CBCA 5040

DENIED: April 1, 2016 CBCA 5040 STEPHEN D. BRADLEY, Appellant, v. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION, Respondent. Stephen D. Bradley, pro se, Goodyear, AZ. Keaton Norquist, Office of Regional Counsel, General Services Administration, San Francisco, CA, counsel for Respondent. Before Board Judges HYATT, POLLACK, and SULLIVAN. POLLACK, Board Judge. Appellant, Stephen D. Bradley, appeals the contracting officer’s final decision denying his claim for the return of the purchase price of a used travel trailer sold to him by the General Services Administration (GSA or Government) via auction, on the ground that the Government misdescribed the condition of the vehicle. Respondent moves for summary relief, arguing that appellant failed to establish the necessary elements needed to prevail under the misdescription clause of the contract. For the reasons below, we grant respondent’s motion and deny the appeal. CBCA 5040 2 Background 1. On May 28, 2015, GSA offered a Rockwood Forest River Travel Trailer for sale through its online auction website, GSAAuctions.gov. The auction announcement included the following description of the vehicle: Travel trailer, 30x8x10 foot, Rockwood, Forest River, 2002, w/ 4x12 foot slide, GVWR [gross vehicle weight rating] 7560, 1 personnel door. Conditions of appliances/equipment unknown. Repairs required included but not limited to: gas cook stove missing, & evidence of rodent infestation. Inspection is strongly recommended. . . . THE CONDITION OF THE PROPERTY IS NOT WARRANTED. The announcement indicated that the vehicle was located in Sasabe, Arizona, and informed prospective bidders that arrangements for inspection of the vehicle could be made with the listed property custodian. 2. As a condition of participating in the auction, prospective bidders were required to agree to GSA’s online sale terms and conditions, which included the following provisions: Inspection of Property Bidders agree to physically inspect the property upon which they bid or thereby waive the opportunity to conduct a physical inspection. In waiving their inspection rights, bidders bear the risk for any gross omissions regarding the functionality of items, failures to cite major missing parts and/or restrictions with regards to usage that would have been revealed by physical inspection. Condition of Property Condition of the property is not warranted. Deficiencies, when known, have been indicated in the property descriptions. However, absence of any indicated deficiencies does not mean that none exists. Therefore, the bidder should ascertain the condition of the item through physical inspection. Please also reference the Inspection of Property clause. CBCA 5040 3 Description Warranty & Refunds The Government warrants to the original purchaser that the property listed in the GSAAuctions.gov website will conform to its written description. Features, characteristics, deficiencies, etc. not addressed in the description are excluded from that warranty. GSA further cautions bidders that GSA’s written description represents GSA’s best efforts to describe the items based on the information provided to it by the owning agency. Therefore, gross omissions regarding the functionality of items, failures to cite major missing parts and/or restrictions with regards to usage may occur. The Government does not warrant the merchantability of the property or its purpose. The purchaser is not entitled to any payment for loss of profit or any other money damages – special, direct, indirect, or consequential. Claims of Misdescription If items have been awarded but not paid for and the successful bidder feels that the property is mis-described, he/she must follow these procedures. A written claim needs to be submitted to the Sales Contracting Officer within 15 calendar days from the date of award requesting release of contractual obligation for reasons satisfying that of a misdescription.