U.S. Strategic Command Facility – ASBCA Disputes

Vertex served a key role in two recent Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals disputes between KiewitPhelps JV and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. KiewitPhelps was the general contractor for the $612M construction of the U.S. Strategic Command replacement facility on the Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. The command and control replacement facility is a multi-story building which consists of approximately 916,000 square feet of finished space supporting a 3,754-person workforce, with 26 individually accredited SCIF spaces and TEMPEST specifications throughout the facility. Two of the stories are located below grade and one of the stories is located below the water table.

The first Appeal related to the project’s HVAC system, which included 12.5 miles of thermal and acoustical rigid lined duct. Vertex was retained as a Standard of Care expert and applied its construction expertise to review and evaluate KiewitPhelps’s means and methods relating to the storage, transportation, handling, staging and installation of lined ductwork, as mold growth was discovered in lined ductwork during the Project, resulting in a stop work and remediation. Vertex’s analysis included a review of the contract documents, submittals, reference standards, schedule, quality control documentation, and other information to demonstrate that KiewitPhelps exercised due care in the performance of the work, and that the issue was the result of defective specifications. Vertex testified in front of the Board, who ruled in KiewitPhelp’s favor. A copy of the decision can be found here.

In a separate appeal, which included over $150m in damages related to delay and disruption, Vertex served as KiewitPhelps’ productivity expert. The matter involved a litany of experts from various litigation consulting firms, Vertex issued an expert report and rebuttal report in the matter, detailing the causes of disruption which impacted KiewitPhelps and its subcontractors, and provided testimony to the Board. Vertex was cited frequently in the Board’s 140-plus page decision, including reproduction of demonstratives prepared by Vertex. A copy of the decision can be found here.

KiewitPhelps was represented in both matters by Watt Tieder Hoffar & Fitzgerald (Vivian Katsantonis, Chris Harris, and John Finnegan), and Peckar & Abramson (Mike Branca).

Vertex’s Bill McConnell served as the expert for KiewitPhelps, and was supported by multiple Vertex personnel, including Diana Minchella, Jeff Katz, Bill Thomas, Andrew Sargent, Carl Stokley, and Hannah Stefaniak.