On February 22, 2023, the NAM filed an amicus brief urging the Federal Circuit to reverse the lower court’s dismissal of over $19M in breach of contract claims against the federal government as barred by the statute of limitations for submitting a claim to a contracting officer, a prerequisite to pursuing litigation. In this case, a contracting officer denied Textron’s claim for payment of pension costs recoverable under government contracts as time-barred under the applicable six-year statute of limitations for submitting a claim. Textron promptly filed a complaint against the government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which granted summary judgment in favor of the government based on the statute of limitations, holding that Textron’s claim had accrued more than six years before July 2020 (when Textron submitted the claim).
We argue in our brief that the trial court failed to apply the proper claim accrual standard. Textron’s request for the government to pay its share of pension costs following a segment closing should not be considered a "claim"--it is a routine submission that is not in dispute when submitted and the government must be afforded sufficient time to conduct its administrative review of the submission before the request can be considered a claim. Even assuming a request for payment of pension costs after a segment closing could be considered a claim, the trial court misapplied the remaining elements of claim accrual. Textron did not experience an injury and was unable to present its claim until the government denied payment. Claim accrual can only commence when all events have transpired to fix the government’s liability. All manufacturers who are government contractors subject to administrative adjustments between contracting partners have an interest in an efficient, collaborative, and non-litigious framework for the claim accrual standard.