Too Late: Another Government Claim Barred by CDA Statute of Limitations

In Laguna Constr. (May 29, 2014), the ASBCA barred the government's claim under the CDA statute of limitations when DCAA had issued a report, more than six years prior, finding that the contractor's subcontract management system was "inadequate" and resulted in "a significant risk . . . relative to allocability, allowability, and reasonableness of subcontract costs billed to the U.S. Government." Even though that report did not identify any specific government claim, the Board found that the government knew or should have known of the basis for its specific claim "no later than" the date that DCAA provided the report to the ACO with its general criticisms, emphasizing that the "events fixing liability should have been known when they occurred unless they can be reasonably found to have been either concealed or 'inherently unknowable' at that time," the latest in a string of decisions interpreting the CDA statute of limitations as to government cost claims (discussed here, here, here, here, here, and here).