Saturday, June 15, 2013

DynCorp International sued by Turkish subcontractor

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/fedbiz_daily/2013/06/dyncorp-international-sued-by-turkish.html

Jun 13, 2013, 1:07pm EDT

DynCorp International sued by Turkish subcontractor

 

Jill R. Aitoro

Senior Staff Reporter- Washington Business Journal

DynCorp International LLC is getting sued by a Turkish subcontractor that alleges the Falls Church-based company withheld payment for delays caused by its own mismanagement of the project and failed to reimburse the subcontractor for work piled on after the contract was awarded.

The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, involves contracts the Army Corps of Engineers awarded to DynCorp in 2008 and 2009 to design and construct facilities for the Afghan National Army. DynCorp gave Nasa Construction Trade and Inc. of Istanbul about 20 separate subcontracts worth $15 million for construction work.

According to the complaint, DynCorp was significantly behind schedule on the projects when it awarded the subcontracts, which allegedly were based on design drawings that were only 30-65 percent complete. Once Nasa examined the construction site after the award, it discovered soil conditions that would require additional time to prepare, which resulted in an extension granted by the Corps.

Nasa also alleged that it was prevented from performing work because trucks of equipment and materials were held up for months by Afghan customs, allegedly due to DynCorp's failure to expedite the customs process and get Nasa's materials to the site.

Eventually, Nasa paid customs and other charges to release the trucks, but according to the complaint, "DynCorp has never met its contractual obligation with regard to such processes or payments."

Nasa also complains that DynCorp poorly coordinated and managed other subcontractors, which led to materials and debris left on Nasa's work site and created risk of damage to completed work.

According to the complaint, DynCorp is withholding in excess of $1.3 million in Nasa's subcontract balance for delays that were beyond Nasa's control and "attributable to site conditions and DynCorp's poor performance and misadministration."

Nasa is suing DynCorp for $5.8 million, plus interest, attorneys' fees, punitive and exemplary damages, and other expenses.

"This case is baseless and we will aggressively defend against it," said a DynCorp spokeswoman in an emailed statement.

 

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