ASBCA 61816

ARMED SERVICES BOARD OF CONTRACT APPEALS Appeal of -- ) ) GSI & Whitesell-Green, JV ) ASBCA No. 61816 ) Under Contract No. FA3022-15-C-OOO 1 ) APPEARANCE FOR THE APPELLANT: Mr. Josh Owens President APPEARANCES FOR THE GOVERNMENT: Jeffrey P. Hildebrant, Esq. Air Force Deputy Chief Trial Attorney Lt Col Byron G. Shibata, USAF Trial Attorney OPINION BY ADMINIS-TRATIVE JUDGE O'CONNELL This appeal involves a claim for providing natural gas service to a building adjacent to the project at issue. Appellant seeks about $9,800 and has elected our Accelerated Procedure under Rule 12.3. Decisions under this rule contain summary findings of fact and conclusions. The parties also elected to submit the appeal on the record without a hearing under Rule 11 and requested that the Board decide entitlement only. We sustain the appeal. SUMMARY FINDINGS OF FACT The Air Force awarded appellant, GSI & Whitesell-Green, JV (GSI-WG), a contract in the amount of $6,657,731 to renovate Hangar 456 at Columbus Air Force Base. The contract required GSI-WG to demolish the building down to the frame and foundation and to design and rebuild it with a new foam fire suppression system. (R4, tab 7 at 39) The contract incorporated standard clauses, including the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.236-2, DIFFERING SITE CONDITIONS (APR 1984); and FAR 52.243-4, CHANGES (JUN 2007) (R4, tab 7 at 21 ). Prior to bid, the Air Force conducted a site visit attended by representatives of 28 companies, including appellant (R4, tab 3 at 10). The visit lasted about two hours and occurred while the hangar was in use by the Air Force (R4, tab 2 at 2-3; gov't br., decl. of Robert Gable ,r 2). Although the visitors thereafter submitted 146 written questions to the Air Force, none concerned the pipe we discuss below (R4, tab 5 at 112-28). While the bid documents identified the locations of existing utilities, the Air Force disclaimed their accuracy. Thus, the contract provided:  D. Utilities 1) Layout: Accuracy of government provided documents showing utilities is not guaranteed, but may help Contractor locate existing utilities. Verify all existing utility locations before starting work. (R4, tab 7 at 47, see also tab 7 at 46, 96) Hangar 456 is close to another hangar, No. 450. A corridor referred to as Building 450A functions as a corridor between the two hangars. (Gov't br., decl. of Benjamin Sala at 3). At the comer where Hangar 456 meets Building 450A, a small mechanical room juts out from the side of Hangar 456 (R4, tab 7 at 126). As demonstrated in a photo taken by appellant during the site visit, the attendees would have seen a gas meter on the side of the mechanical room. Visible, but less obvious, was a short section of pipe (the "Pipe") that exited the wall at the comer of the mechanical room near the border with Building 450A and then entered 450A. (App. supp. R4, tab 6, photo A) H456 Mech. room Gas Meter The Pipe H456 & B450 B450A Border Line 2 Neither party has provided the precise dimensions of the Pipe, but based on this photo we find that it was no more than one foot long and one to two inches wide. As GSI-WG would learn after it began demolition, the Pipe was a gas line that could be traced back to the gas meter. The gas line entered the Hangar 456 mechanical room from the meter. Once inside the wall (and thus not visible), the line split at a tee connection where one line fed Hangar 456 and the other line exited the mechanical room and then entered Building 450A, as shown in the photograph. (App. br. at 7; gov't br. at 6) The bid documents/contract did not show a gas line or other utility in this location (R4. tab 7 at 13 7-41 ). GSI-WG explains its failure to notice the gas line due to (among other reasons), the size of the Pipe in comparison to the relative size of an aircraft hangar and the fact that the pipe had been painted the same drab color as the rest of the two buildings and was a different color from the gas meter.* There is no indication that the Air Force knew that the Pipe was a gas line. The only way for a bidder to have ascertained whether it was a gas line would have been to cut a piece out of the wall.