Accord and Satisfaction – Exceptions

Generally, acceptance of a written change order binds both parties and operates as an accord and satisfaction and a bar to any further claim by the contractor. Quaker Elevator Company, Inc., PSBCA No. 324, 78-1 BCA ¶ 12,965; Dawson Construction Company, Inc., GSBCA No. 3998, 75-2 BCA ¶ 11,563. There are some circumstances, of course, where this general principle is not applicable. It covers only those claims which involve genuine issues in dispute at the time the change order is issued. Blake Construction Company, Inc., GSBCA No. 4742, 80-2 BCA ¶ 14,756. For example, in Mann Construction Co., Inc., AGBCA No. 76-109, 80-2 BCA ¶ 14,674, the Board held that a change order did not constitute an accord and satisfaction when it was clear that it was never intended to encompass the problems experienced by the contractor after the preparation of the change order. In that case, it was apparent from the government’s actions, including the preparation of an additional change order specifically addressed to the subject matter of the claim, that the change order was not prepared in anticipation of the difficulty the contractor was thereafter to experience.

Appeal of Jack Cooper Const. Co., Inc., VABCA No. 1663, 84-3 BCA ¶ 17703.

Updated: July 24, 2018