civil action brought by or against the United Statesincludes an appeal by a party, other than the United States, from a decision of a contracting officer rendered pursuant to a disputes clause in a contract with the Government or pursuant to chapter 71 of title 41;
courtincludes the United States Court of Federal Claims and the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims;
demandmeans the express demand of the United States which led to the adversary adjudication, but shall not include a recitation of the maximum statutory penalty (i) in the complaint, or (ii) elsewhere when accompanied by an express demand for a lesser amount.
fees and other expensesincludes the reasonable expenses of expert witnesses, the reasonable cost of any study, analysis, engineering report, test, or project which is found by the court to be necessary for the preparation of the party’s case, and reasonable attorney fees (The amount of fees awarded under this subsection shall be based upon prevailing market rates for the kind and quality of the services furnished, except that (i) no expert witness shall be compensated at a rate in excess of the highest rate of compensation for expert witnesses paid by the United States;
final judgmentmeans a judgment that is final and not appealable, and includes an order of settlement;
partymeans (i) an individual whose net worth did not exceed $2,000,000 at the time the civil action was filed, or (ii) any owner of an unincorporated business, or any partnership, corporation, association, unit of local government, or organization, the net worth of which did not exceed $7,000,000 at the time the civil action was filed, and which had not more than 500 employees at the time the civil action was filed;
position of the United Statesmeans, in addition to the position taken by the United States in the civil action, the action or failure to act by the agency upon which the civil action is based;
tide or submerged landsmeans “lands beneath navigable waters” as defined in section 2 of the Submerged Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1301).
United Statesincludes any agency and any official of the United States acting in his or her official capacity;