Kraftson Caudle LLC
1600 Tysons Boulevard
Suite 250
McLean, Virginia 22102

Phone: (703) 873-5500
Facsimile: 703-873-5519

Telephone:
(703) 873-5500

Email:
dkraftson@kraftsoncaudle.com

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Practice Concentration & Experience

Mr. Kraftson specializes in the areas of construction and government contract law focusing primarily on the preparation, negotiation, and litigation of claims for additional time and money, under fixed price and cost reimbursable contracts, claim analysis under government and private construction contracts, as well as counseling contractors and owners regarding the drafting and negotiating of contract terms.  He has also served as legal counsel on several design-build and public-private venture proposals, subsequently handling contract negotiations on such projects.  Mr. Kraftson’s practice is both national and international in scope and has involved representation of both construction owners and construction contractors on a wide variety of projects ranging from wastewater treatment facilities and chemical processing plants, to highways and nuclear and fossil power plants.  His involvement in construction litigation in numerous state and federal courts, arbitration proceedings, administrative hearings, and other dispute resolution forums, enables him to maintain an in-depth knowledge of the federal, state, and local government law pertaining to construction contracting.  These cases have typically involved claims for changes, differing site conditions, delay and disruption, and the impact and ripple effect of changes in the construction schedule, and the costs of performance.  As a result, Mr. Kraftson is intimately familiar with CPM scheduling principles and construction cost analysis, and has worked extensively with construction claims, scheduling, and accounting experts.

Specific construction and government contract matters that Mr. Kraftson has handled include the following:

• Lead counsel in negotiating claims and contract changes and arbitrating disputes for an ENR top five contractor in connection with a $250 million contract for the construction of a new professional baseball stadium in the Southwestern United States
• Lead counsel in representing a major international contractor in conjunction with construction disputes arising out of the construction of a $100 million gas pipeline project in South America
• Lead counsel for a major contractor in connection with a $20 million arbitration arising out of the construction of an electric generating peaking facility in Virginia
• Lead counsel for a major mechanical/electrical contracting group in connection with disputes totaling over $35 million arising out of the construction of three combined cycle power plants in New England
• Lead counsel in arbitration of a $6 million claim arising out of the construction of a major road project in the Eastern United States
• Lead counsel in Federal District Court litigation in the Eastern United States for a major engineering firm defending against a $25 million claim arising out of a $100 million environmental remediation project
• Lead counsel defending a large municipality against a $40 million claim for damages arising out of a $100 million project for the expansion and upgrade of a wastewater treatment plant
• Lead counsel for a slurry trenching specialty contractor in arbitration of multi-million dollar claims arising out of a differing site condition on an EPA funded environmental remediation project
• Lead counsel for preparation of claims on behalf of a major international construction firm in connection with disputes with the U.S. Department of State over the construction of several embassy compounds in the Middle East and Europe
• Represented a major international engineering and construction firm in the negotiation of a design build contract for the design and construction of a $1.5 billion highway project under an innovative piece of legislation designed to foster public-private partnering in transportation projects
• Preparation and presentation of a differing site condition claim on an EPA funded environmental remediation project in New England
• Special counsel to a public utility company in connection with a prudency hearing before a state public utilities commission in connection with expert testimony regarding the underlying reasons for enormous costs and schedule increases on a nuclear power plant project
• Preparation and presentation of claims for an underwater pipeline contractor in connection with a dispute with a major municipality in the Northeastern United States
• Lead counsel for preparation and mini-trial presentation of multi-million dollar claim on behalf of an ENR top five contractor arising out of a levee reconstruction project in the Western United States involving claims against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for differing site conditions and contractual changes
• Counsel for a major national contractor before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in a dispute with the Air National Guard over additional costs which had been incurred in the construction of an airfield runway at a military installation in the Southwestern United States
• Representation of a major international EPC contractor relative to a claim in connection with the design and construction of a gas recycling project in the Middle East
• Lead counsel for a major corporation in a Federal District Court suit in the mid-west arising out of a project for the construction of electrostatic precipitators for a public utility involving claims for delays, disruption and loss of labor efficiency