CBCA 7399

DENIED: January 25, 2024 CBCA 7399 EDGEWATER CONSTRUCTION SERVICES, LLC, Appellant, v. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, Respondent. David A. Hearne of David A. Hearne, P.C., Yorktown, VA, counsel for Appellant. Laetitia C. Coleman, Office of General Counsel, Department of Veterans Affairs, Arlington, TX; and Neil S. Deol, Office of General Counsel, Department of Veterans Affairs, Decatur, GA, counsel for Respondent. Before Board Judges KULLBERG, ZISCHKAU, and KANG. KANG, Board Judge. Appellant, Edgewater Construction Services, LLC (Edgewater), appeals a final decision by a contracting officer of respondent, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), concerning appellant’s contract to build two additions to the VA Medical Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Appellant seeks costs for what it contends was respondent’s change to the contract requirement to install a pneumatic tube system. Respondent has filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that the contract terms were not changed and that appellant is not entitled to costs; appellant opposes the motion. We grant respondent’s motion and thereby deny the appeal. CBCA 7399 2 Background VA awarded contract no. 36C24518C0215 to Edgewater on September 26, 2018, to build two additions to the VA Medical Center. Appeal File, Exhibit 17.1 The additions are the domiciliary (DOM) clinic addition, designated as building 502F, and the community living center (CLC) addition, designated as building 501D. Exhibit 1 at VA000015. The contract incorporated various documents, including two volumes of specifications and seven sets of drawings. Exhibit 17 at VA002010. Relevant to this appeal, volume 1 of the contract specifications required installation of a pneumatic tube system for the DOM and CLC additions. Exhibit 1 at VA000221-22. A pneumatic tube system “consist[s] of a tube network with carriers that travel by air pressure and vacuum between [physical] stations.” Joint Stipulation to Definitions. A carrier2 is a cylindrical container into which a user can place objects to be sent through the pneumatic tube system. See Respondent’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Respondent’s Motion), Declaration of John E. Fenton, Contracting Officer’s Representative (Sept. 14, 2023) ¶¶ 8-9; Exhibit 63, Deposition of Richard Marano, Edgewater Vice-President (June 6, 2023) at VA005349. A physical station is “[t]he place where a person manually sends and/or receive[s] a carrier.” Joint Stipulation to Definitions; see also Respondent’s Motion at 4 n.1. “A pneumatic system might have two [physical] stations, or it may have diverging paths that lead to several [physical] stations.” Joint Stipulation to Definitions. A transfer station, or transfer unit, is “enclosed equipment that is comprised of a network of tubes entering and leaving internally that is controlled via switches/programming to allow an automatic exchange of carriers between the network of tubes, to transfer carriers between the [physical] stations.” Id. A transfer station is “generally located above the ceiling or in utility/mechanical closets.” Id. The existing VA Medical Center has a pneumatic tube system manufactured by Swisslog. Respondent’s Motion at 2. The contract specifications for the system to be installed in the CLC and DOM additions were primarily in the architectural drawings, including the following note regarding the first-floor drawings for the additions: REUSE EXISTING PNUEMATIC [sic] TUBE TRANSFER STATION LOCATION TO EXTEND SERVICE TO [CLC], ROOM 501D-120, AND [DOM], ROOM 502F-106. CONTRACTOR TO FACILITATE WORK OF VA APPROVED VENDOR. BASIS OF DESIGN FOR PRICING IS SWISSLOG. 1 All exhibits are found in the appeal file, unless otherwise noted. 2 Throughout the record, this object is also called a tube, cartridge, or cylinder. CBCA 7399 3 [Swisslog Point of Contact] @SWISSLOG.COM. PHONE: . . . . Exhibit 5 at VA001751-52. The architectural drawings and contract specifications for the system to be installed refer to existing transfer station #061, which (along with physical station #601) is located in room C-114 (pharmacy) of the existing VA Medical Center. Id.; see also Fenton Declaration ¶¶ 17-18. On March 17, 2020, Edgewater submitted a proposal for VA’s approval to install a pneumatic tube system manufactured by Aerocom to meet the contract requirements. Exhibit 34 at VA002312.