By John P. Rowley and Jennifer A. Short
In late December 2002, a trial court in Fairfax County, Virginia, ordered The Cube Corporation, a prime contractor with the Navy and NASA, to honor its teaming agreement and continue working with its teaming partner and primary subcontractor, EG&G Inc. EG&G Inc. v. The Cube Corporation, Chancery No. 178996 (Fairfax Cir. Ct. Dec. 23, 2002). In a scholarly, 25-page, written letter opinion, Judge Terrence Ney distinguished the case from a 1997 decision by the Virginia Supreme Court that had declared a teaming agreement an unenforceable "agreement to agree."
Applying general principles of contract law in Virginia, Judge Ney held that parties to a contract are entitled to receive the benefit of their bargain, and that the courts will enforce the parties’ contractual obligations. Specifically, in this case, the teaming agreement promised EG&G that it would be given a subcontract if Cube succeeded in obtaining the prime contract with the government.
