Opinion ID: 199955
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Counts II & III

Text: 29 Wood contends in Count II that the failure of the Navy to ensure contract compliance with safety requirements creates landowner liability pursuant to Restatement (Second) of Torts §§ 343, 343A. In Count III, Wood alleges that the Navy had a responsibility to supervise carefully an independent supervisor under Restatement (Second) of Torts §§ 413, 414. We pass no judgment on whether either theory, if established, would support liability against the Navy. Both theories rely on the premise that the Navy was mandated to supervise closely and to ensure ASI's compliance with its contractual obligations, including all safety requirements. Because the two claims are rooted in the same operative facts, we consider them together. 30 Wood does not suggest that the Navy failed to perform inspections, nor, for that matter, does she suggest that the Navy violated its explicit obligations under the contract; rather she alleges that the inspections and oversight were inadequate to ensure that ASI was in compliance with the safety requirements. Once again Wood concedes that the Navy's determination of how to ensure ASI's compliance with the contract was discretionary and involved the balancing of competing factors. Wood contends, however, that there was no discretion provided the Navy on whether it ensured that ASI was in compliance with the contract. 31 Wood relies on a document, prepared by Marilyn Colot, delegating administration of the ASI contract, to support her contention that the Navy had accepted the responsibility to ensure that ASI was following the mandated safety requirements. According to Wood, this document represents the Navy's policy in regards to the Contract and mandates that the naval officers overseeing the project made certain that ASI was in compliance. The document outlines generally the administrative functions to be performed by the oversight officer. Included amongst the almost thirty duties was the directive to ensure contractor compliance with the contractual safety requirements. Pursuant to Wood's theory, this document removes the Navy's conduct from the safe harbor created by the discretionary function exception. 32 Wood's reliance on Colot's memorandum is misplaced, however. In Irving we addressed, at some length, the source of policy pronouncements and what role that source plays in determining the existence of discretion. 162 F.3d at 165. Congress has the ultimate authority to render a function discretionary or obligatory. Id. (citing Martin v. Occupational Safety and Health Review Comm'n, 499 U.S. 144, 152-53, 111 S.Ct. 1171, 113 L.Ed.2d 117 (1991)). In this case, it delegated that authority to the Administrator, not to Navy officials. Thus, we must look first to the statements of the official policymaker, as set forth in the FAR, to determine the Navy's obligations with respect to ASI's compliance with safety requirements. Gaubert, 499 U.S. at 322, 111 S.Ct. 1267. 33 As noted earlier, the Navy's primary objective under FAR in entering and overseeing the Contract was to obtain the best value for the American taxpayer. While the Navy was required generally to ensure performance of contract terms, the FAR dictates that contracting officers be provided wide latitude to exercise business judgment in this endeavor. 48 C.F.R. § 1.602-2. The FAR does not prescribe a course of action the Navy must follow in ensuring contractor compliance with contractual safety requirements. Pursuant to the FAR and the mandated contract provisions, the Navy had limited supervisory duties — it needed to review and to approve the safety plan, contact ASI if it noted that it was not in compliance with the contract, and contact OSHA if the Navy notified ASI regarding a serious or imminent danger. 34 Even if Colot's pronouncement was controlling in this case, it is too general to satisfy the specific prescription requirement set forth in Gaubert and Berkovitz. Shansky, 164 F.3d at 691. Colot's directive is simply a goal that, to attain, required Navy personnel to make discretionary judgments. Contrary to Wood's assertion, Colot's testimony supports this conclusion. When Colot was asked how Lieutenant Schroeder, the navy officer in charge of administration of the Contract, ensured compliance with the safety requirements of the contract she replied: Well I think that you would have to ask Lieutenant Schroeder that question because that varies widely by activity, by office, by resource, by contract. 35 The context of the directive also bolsters this conclusion. See id. The statement is embedded in a list of thirty other goals including, but not limited to, that the contracting officer ensure compliance with applicable labor laws; that he ensure compliance with contractual quality assurance requirements; and that he ensure contractor compliance with small disadvantaged business subcontracting plans. The list, read as a whole, simply echoes the objectives set forth in the FAR, and like the FAR, leaves the implementation of these objectives to the discretion of the contracting officer. The Navy's performance of safety oversight was plainly discretionary, a point that Wood acknowledges. 36 The Navy's decisions regarding safety oversight also involved the permissible exercise of policy judgment. See Shansky, 164 F.3d at 692; Irving, 162 F.3d at 168. The Supreme Court has stated that if a regulation allows the employee discretion, the very existence of the regulation creates a strong presumption that a discretionary act authorized by the regulation involves the same policies which led to the promulgation of the regulation. Gaubert, 499 U.S. at 324, 111 S.Ct. 1267. For this claim to survive, Wood must allege some facts to support a finding that the contested conduct is not grounded in the policy of the regulatory regime. Id. at 324-25, 111 S.Ct. 1267. Wood offers no real challenge to the position that the Navy's actions were policy-driven. 37 In meeting the objectives of the FAR, the Navy was required to balance a host of competing factors, among them the cost, quality and timeliness of the delivered product as well as the minimization of administrative operating costs. 48 C.F.R. § 1.102-2(a) and (c). Here, the Navy decided the best manner to achieve these sometimes-competing objectives was to conduct brief, ground-level inspections several times a week to assess ASI's compliance with the safety requirements of the contract. 38 Moreover, the policy objectives set forth in the FAR do not show that Congress intended the contracting officer to be responsible ultimately for the safety practices of a contractor. To the contrary, the FAR places primary responsibility for safety on the contractor; a limited supervisory role is given to contracting officers. The delegation of the responsibility for safety issues to the contractor suggests that, in promulgating the FAR, the Administrator had determined already that in obtaining the best value for the American taxpayer, worker safety should be a primary concern of the contractor. See Varig Airlines, 467 U.S. at 816, 104 S.Ct. 2755. 39 We disagree with Wood's attempt to equate this case with the Supreme Court's decision in Indian Towing Co. v. United States, 350 U.S. 61, 76 S.Ct. 122, 100 L.Ed. 48 (1955). There, the Coast Guard assumed direct and sole responsibility for the operation of a lighthouse, a charted navigational aid, any failure of which would create unique dangers to shipping. Id. at 62, 76 S.Ct. 122. The light was allowed to go out and a vessel ran aground. Id. The Court held the Coast Guard liable, reasoning that, once it had exercised its discretion to operate the lighthouse, it was obligated to act with reasonable care. Id. at 68, 76 S.Ct. 122. Here, the Navy itself did not assume responsibility for the safety of the contractor's own employees working at the towers but rather left that responsibility to the contractor, with minimal oversight. 40 Rather than to Indian Towing, the Navy's decision-making and conduct are better analogized to the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) conduct discussed in Varig Airlines, 467 U.S. at 799, 104 S.Ct. 2755. In Varig Airlines the government was facing tort liability for several plane accidents allegedly caused by the FAA's negligence in issuing safety compliance certificates. Id. Pursuant to regulations promulgated by the Secretary of Transportation, the FAA was empowered to enforce compliance with minimum safety standards in aircraft according to its best judgment. Id. at 816, 104 S.Ct. 2755. In the exercise of this discretion, the FAA devised a certification process that placed the duty to ensure that an aircraft met with FAA safety regulations in the hands of the manufacturer and operator, while the FAA retained the responsibility for policing compliance. Id. at 817, 104 S.Ct. 2755. To meet its responsibility, the FAA devised a spot-check system. 41 The Court held that the implementation and performance of the spot-check system for compliance review is plainly discretionary activity of the `nature and quality' protected by § 2680(a). Id. at 819, 104 S.Ct. 2755. The Court reasoned that: 42 When an agency determines the extent to which it will supervise the safety procedures of private individuals, it is exercising discretionary regulatory authority of the most basic kind. Decisions as to the manner of enforcing regulations directly affect the feasibility and practicality of the Government's regulatory program; such decisions require the agency to establish priorities for the accomplishment of its policy objectives by balancing the objective sought to be obtained against such practical considerations as staffing and funding. 43 Id. at 819-20, 104 S.Ct. 2755. 44 Here, the Navy's contracting officer was empowered to enter a contract and to ensure compliance with the contract, including the safety requirements mandated in the FAR and set forth in the contract. Part of ensuring that ASI was in compliance with the safety aspects of the contract, including all applicable safety regulations, was to require that ASI submit a safety plan outlining its program to comply with all safety requirements. Before the contract began, ASI submitted and the Navy approved such a plan. In its safety plan, ASI assured the Navy that ASI's supervisors would have the responsibility and the absolute authority to enforce [its] job safety program to ensure that no laborer or mechanic employed on this project is allowed to work in surroundings or under conditions which are ... dangerous to his/her health or safety. Prior to Wood's accident, the Navy required that ASI amend the plan to respond to noted safety deficiencies. In terms of ongoing oversight, the Navy implemented a system in which ASI was required to submit daily logs, including accident reports, and the Navy visited the work site two to three times a week to perform walk-through inspections to identify possible safety violations. 45 In this instance, the statutory and regulatory scheme provides the Navy broad discretion to balance a number of competing factors in making its supervisory decisions. Varig Airlines, 467 U.S. at 814, 104 S.Ct. 2755; Shansky, 164 F.3d at 693; Mercado Del Valle v. United States, 856 F.2d 406, 409 (1st Cir.1988). There is nothing in the record to suggest that the Navy's discretionary decision regarding the implementation and administration of a supervisory system was anything other than policy-driven. Decisions regarding the exercise of supervisory authority are traditionally the sort the discretionary function exception was designed to encompass. See Attallah v. United States, 955 F.2d 776, 784 (1st Cir.1992) (ruling extent Custom service supervises employees protected by the discretionary function exception); Mercado Del Valle, 856 F.2d at 409 (concluding that Air Force's supervision of student military organization discretionary); Andrews v. United States, 121 F.3d 1430, 1441 (11th Cir.1997) (holding Navy's supervision of contractor's adherence to waste disposal safety regulations encompassed by discretionary function exception); Domme v. United States, 61 F.3d 787, 792-93 (10th Cir.1995) (ruling that Department of Energy's supervision of contractor's compliance with applicable safety regulations protected by exception); Kirchmann v. United States, 8 F.3d 1273, 1277 (8th Cir.1993) (concluding Air Force's supervision of contractor's disposal of TCE protected by exception). 46 Because the Navy's conduct is protected by the discretionary function exception, the United States has not waived its sovereign immunity. Consequently, there is no subject matter jurisdiction. 47 AFFIRMED.