Alion Science & Technology Corp. v. United States

74 Fed. Cl. 372, 2006 U.S. Claims LEXIS 315, 2006 WL 3019178
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedOctober 11, 2006
DocketNo. 06-682C
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 74 Fed. Cl. 372 (Alion Science & Technology Corp. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alion Science & Technology Corp. v. United States, 74 Fed. Cl. 372, 2006 U.S. Claims LEXIS 315, 2006 WL 3019178 (uscfc 2006).

Opinion

ORDER AND OPINION

HODGES, Judge.

We denied plaintiffs application for a restraining order during the October 6 hearing, primarily because we did not believe Alion has a substantial likelihood of succeeding on the merits. Plaintiff also did not show that it would suffer irreparable harm absent injunction, that the balance of hardships tilted in its favor, or that injunction would serve the public interest. The purpose of this Opinion is to memorialize that ruling, and expand upon the court’s rationale for denying the petition.

BACKGROUND

The following facts come from the Complaint, plaintiffs motions, and intervenor’s opposition. The administrative record has not been filed. The Defense Information Systems Agency issued a request for proposals in February 2005 to provide the Agency’s Joint Spectrum Center with electromagnetic engineering services. The services would “support the Warfighter, Federal and non-Federal agencies, allied Governments, NATO, and the private sector.” DISA announced it would evaluate offerors’ technical proposals, past performance, and cost. It would award the contract to the bidder offering the Government the best value. The technical category included four subfactors of evaluation. These were technical approach, management plan, transition plan, and organizational strategic quality assurance plan. Those subfactors included various elements, of which the management plan’s “Organizational Conflict of Interest Plan” is important for our purposes. The RFP’s requirement that offers include this Conflict of Interest Plan had the effect of announcing that the Agency recognized that problems regarding organizational conflicts could arise during contract performance. Potential conflicts of concern were those that would impair the contractor’s objectivity in performing the contract requirements.2

DISA held discussions with two bidders, Alion and ITT, following initial offers. They submitted final proposals thereafter, and the Agency determined that ITT’s offer presented the best overall value. Alion was the incumbent on the contract. DISA awarded a new contract to ITT on August 5, 2005.

Alion protested the award to the Government Accountability Office, particularly on the issue of ITT’s plan for mitigating potential organizational conflicts of interest. GAO dismissed the protest after DISA agreed to take corrective action. Such action included the Agency’s request that Alion and ITT submit revised conflict of interest plans. DISA evaluated those plans and concluded that ITT’s offer had the potential for conflicts in fifteen percent of the work, but nevertheless was acceptable because ITT intended to rely upon a “firewall” to isolate it from subcontractors that would perform the conflicted work. DISA awarded the contract to ITT. This decision led to Alion’s second GAO protest.

GAO sustained the protest in January 2006 on the basis that DISA did not identify the nature and extent of ITT’s conflicts of inter[374]*374est. GAO recommended that DISA address the scope of ITT’s involvement in spectrum-related services and reevaluate the potential for conflicts that ITT’s proposal could create. GAO also expressed interest in the impact of ITT’s proposed “firewalling” procedure as a tool to mitigate the conflicts.

The Agency again requested conflict plans from Alion and ITT. DISA conducted an in-depth analysis of ITT’s potential conflicts and the likely impact that firewalling would have on ITT’s quality of service. It determined that ITT’s potential conflicts of interest were twenty-nine percent instead of fifteen percent but concluded that ITT’s proposal remained the best value to the Government.

DISA notified Alion in June 2006 that it had selected ITT for contract award, and Alion again protested. GAO dismissed Alton’s third protest in September, and plaintiff filed a Complaint here three days later. Al-ion moved first for a preliminary injunction then filed a TRO application when DISA announced its intent to have ITT begin performance on the contract before the court would hear Alton's request for the injunction. As the incumbent, Alion sought to keep DISA from lifting the stop work order for twenty days, or until such time as this court could decide the merits of Alton’s protest.

APPLICABLE LAW

The Tucker Act authorizes this court to “award any relief that the court considers proper, including ... injunctive relief.” 28 U.S.C. § 1491(b)(2). However, “[i]njunctive relief is an extraordinary remedy.” Dynacs Eng’g Co. v. United States, 48 Fed.Cl. 614, 616 (2001) (citing FMC Corp. v. United States, 3 F.3d 424, 427 (Fed.Cir.1993)). Courts weigh the following when deciding whether to issue a TRO: (1) plaintiffs likelihood of success on the merits; (2) whether plaintiff will suffer irreparable injury without relief; (3) whether the balance of the harms tilts to plaintiff absent relief; and (4) whether granting injunctive relief is in the public interest. Zenith Radio Corp. v. United States, 710 F.2d 806, 809 (Fed.Cir.1983); Ariel Servs., Inc. v. United States, 70 Fed.Cl. 173, 226 (2006). “No one factor, taken individually, is necessarily dispositive____ [T]he weakness of the showing regarding one factor may be overborne by the strength of the others.” FMC Corp., 3 F.3d at 427. The decision to order an injunction is within the sound discretion of the trial court. Id.

DISCUSSION

Likelihood of Success on the Merits

Generally, a reviewing court does not disturb an agency award unless it is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise violates applicable procurement law. 28 U.S.C. § 1491(b)(4); 5 U.S.C. § 706; Impresa Construzioni Geom. Domenico Garufi v. United States, 238 F.3d 1324, 1332 (Fed.Cir.2001). Alion offers several reasons why DISA’s award to ITT was arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion. The court was concerned primarily with two of these. First, we were uncertain whether DISA meaningfully considered the extent and impact of the OCIs in ITT’s proposal. Alion maintains that DISA relied heavily on ITT’s assurances that its firewalling of subcontractors would mitigate such conflicts without reaching an independent conclusion. Second, we were bothered by the source selection authority’s use of term “stranglehold” to describe Alton's incumbent status. This statement could suggest that DISA awarded the contract upon consideration of factors other than those in the Solicitation.

We considered these issues fully. Alton is unlikely to succeed on the merits, especially considering the deferential standard of review to which this court is bound in analyzing “best value” procurements. See, e.g., Bean Stuyvesant, LLC v. United States, 48 Fed.Cl. 303, 320 (2000).

Whether DISA reasonably addressed the scope of ITT’s impaired objectivity OCIs

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
74 Fed. Cl. 372, 2006 U.S. Claims LEXIS 315, 2006 WL 3019178, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alion-science-technology-corp-v-united-states-uscfc-2006.