A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge has denied a request by the U.S. Postal Service to reconsider a $67 million award to Northrop Grumman in a long-running dispute over the provision of postal sorting technology.
In an opinion issued on Oct. 17, Senior Judge Erik Bruggink rejected the government agency’s request to reconsider the merits of Northrop’s entitlement to the sum but agreed to reopen calculations of certain damages.
The latest order represents a step towards resolution in the disagreement over an $874 million firm-fixed-price contract, which was awarded to the federal contracting giant in 2007 to build and install 100 automated sorting machines for flat postal items. Items such as rectangular cards or envelopes, which are larger and heavier than letters but smaller than packages, are known in U.S. Postal Service terminology as “flats.”
Earlier this year in June, the federal judge entered an order in the case rejecting much of Northrop’s claim against USPS for breach of contract damages but awarded the company about $67 million plus interest as payment for the contract balance that remained due.
