American Boys Construction Company, ASBCA No. 60515

Contract W56SGK-16-C-0013 (fixed-price, $120,801) awarded 14 Feb 2016 to American Boys Construction Company (ABC) to install a sniper screen in Kabul; performance window 28 Feb–29 Apr 2016 and contractor to begin within 5 days of a Notice to Proceed (NTP).
Preconstruction conference on 18 Feb: government reiterated that work must not begin prior to NTP and that material submittals required CO approval on Air Force Form 3000 before installation.
ABC emailed material submittals on 20 Feb; government personnel (CO and rep)s deny approving the submittals. ABC asserts an earlier verbal approval, which the Board found unpersuasive.
Government issued a stop-work order on 23 Feb and barred ABC personnel from the site on 25 Feb; contract was terminated for convenience effective 28 Feb.
ABC submitted a termination settlement proposal seeking $67,793 (about $55,893 for materials and $11,900 for stand-by labor). The CO denied payment; ABC appealed to the ASBCA.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Recoverability of materials purchased before government approval of submittals	ABC says materials were purchased reasonably early because it allegedly received a verbal go-ahead and materials were scarce	Government says purchases were premature because no CO approval was given and contractor should have awaited approval/NTP	Denied: Board found no evidence of government approval and that purchasing before approval (and before NTP) was unreasonable under the circumstances, so material costs not recoverable
Recoverability of stand-by labor costs incurred before NTP	ABC sought $11,900 for stand-by labor (itemized by position)	Government contested lack of substantiation	Denied: Board held stand-by labor can be recoverable in principle but ABC failed to substantiate costs; no award without proof
Effect of FAR termination clauses and burden of proof	ABC relied on FAR 52.249-2 entitlement principles to make it whole for termination costs	Government relied on CO determination and argued limits on costs pre-NTP or without approval	Board applied FAR 52.249-2 principles: contractor may recover reasonable proven costs from terminated work, but costs must be reasonable and proven by contractor; here ABC failed that burden

Lisbon Contractors, Inc. v. United States, 828 F.2d 759 (Fed. Cir. 1987) (contractor bears burden to prove termination costs)
Dawco Construction Co. v. United States, 930 F.2d 872 (Fed. Cir. 1991) (limitations on awarding speculative damages when contractor fails to substantiate claims)
Rejlectone, Inc. v. Dalton, 60 F.3d 1572 (Fed. Cir. 1995) (discussed in context of evidentiary standards; earlier cases may be affected on other grounds)