CBCA 8362

DENIED: March 31, 2026 CBCA 8362 BRITTANI WATTIKER, Appellant, v. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION, Respondent. Brittani Wattiker, pro se, Dallas, TX. Anne C. McDermott, Office of General Counsel, General Services Administration, Philadelphia, PA, counsel for Respondent. Before Board Judges LESTER, KULLBERG, and O’ROURKE. KULLBERG, Board Judge. Appellant, Ms. Brittani Wattiker, claims damages related to the purchase of three outboard boat motors at an online auction conducted by the General Services Administration (GSA). Appellant contends that the auction website described the outboard motors as “factory rebuilt” but that , instead, they were “cores” that had not been restored and were unusable. Respondent, GSA, argues that appellant did not give notice of a misdescription within fifteen days from the date of award or removal of the property, as required under the terms and conditions of the auction, or inspect those outboard motors before purchasing them. Appellant and GSA have filed cross-motions for summary judgment. For the reasons stated below, the Board denies appellant’s motion, grants GSA’s motion, and denies the appeal. CBCA 8362 2 Background GSA conducted an online auction in which appellant placed separate bids for each of three outboard motors, which were in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security at a facility in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Exhibit 2 at 2-4, 14-16, 26-28.1 For each of the three outboard motors, the auction preview provided a description and photograph that advised potential bidders that each outboard motor was “rebuilt by the manufacturer and is in like new condition.”2 Id. GSA’s online terms and conditions for the auction stated, in pertinent part, the following: Acknowledgment of Sales Terms and Conditions To participate in the GSAAuctionsSM bid process, an individual must acknowledge that they have read and accepted ALL terms and conditions detailed on this website and indicate that they agree by marking the required box during the registration process or when prompted to when a change to the terms [has] been implemented. Doing so confirms that a bidder agrees to make a good faith offer. If the offer is accepted by the Government[,] a contract between the bidder and the Government is formed. As per the contract, the bidder agrees to pay for and remove the property by the dates and times specified in the notice of award email. Photographs Photographs may not depict an exact representation of the bid item(s) and should not be relied upon in place of written item descriptions or as a substitute for physical inspection. Please contact the custodian for inspection dates and times. .... 1 All exhibits cited are found in the respondent’s appeal file unless otherwise noted. Exhibits 1, 4, 5, and 7 had three or fewer unnumbered pages, and those pages were manually numbered. 2 A total of eight outboard motors were purchased at that GSA online auction, but this appeal involves a claim for only three of those outboard motors. Exhibit 4 at 1. CBCA 8362 3 Contract Disputes Contracts resulting from the sale of any offer in the GSAAuctions.gov . . . website are subject to the Contract Disputes Act [(CDA)] of 1978 (41 [U.S.C. §§ 7101-7109 (2018)]) . . . as amended. Successful Bidders are reminded that an award constitutes a binding contract with the United States Government. The online Terms and Conditions[,] as well as the 114C General Sales Terms and Conditions, . . . define the process and conditions under which a bidder may make a claim or dispute a contract. To dispute a contract, bidders must contact the Sales Contracting Officer for the sale. Description Warranty & Refunds The Government warrants to the original purchaser that the property listed on GSAAuctions.gov . . . will conform to its written description. Features, characteristics, deficiencies, etc. not addressed in the description are excluded from this warranty. GSA further cautions bidders that GSA’s written description represents GSA’s best effort to describe the item based on the information provided to it by the owning agency.