMISSED.
Harold D. Lester, Jr.
HAROLD D. LESTER, JR.
Board Judge