International Management Services, Inc. v. United States

80 Fed. Cl. 1, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 413, 2007 WL 4707746
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedDecember 21, 2007
DocketNo. 07-831 C
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 80 Fed. Cl. 1 (International Management Services, 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
International Management Services, Inc. v. United States, 80 Fed. Cl. 1, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 413, 2007 WL 4707746 (uscfc 2007).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

SWEENEY, Judge.

This postaward bid protest comes before the court on Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss. Defendant seeks dismissal of plaintiffs complaint pursuant to Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”). Specifically, defendant contends that plaintiff lacks standing to bring this protest, that plaintiff improperly seeks review of nonjusticiable determinations, and that plaintiff is prohibited from challenging the terms of the solicitation once the contract has been awarded. For the reasons set forth below, the court grants defendant’s motion.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual History2

Plaintiff International Management Services, Inc. is a Maine corporation “engaged in the business of providing linguists on a commercial basis.” Compl. U1. On August 13, 2006, plaintiff submitted a bid in response to solicitation number W911W4-05-R-0006 (“solicitation”), issued by the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command (“Army”) on June 30, 2006, for Linguist Translation and Interpretation Support for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Id HIT 5, 9. The solicitation described an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity task order contract, with a minimum order of $10 million and maximum orders of $703 million. Id Kit 7-8. In addition, the solicitation was “100 percent set aside for small business using North American Industry Classification System (‘NAICS’) code 5419[3]0 (Translation and Interpretation Services), with a size standard of $6.5 million.”3 Id H 6.

Plaintiff avers that four contractors were considered by the Army to be in the competitive range—plaintiff; defendant-intervenor Aegis, Mission Essential Personnel LLC; Torres Advanced Enterprise Solutions, LLC (“Torres”); and Thomas Computer Solutions, LLC (“Thomas”). Id 1111. On December 15, 2006, after negotiations, the Army awarded the contract to Thomas. Id H12. Five days later, plaintiff, defendant-intervenor, and Torres filed size protests with the Army’s contracting officer, contending that Thomas was not a small business. Id H13. On January 8, 2007, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) issued a size determination in response to the three size protests that found Thomas “to be other than small because its average annual receipts exceeded $6.5 million.” Id It 14. As a result of the SBA’s finding, on January 31, 2007, the Army rescinded the contract award to Thomas and instead awarded the contract to plaintiff. Id H15.

About a week after the Army’s contract award to plaintiff, both defendant-intervenor and Torres filed size protests with the Army’s contracting officer, contending that plaintiff “was not a small business because of its affiliation with Worldwide Language Resources, Inc. (WWLR’) and based on its undue reliance on WWLR under the ostensible subcontractor rule.” Id lili 16-17. Then, on February 16, 2007, both defendant-inter-venor and Torres filed protests with the United States Government Accountability Office (“GAO”), “asserting that the Army had improperly selected [plaintiff] for award because the Army’s evaluation was improper, the Army had failed to conduct meaningful discussions and the Army’s best value determination was unreasonable.” Id. 1118. The SBA issued its size determination concerning plaintiff on March 2, 2007, finding that plaintiff was “other than small both because it had one or more ostensible subcontractors and [3]*3because it was affiliated with WWLR.” Id. H19. The SBA also noted that “with a size standard of $6.5 million, it is not surprising that a small business would be forced to rely heavily on its larger subcontractors.” Id. 1120. As a result of the SBA’s finding, the Army rescinded the contract award to plaintiff. Id. II21. Two days later, the GAO dismissed the protests of defendant-interve-nor and Torres as moot. Id. H 22.

On September 21, 2007, the Army awarded the contract to defendant-intervenor. Id. H 23. Six days later, on September 27, 2007, plaintiff filed a size protest with the Army’s contracting officer, contending that both defendant-intervenor and Torres were “other than small____” Id. 111124-25. Plaintiff argued that defendant-intervenor was not a small business because it exceeded “the relevant receipts standard” and because it was affiliated with Science Applications International Corporation (“Science Applications”), “a large business with revenues of $8.3 billion in fiscal year 2007,” which served as the ostensible subcontractor. Id. If 24. Plaintiff then argued that Torres was not a small business because it “exceeded the relevant receipts standard” and because it was affiliated with L-3 Communications, “a large business,” which served as the ostensible subcontractor. Id. 1125.

Meanwhile, on October 3, 2007, and October 9, 2007, Torres filed two protests concerning the solicitation, but of an unknown nature, with the GAO. Id. 111126-27. Torres then filed a size protest with the Army’s contracting officer on October 18, 2007, asserting that defendant-intervenor was not a small business because it “exceeded the relevant receipts standard” and it “was affiliated with several additional entities based solely upon the appearance of the name of [defendant-intervenor’s] Chief Executive Officer in Ohio Secretary of State records.” Id. 1128.

The SBA dismissed plaintiffs size protest of defendant-intervenor on October 26, 2007, finding “that [plaintiff] lacked standing under the provisions of 13 C.F.R. § 121.1004(a)(1) and 13 C.F.R. § 121.1001(a)(l)(iv).” Id. U 29. In its October 26, 2007 decision, the SBA did not mention plaintiffs protest of Torres’s size. Id. The SBA then issued another size determination on November 2, 2007, apparently in response to Torres’s size protest of defendant-intervenor, finding that defendant-intervenor was a small business under the solicitation’s size standard. Id. 1130. The SBA did not make a finding concerning whether Science Applications was defendant-intervenor’s ostensible subcontractor. Id. Finally, on November 9, 2007, the GAO dismissed Torres’s protests for reasons unknown to plaintiff. Id. f 31.

B. Procedural History

Plaintiff filed a Complaint for Injunctive and Declaratory Relief in this court on November 28, 2007, advancing three general allegations. Count I alleges that the Army’s contracting officer, in violation of Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) § 19.501 and the Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C. § 644, “failed to raise or consider the question of [defendant-intervenor]’s ostensible subcontractor, even though the Contracting Officer was fully aware of this issue.” Compl. H 33. Count II alleges that the SBA, in violation of 13 C.F.R. § 121.1009, FAR § 19.501, and the Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C. § 644

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Bluebook (online)
80 Fed. Cl. 1, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 413, 2007 WL 4707746, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/international-management-services-inc-v-united-states-uscfc-2007.