JENNIFER WALKER ELROD, Circuit Judge:
DynMcDermott Petroleum Operations Company (DM) appeals the district court's confirmation of an arbitration award in favor of Petrofac, Incorporated. Because DM fails to show any reversible error, we AFFIRM.
DM operates the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the Department of Energy. DM subcontracted with Petrofac to design and install a transportable degas plant to service the reserve. On July 30, 2003, DM and Petrofac agreed to resolve any claim under the subcontract through binding arbitration. The contract stated:
In May 2004, Petrofac sent DM a multi-volume Request for Equitable Adjustment (REA). There, Petrofac asserted that DM disrupted Petrofac's ability to perform its work and sought damages for differing site conditions, delays, disruption costs, lost productivity, and acceleration costs.
On December 6, 2005, Petrofac agreed to release DM from all but a few specifically preserved claims. Among these preserved claims, the release included Petrofac's REA "as may be amended or supplemented."
By July 2006, the parties had failed to resolve the REA dispute via negotiation.
Petrofac subsequently filed its demand for arbitration. In June 2008, Petrofac provided DM the report of its damages expert, Frank Adams. The Adams report calculated Petrofac's damages using a different methodology and reached a different amount than the original REA. The arbitration began in March 2009. After five days of hearings, however, the arbitration panel recessed for seven months. When the arbitration reconvened, DM objected to the arbitration panel hearing any claims stemming from the different damages methodology used in the Adams report, claiming that it effectively created a new constructive change claim outside the parties' agreement to arbitrate.
The arbitration panel dismissed DM's objection because "the arbitration agreement is clear and encompasses all of the issues between the parties arising out of this contract. It is also clear that DM waived any objection it had to the arbitration of a constructive change claim." The arbitration panel subsequently awarded Petrofac damages for the "contract balance, damages for a constructive change to the contract, an award for the benefit of Womack, and interest from August 24, 2006 to July 26, 2010" to be paid "within thirty days of the Award."
The district court confirmed the award. The district court rejected DM's argument that the REA and the Adams report represented different claims. Therefore, the district court ruled that the arbitration panel did not exceed its authority by awarding damages as presented in the Adams report. The court also determined that the award was not procured through fraud or undue means under 9 U.S.C. § 10(a)(1). Finally, the district court ordered prejudgment interest after August 26, 2010, ruling that prejudgment interest recommenced after DM failed to pay the award within the thirty-day period.
This court reviews "a district court's confirmation of an award de novo, but the review of the underlying award is exceedingly deferential." Apache Bohai Corp. LDC v. Texaco China BV, 480 F.3d 397, 401 (5th Cir.2007) (internal quotation marks omitted).
On appeal, DM argues that the arbitration panel exceeded its powers by issuing an award on a claim not covered by the parties' arbitration agreement. 9 U.S.C. § 10(a)(4) (allowing a district court to vacate an award "where the arbitrators exceeded their powers"). Specifically, DM contends that the calculations in the expert report were extinguished by the 2005 release and therefore fall outside the parties' agreement to arbitrate. Petrofac responds that the parties contracted for the arbitration panel (and not the courts) to decide this question of arbitrability, and even if the arbitration panel did not have the power to decide arbitrability, the district court properly determined that the claims at issue were within the arbitration agreement.
We first consider if the arbitration panel properly determined the initial
Here, the parties expressly incorporated into their arbitration agreement the AAA Rules. These rules state that "[t]he arbitrator shall have the power to rule on his or her own jurisdiction, including any objections with respect to the existence, scope or validity of the arbitration agreement." We agree with most of our sister circuits that the express adoption of these rules presents clear and unmistakable evidence that the parties agreed to arbitrate arbitrability. See Fallo v. High-Tech Inst., 559 F.3d 874, 878 (8th Cir.2009) ("[W]e conclude that the arbitration provision's incorporation of the AAA Rules ... constitutes a clear and unmistakable expression of the parties' intent to leave the question of arbitrability to an arbitrator."); Qualcomm Inc. v. Nokia Corp., 466 F.3d 1366, 1372-73 (Fed. Cir.2006) (same); Terminix Int'l Co., LP v. Palmer Ranch Ltd. P'ship, 432 F.3d 1327, 1332-33 (11th Cir.2005) (same); Contec Corp. v. Remote Solution Co., 398 F.3d 205, 208 (2d Cir.2005) (same); Apollo Computer, Inc. v. Berg, 886 F.2d 469, 473 (1st Cir.1989) (same result under the similar ICC Rules). But see Riley Mfg. Co. v. Anchor Glass Container Corp., 157 F.3d 775, 780 (10th Cir.1998).
Next, DM contends that Petrofac procured the overtime premium portion of the award through fraud or undue means. 9 U.S.C. § 10(a)(1) (permitting the district court to vacate an award "where the award was procured by corruption, fraud, or undue means"). Among the many claims brought in the original REA, Petrofac brought two distinct claims for damages: (1) an overtime premium claim for the additional overtime on the degas project; and (2) a claim for DM's impact on other projects.
Finally, DM argues the district court committed reversible error by ordering prejudgment interest. "Texas law governs the award of prejudgment interest on the [arbitration] award," and "[u]nder Texas law, prevailing parties receive prejudgment interest as a matter of course." Executone Info. Sys., Inc. v. Davis, 26 F.3d 1314, 1329 (5th Cir.1994). On July 26, 2010, the arbitration panel ruled that Petrofac was entitled to interest, calculated the amount of interest as of the date of the award, and ordered payment of "interest from August 24, 2006 to July 26, 2010, within thirty days of the Award." DM did not pay within the required thirty-day period. The district court ordered that DM pay additional interest, reasoning that by ordering payment by August 25, 2010, the arbitration panel created "a thirty-day interest-free window from the date of the award," and DM "is not permitted to discount the arbitration panel's award by recalcitrantly delaying payment." We agree. The district court properly reinstated the arbitration panel's interest award after DM refused to pay within the required period.
The district court properly confirmed the arbitration panel's arbitration award. On appeal, DM has failed to demonstrate reversible error. Consequently, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.