Payne Hackenbracht & Sullivan

Testing Procedures

Where a contract does not specify a particular quantitative method or procedure for testing an item to determine whether it meets particular performance requirements, the general rule is that the method for determining performance must be reasonable. See, e.g., Shirley Contracting Corp. et al., 85-3 BCA 18,214 (ENG BCA). However, in such circumstances, the test(s) employed must bear a reasonable relationship to reality, i.e., must take account of and reasonably replicate the conditions under which the items, as installed, are intended to operate. See, e.g., Sante Fe Engineers, Inc., 84-2 BCA 17,377 (PSBCA); Appeal of A-Nam Cong-Ty, 70-1 BCA 8106 (ASBCA). The test standards for determining performance should be suited to the method of performance which the contractor has permissibly selected, and to the intended use and conditions of operation of the item. Meco, Inc., 65-2 BCA 5132 (ASBCA); Waltham Electronics Corp., 1962 BCA 3378 (NASA BCA).

Where the specifications do not clearly require a different method, the testing procedure should conform to and not exceed the method utilized in the industry. G.W. Galloway Co., 77-2 BCA 12,460 (ASBCA); Roscoe Engineering Corp. & Associates, 61-1 BCA 2919 (ASBCA); Shirley Contracting Corp., et al., supra. Although the government may utilize a test not specifically called out in the specifications, the result must not be to impose a performance requirement for the item which has not been imposed by the specifications. General Motors Corp., 65-2 BCA 4885 (ASBCA); Specialties, Inc., 59-2 2430 (ASBCA).

(Also See Government Insistence on Higher Standard of Performance)