Coast Professional, Inc. v. United States

CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedMarch 14, 2018
Docket15-207
StatusPublished

This text of Coast Professional, Inc. v. United States (Coast Professional, Inc. 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
Coast Professional, Inc. v. United States, (uscfc 2018).

Opinion

In the United States Court of Federal Claims Nos. 15-207, 15-242, 15-249, 15-265 (consolidated)

(Filed Under Seal: March 6, 2018)

(Reissued for Publication: March 14, 2018)1 ****************************************** * * COAST PROFESSIONAL, INC., NATIONAL * RECOVERIES, INC., ENTERPRISE * RECOVERY SYSTEMS, INC., and PIONEER * CREDIT RECOVERY, INC., * * Plaintiffs, * * v. * * Agency’s Voluntary Corrective THE UNITED STATES, * Action; RCFC 12(b)(1) and * 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss; Defendant, * Mootness; Bid Preparation and * Proposal Costs. and * * FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, * INC., ACCOUNT CONTROL TECHNOLOGY, * INC., CONTINENTAL SERVICE GROUP, * INC., WINDHAM PROFESSIONALS, INC., * and GC SERVICES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, * * Defendant-Intervenors. * * ****************************************** *

1 The Court issued this decision under seal on March 6, 2018 and invited the parties to submit proposed redactions of any proprietary, confidential, or other protected information on or before March 13, 2018. None of the parties proposed any redactions. Thus, the Court reissues the opinion in full. One correction, regarding the filing date of Defendant’s motion to dismiss (Dkt. No. 213), has been made. The motion to dismiss was filed in February 2017. Megan C. Connor, with whom were Pamela J. Mazza, Patrick T. Rothwell, and Julia Di Vito, PilieroMazza PLLC, Washington, D.C., for Plaintiff Coast Professional, Inc.

Edward T. DeLisle, Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for Plaintiff National Recoveries, Inc.

Daniel R. Forman, with whom were Peter J. Eyre, James G. Peyster, and Robert J. Sneckenberg, Crowell & Moring LLP, Washington, D.C., for Plaintiff Enterprise Recovery Systems, Inc. Jonathan D. Shaffer, with whom were Mary Pat Buckenmeyer and Sean K. Griffin, Smith Pachter McWorther PLC, Tysons Corner, Virginia, for Plaintiff Pioneer Credit Recovery, Inc.

Michael D. Snyder, with whom were Chad A. Readler, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Robert E. Kirschman, Jr., Director, Patricia M. McCarthy, Assistant Director, Jana Moses, Trial Attorney, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., as well as Jose Otero and Sarah Falk, General Attorneys, Office of General Counsel, U.S. Department of Education, for Defendant.

Jason A. Levine, with whom was David R. Johnson, Vinson & Elkins LLP, Washington, D.C., for Defendant-Intervenor Financial Management Systems, Corp.

Benjamin G. Chew, with whom was Rory E. Adams, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, Washington, D.C., for Defendant-Intervenor Account Control Technology, Inc.

Edward H. Meyers, with whom was Rebecca R. Anzidei, Stein, Mitchell, Cipollone, Beato & Missner LLP, Washington, D.C., for Defendant-Intervenor Continental Service Group, Inc.

David T. Ralston, Jr., with whom was Frank S. Murray, Foley & Lardner LLP, Washington, D.C., for Defendant-Intervenor Windham Professionals, Inc.

Stephen E. Ruscus, Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, Washington, D.C., for Defendant- Intervenor GC Services Limited Partnership.

Jeffrey M. Chiow, with whom were Neil H. O’Donnell and Lucas T. Hanback, Rogers Joseph O’Donnell, P.C., Washington, D.C., for The CBE Group, Inc., Amicus Curiae.

Paul M. Honigberg, with whom were Albert B. Krachman, Kendra P. Norwood, and Harrison H. Kang, Blank Rome LLP, Washington, D.C., for West Asset Management, Inc., Amicus Curiae.

2 OPINION AND ORDER

WHEELER, Judge.

Consolidated Plaintiffs Coast Professional, Inc. (“Coast”), National Recoveries, Inc. (“NRI”), Enterprise Recovery Systems, Inc. (“Enterprise”2), and Pioneer Credit Recovery, Inc. (“Pioneer”) (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) filed this post-award bid protest following a series of actions taken by the Department of Education (“Education” or “the Agency”). Currently before the Court is Defendant’s renewed motion to dismiss Plaintiffs’ amended complaints. For the reasons stated below, the Court GRANTS Defendant’s renewed motion to dismiss.

Background

A. Education’s 2008 Solicitation and Award Term Extensions

Since 1981, Education has contracted with private collection agencies (“PCAs”) for collection and administrative resolution services on defaulted student loans. See Coast Professional, Inc. v. United States, Fin. Mgmt. Sys., Inc., 120 Fed. Cl. 727 (2015), vacated, 828 F.3d 1349 (Fed. Cir. 2016); see also Lockhart v. United States, 546 U.S. 142, 144 (2005). In May 2008, Education issued a Request for Proposals under Solicitation ED-08- R-0052 for such services. The competition was limited to PCAs that already held General Services Administration (“GSA”) Financial and Business Solution contracts. In April 2009, Education selected 22 PCAs that had submitted proposals in response to the solicitation and issued 22 task orders (“2009 Task Orders”). The task orders contained a base period of performance and option periods. The 2009 Task Orders also had practically identical terms and conditions, including section H.4, which granted Education the discretion to issue award-term extensions (“ATEs”) to PCAs with a Competitive Performance and Continuous Surveillance score (“CPCS rating”) of 85 or more.3 Each of the Plaintiffs in this case achieved a CPCS rating of at least 85.

In December 2014, after the Government Accountability Office recommended that Education improve oversight of its collection agencies, the Agency’s Federal Student Aid (“FSA”) began conducting focused reviews, or audits, of the 22 aforementioned PCAs to determine potential violations of consumer protection laws, particularly the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692, and the Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Acts or Practices statute, 12 U.S.C. § 5536. During the audit, FSA calculated an error rate for each PCA. As a result of Plaintiffs’ higher error rates during this audit, in February 2015, Education decided that Plaintiffs would not receive ATE task orders and their 2009 Task 2 During the course of litigation, Enterprise Recovery Systems, Inc. changed its corporate name to Alltran Education, Inc. This opinion refers to the entity as “Enterprise.” 3 Coast, 120 Fed. Cl. at 731-32, outlines the CPCS scores in greater detail. The specific information is not relevant to the disposition of this case and is therefore not repeated in this opinion. 3 Orders would be allowed to expire. Education made this determination despite Plaintiffs’ high performance and CPCS rankings.

B. Initial Filing and Federal Circuit Decision

Following this determination, in March 2015, each plaintiff filed a separate action in this Court, challenging Education’s ATE decision. The Court consolidated Plaintiffs’ cases, and the five contractors who received ATEs, Financial Management Systems, Inc., Account Control Technology, Inc., Continental Service Group, Inc., Windham Professionals, Inc., and GC Services Limited Partnership, filed motions to intervene as defendant-intervenors. CBE Group, Inc. and West Asset Management, Inc., 2009 Task Order awardees, filed complaints in this Court and were admitted as amici. Following briefing and oral argument, the Court dismissed Plaintiffs’ complaints for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Coast, 120 Fed. Cl. at 727. Pioneer and Enterprise appealed this decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Pending appeal, the case was reassigned from Judge Francis M. Allegra to Chief Judge Susan G. Braden.

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