Forty-five years after enactment of the Contract Disputes Act of 1978 (CDA), contractors and agencies still often struggle to identify what is and isn’t a CDA claim—a term the CDA itself does not define. Until the CDA’s administrative dispute process is complete, a contractor is jurisdictionally barred from bringing its claim (or its challenge to a government claim) to a Board of Contract Appeals or the Court of Federal Claims. For contractors (and agencies) navigating the CDA’s superficially simple procedures and deceptively clear timelines, such uncertainty can jeopardize otherwise meritorious claims.
In Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company v. Secretary of the Air Force, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit provides a clear answer to what a claim is, at least with respect to a contracting officer’s unilateral definitization of an undefinitized contract action (UCA).
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