ASBCA Identifies Contractor Cost Submissions as Critical to Claim Accrual for Statute of Limitations

A newly released decision will help contractors resist stale government claims. The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals recently held that a contractor's pre-audit correspondence with the Government, including annual cost submissions, were enough to demonstrate that the Government knew, or should have known, the facts necessary to fix the alleged liability to assert a Government claim for purposes of the Contract Disputes Act (CDA) statute of limitations. Raytheon Co., ASBCA Nos. 57576, 57679 (Dec. 17, 2012). Accordingly, the Board held that parts of the Government claim were untimely and dismissed those portions of the claim for lack of jurisdiction.