Originally published by Matthew DeVries on Best Practices Construction Law blog.
In Appeals of Industrial Consultants, Inc. d/b/a W. Fortune & Company, ASBCA No. 59622 (2017), a construction contractor was contracted to upgrade an HVAC system. The contractor believed there was a defect in the design and submitted requests to the government to change the design. After review, the government chose to move forward with the original design. The contractor, however, began to delay work and sometimes not provide submittals. The government terminated the contractor for default. The Board ruled in favor of the government.
In this case, the contractor questioned the design of the HVAC system and notified the government of those concerns. But in the end, the government chose to proceed with the design. At that point, the contractor had one choice: continue to build the project as it had contracted to do. It did not have the option to act bad by “dragging its feet” and refuse to perform, which ultimately led to the termination for default.
(more about the case and termination for default...)
