Background:
Adapt Consulting, LLC, was awarded a contract by the Government Services Administration (GSA) to complete security renovations to building 25 of the Denver Federal Center (DFC), occupied by the EPA. Work began in February of 2020 and was scheduled to finish by August but contract modifications extended the work to October. Over the course of the contract, Adapt renovated the physical access control systems (PACS) for the DFC office, including access control and intrusion detection, for 110 locations in the DFC office. Adapt replaced and added card readers along with renovations to doors.
F/FC Issue and Adapt’s Response:
In November of 2020 the PACS administrator responsible for monitoring the security system Adapt and their subcontractors had installed, began to notice errors called fault/fault clears (F/FC) appearing. The system operated by detecting electric resistance to tell what the door position was in. When the electric resistance did not meet defined levels it sent a fault message and when the resistance returned to defined levels the fault was cleared. At the end of November, Adapt had a technician visit the site to inspect the door access devices and conduct initial field testing to re-create the F/FC messages.The PACS admin directed the technician to devices that were reporting F/FC messages,and the technician disassembled the devices and checked for damage to the internal cabling,damage to the external cable routing, mis-wiring, ground faults, and other physical damage to the devices. The technician found no physical issues with the devices or the wiring and cabling.The technician was only able to recreate the faults when the fixed leaf of some of the double doors was “unpinned.” Some of the doors installed with card readers were double-door assemblies designed so that one door unlocks by use of an access badge while the other door is a “fixed leaf”. “Unpinning” refers to the practice where the fixed leaf door was unpinned from the frame, allowing workers and staff members to enter or exit the space without swiping a badge. As demonstrated in the written record and in the testimony of Adapt and agency witnesses, unpinning doors was common practice among EPA personnel.
Over the ensuing several months Adapt would continue to return to the site to investigate F/FC messages that continued to be an issue. Despite thorough investigation and consultation Adapt could not find any issues with the system itself, and stated that evidence made it seem most likely that the F/FC messages were a result of improper employee use of the PACS. GSA disagreed and stated that the messages must be a result of hardware error. As a result of Adapt’s inability to find an issue beyond human error despite months of testing, troubleshooting and replacing components, GSA partially terminated the contract in September of 2021 for default.
Adapt’s Appeal and Board Ruling:
Shortly after GSA’ partial termination for default of the contract, Adapt filed an appeal to the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals(CBCA). Adapt also filed a claim for monetary damages sustained over the course of the contract. Regarding the Termination for Default, the Board
found Adapt’s testimony credible in proving they had performed their due diligence in ruling out hardware issues in the F/FC errors. GSA’s main argument for termination of the contract was lack of proper response to the issue from Adapt, which the Board disagreed with emphatically, stating: “We do not agree with the GSA. Adapt, JCI, Software House, and other consultants (1) investigated the issue for many months, (2) met repeatedly with GSA and EPA staff regarding the investigation, (3) requested data from EPA, (4) tested and replaced components of the system to verify that the PACS system was functioning as designed, (5) checked the wiring and cabling and any ground faults and determined that the system was installed and functioning properly, (6) disconnected and reconnected devices, (7) correlated the data logs provided with existing door and environmental conditions, and (8) proposed software and environmental solutions. The record shows that Adapt and its team reasonably investigated the F/FC issue and cooperated with GSA and EPA.As such, the Board ruled in favor of Adapt in CBCA 7213 and overturned the termination of their contract for default. In CBCA 7393 Adapt brought monetary claims against GSA. For the claims granted, Adapt was reimbursed $97,907.41.
Summary:
With the assistance of Patrick Kernan, Esq., Adapt Consulting, LLC, found considerable relief in the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals’ ruling, with the Board finding the termination of the GSA contract unreasonable, and granting approximately half of their monetary damages. However the Board’s ruling also emphasizes the importance of keeping detailed labor records, as Adapt could have been entitled to more had they maintained the records to prove the labor costs they incurred. Time entries, daily logs, or other contemporaneous substantiating documentation are crucial for protecting contractors from loss of time and labor costs in cases like this.
