Opinion ID: 785846
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Disputed Lease Term

Text: 16 In June of 2000, upon completion of the construction of the building, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) (the building's actual tenant) requested overtime cooling to accommodate its move into the building. Following the move-in, Golub, through Wieger, submitted an invoice for overtime usage to the Government in the amount of $151,200. The invoice reflected Wieger's interpretation of the formula in the SFO Amendment, equating one zone to each of the building's 366 thermostats. According to Wieger, he probably determined the number of zones used by the USDA by having an engineer count on the basis of the sensors, only some of which were activated during the USDA's move into the building. A subsequent invoice for overtime HVAC use during the month of August for $184,320 reflected the same method of calculation. 17 Following receipt of the first invoice, the contracting officer overseeing administration of the lease, Ms. Patty Comstock (Comstock), rejected the amount of the charges. Under Golub's interpretation, Comstock noted, the cost of supplying overtime HVAC to all 366 thermostats of the building for a 48-hour overtime period would be $2,108,160 — 38% of the annual rental rate for the first year. Since a single fan in one of the air-handling units was sufficient to supply the building with cooling at the reduced overtime levels, Comstock concluded that each air-supply fan corresponded to a zone. Under Comstock's interpretation, the $40 zone charge was a one-time cost per occurrence of overtime HVAC. Assuming that only one zone was used during the overtime period, Comstock recalculated the total overtime charges at $4000. 4 18 Appellant HPI acquired Golub in October of 2000 and inherited the dispute. HPI submitted a certified claim to GSA for overtime HVAC, which GSA rejected over HPI's interpretation of zone as used in the SFO Amendment. GSA disagreed with HPI's assertion that paragraph 6.6(e) of the SFO provided a definition of zone, explaining instead that the paragraph only specifie[d] the method for controlling temperature conditions by subdividing the building areas into smaller spaces, each having its own thermostat control. The rate for overtime HVAC services that HPI was charging the Government based on the submitted invoices, GSA noted, was $2057.61 per hour, which greatly exceeded the actual hourly cost of $11.60 estimated by the local utility. GSA's final decision defined a zone as an air-handling unit, yielding a maximum of two zones in the building. 5 HPI appealed the decision to the Board.