Unique Government Contract Mistaken Bid Case Headed to Supreme Court
NEW YORK, Sept. 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A government contractor alleging millions of dollars in losses due to mistakes by the US Government has brought its case to the United States Supreme Court. In the lawsuit titled Zafer Construction Company v. United States Army Corps of Engineers, the contractor Zafer alleges the Government is taking undue advantage of its own mistakes and the resulting underbidding by contractors. The lawsuit centers around work performed on a military hospital campus operated by the Afghanistan National Army (ANA) in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2006.
Represented by Gdanski Law P.C, Zafer in its Petition for a Writ of Certiorari shows that US government provided drawings were inaccurate and as a result Zafer's bid was incorrect and grossly lower than what it should have been. Interestingly, the price disparity from Zafer's bid was too large to be unnoticed by the Government because it was more than $6,700,000.00 lower than the next lowest bidder and 44% below the Governments Independent Government Estimate, IGE. Zafer's papers state that one of the reasons the mistake was not corrected by the Government was because the Government mistakenly thought that the next lowest bidder, Kolin Construction Company, was an American company and incorrectly thought the higher price from Kolin was the result of it being located in America. Kolin however is also in fact a Turkish company based in Ankara across the street from Zafer and the difference in price was the result of the mistaken bid. Interestingly, Zafer's bid was initially rejected as "Late" and later found eligible with no explanation proffered. If Zafer's bid is corrected it will still be below the next highest bidder.
Zafer's Petition states that the 9th Circuit has decided a similar case on identical facts, to the contrary permitting relief holding that courts will not allow the Government to reap the benefit of its own "failing to follow contractual provisions requiring bid verification" when it "accepted an unconscionably low bid." . Sulzer Bingham Pumps, Inc. v. Lockheed Missiles & Space Co., 947 F.2d 1362.
The case is waiting to be heard by the Supreme Court.
CONTACT: Sam Zalman Gdanski, Cell: (914) 589-0015, E-Mail: [email protected]
SOURCE Gdanski Law PC
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