The courts and boards of contract appeals will look to the totality of the total evidence to determine whether the prime contractor has sponsored a subcontractor's claim. Ordinarily, sponsored subcontractor appeals are pursued in the name of the prime contractor. However, a timely appeal filed in the name of the subcontractor may be sufficient to establish jurisdiction as long as the prime contractor's sponsorship can be shown.
An interesting dilemma arises in cases with respect to the CDA's requirement that the "contractor" must certify all claims over $100,000 as accurate, complete and duly owed to the contractor. The prime contractor must make the certifications--a certification by the subcontractor is insufficient.
U.S. COURTS
The following list are hot-links to websites with information on U.S. Courts:
U.S. Court of Appeals
The U.S. Courts of Appeals are the intermediate appellate courts in the federal judicial system. Twelve of these courts have jurisdiction over cases from certain geographic areas. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has national jurisdiction over specific types of cases appealed from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims as well as from the Boards of Contract Appeals.
U.S. Court of Federal Claims
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims, formerly the U.S. Claims Court, was established in 1982 as the successor to the trial division of the Court of Claims, which had been in existence since 1855. This Court has nationwide jurisdiction over a variety of cases, including tax refunds, federal taking of private property for public use, constitutional and statutory rights of military personnel and their dependents, back-pay demands from civil servants claiming unjust dismissal, persons injured by childhood vaccines, as well as federal government contractors appealing Final Decisions of Contracting Officers under the Contract Disputes statute.
U.S. Supreme Court
The United States Supreme Court consists of nine justices appointed for life by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. When a state court decides a case involving federal law, it in a sense acts as a federal court, and the U.S. Supreme Court may review its decisions. If dissatisfied with the decision of a Court of Appeals, the party may seek additional review in the Supreme Court; however, the Supreme Court primarily reviews only cases that involve a matter of great national importance and only accepts a small number of cases each term.
Example of Supreme Court decision (PDF file): Department of the Army, Petitioner v. Blue Fox, Inc. - An insolvent prime contractor failed to pay a sub-contractor for work the latter completed on a construction job...
Board of Contract Appeals
The Board of Contract Appeals assigned to each executive branch agency is designated as the authorized representative of the Secretary that Department. The ASBCA represents the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of the Air Force, in hearing, considering and determining appeals by contractors from Final Decisions of contracting officers under the Contract Disputes statute. Contractors have a choice to appeal a Contracting Officer's Final Decision within 90 days to the agency BCA or 1 year to the Claims Court. The State Department, CIA and other Agencies which do not have their own BCA contract with the ASBCA to hear their claims. Other agencies which have BCAs include the General Services Administration has the GSBCA and the Department of Transportation has the DOTBCA.
