War Risk and Security Surcharges Being Denied

We have started to see some PPSOs denying the War Risk and Security surcharges that we have been billing. Apparently, someone at SDDC has issued guidance to the PPSOs instructing them that these charges are not allowable under the solicitation, and those costs should be covered under the single factor rate. This differs from our interpretation of the solicitation, specifically:

Item 432 Application of Transportation SFR – HHG
(a) Transportation SFR include the following services:
…
(4) All land, water and air transportation, EXCEPT:
…
(d) Bunker fuel charges (BSC), air fuel surcharges (100), port security/congestion surcharges (CON), and/or war risk surcharges (WAR), where applicable, and when actually billed to the ITGBL Transportation Service Provider by ocean freight TSP, air TSP or port agent …

We have interpreted that section to mean that these charges are billable with appropriate documentation, and we stand by that interpretation. We are continuing to bill for these charges, while we work with SDDC to clarify their guidance to the PPSOs. Denied items will not be rebilled until we receive that clarification from SDDC. If SDDC continues to instruct PPSOs to deny the item based on their interpretation of the solicitation, we will ask GSA for a ruling on the issue.

Related Posts

1. Rebilling Bunker/Security/War Surcharges - March 8th, 2006
2. Applicable Surcharges - May 15th, 2007
3. SDDC Message on Bunker Surcharge, War Risk, and Related Items - February 27th, 2006