Island Creek Associates, LLC v. United States

Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit·Decided September 16, 2026·No. 25-1140·Published

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

ISLAND CREEK ASSOCIATES, LLC, Plaintiff-Appellant

v.

UNITED STATES, Defendant-Appellee

2025-1140

Appeal from the United States Court of Federal Claims in No. 1:24-cv-00554-DAT, Judge David A. Tapp.

Decided: September 16, 2026

NICOLE DESIREE POTTROFF, Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC, Lawrence, KS, argued for plaintiff-appellant. Also represented by JOHN LEE HOLTZ, SHANE J. MCCALL, GREGORY PHILLIP WEBER.

PATRICK ANGULO, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington , DC, argued for defendant-appellee. Also represented by STEVEN MICHAEL MAGER, PATRICIA M. MCCARTHY, BRETT SHUMATE.

Before DYK, REYNA, and STARK, Circuit Judges.

2 ISLAND CREEK ASSOCIATES, LLC v. US

REYNA, Circuit Judge.

Island Creek Associates, LLC appeals the judgment of the United States Court of Federal Claims dismissing its five-count complaint for lack of jurisdiction. We affirm, but on alternative grounds. The Court of Federal Claims lacks jurisdiction over Counts I–III and V of the complaint because these counts are moot by corrective action taken by the government. The Court of Federal Claims lacks jurisdiction over Count IV because the relief sought in Count IV is barred under the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994’s task order bar. 10 U.S.C. § 3406(f). To the extent Count IV challenges the contract to fellow awardee Precise Systems Inc., Island Creek lacks statutory standing to challenge this award.

BACKGROUND

I. SeaPort-NxG MAC

On February 14, 2018, the United States Navy (“Navy”

or “agency”) issued a solicitation for proposals for indefinite -delivery, indefinite-quantity (“IDIQ”) multiple award contracts (“MACs”), referred to in the solicitation as the “SeaPort-Next Generation” MAC (“SeaPort-NxG MAC”). 1 The solicitation contemplated a maximum of $10 billion in engineering and program management services, to be obtained from numerous awardees of a SeaPort-NxG MAC. J.A. 67.

On January 2, 2019, the Navy awarded a SeaPort-NxG MAC, Contract No. N0017819D7896, to appellant Island Creek Associates, LLC (“Island Creek”). J.A. 40. The Navy

1 An “IDIQ” contract “allows an agency to issue a broad solicitation for a general procurement goal and then more detailed solicitations for individual task orders as specific needs arise.” 22nd Century Techs., Inc. v. United States, 57 F.4th 993, 996 (Fed. Cir. 2023).

ISLAND CREEK ASSOCIATES, LLC v. US 3

also awarded, respectively, SeaPort-NxG MAC Contract Nos. N0017819D7533 and N0017819D8321 to non-parties Don Selvy Enterprises, Inc. (“DSE”) and Precise Systems Inc. (“Precise”). These three contracts had the same terms. Id.

There are three sections of the SeaPort-NxG MAC that together explain which companies can hold a SeaPort-NxG MAC. First, Section C.10.2 of the SeaPort-NxG MAC, titled “One Prime Contract Per Company,” provided that the agency would award only one SeaPort-NxG MAC per one “company,” also referred to as a “Prime contract holder.” J.A. 79. Section C.10.2 noted that a “[c]ompany” included “affiliates” and “Joint Ventures.” Id. This section also noted that an “affiliated company” could submit a proposal in response to a task order solicitation issued under the SeaPort-NxG MAC but that such proposal had to be submitted through the account of the “Prime contract holder and the proposal should clearly identify the affiliate as the prime.” Id.

Second, Section C.10.1 of the SeaPort-NxG MAC, titled “Definitions,” defined “[a]ffiliates” as “business concerns that are affiliates of each other if, directly or indirectly, either one controls or has the power to control the other, or another concern controls or has the power to control both.” Id.

Third, Section C.10.3 clarified how the “One Prime Contract Per Company” rule applied to joint ventures. J.A. 144. 2 Section C.10.3 provided that:

2 Section C.10.3 was not part of the original terms of the SeaPort-NxG MAC. The agency later added it to the terms of the contract via a “mass modification,” meaning the terms of all issued SeaPort-NxG MACs were uniformly modified.

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A Joint Venture and individual partners in the Joint Venture can only hold one SeaPort NxG MAC. If one partner of the Joint Venture holds a Prime MAC contract, then the Joint Venture entity cannot also hold a subsequent Prime MAC contract . Members of the Joint Venture must decide which - the Joint Venture or the individual partner - would be the Prime MAC holder.

J.A. 144.

On September 15, 2022, the U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) approved DSE and Precise to participate in the SBA’s “Mentor-Protégé Program” (“MPP”) with DSE as the protégé company and Precise as the mentor company. J.A. 348, J.A. 352. 3 On October 14, 2022, DSE and Precise entered a joint venture named Secise, LLC (“Secise”). J.A. 348.

On January 4, 2024, the Navy issued its twelfth mass modification to the SeaPort-NxG MAC, giving rise to the below bid protest proceedings (“January 4, 2024 Modification ”). J.A. 349. In addition to making several other modifications to the SeaPort-NxG MAC not at issue in this appeal, see J.A. 278–319, the twelfth modification created an exception to the “One Prime Contract Per Company” rule for joint ventures participating in the SBA’s MPP. See J.A. 292. Under this exception, a joint venture could hold a SeaPort-NxG MAC, as could mentor and protégé companies . See id. In other words, as relevant here, the joint

3 The SBA’s MPP allows “small businesses with limited industry experience (protégés) [to] partner with experienced government contractors (mentors) to compete for federal procurement contracts.” SH Synergy, LLC v. United States, 165 Fed. Cl. 745, 751 (2023) (citation modified ) (quoting 13 C.F.R. § 125.9(a)).

ISLAND CREEK ASSOCIATES, LLC v. US 5

venture, the mentor, and the protégé could each hold a distinct SeaPort-NxG MAC. Meanwhile, for those joint ventures not participating in the SBA’s MPP, the joint venture and its constituent partners could not each hold a SeaPort- NxG MAC. The January 4, 2024 Modification implemented this new rule by modifying the (1) definition of “Affiliates ” in section C.10.1, (2) “One Prime Contract Per Company” rule in section C.10.2, and (3) definition of a “joint venture” in section C.10.3. See J.A. 292.

On January 10, 2024, the agency issued a task order under the SeaPort-NxG MAC to Secise. J.A. 351, ¶100. 4 II. Underlying Bid Protest On April 10, 2024, Island Creek filed a five-count complaint in the United States Court of Federal Claims (“Federal Claims Court”) under the Tucker Act bid protest jurisdiction provided at 28 U.S.C. § 1491(b)(1). Count I challenged the agency’s “Amendment,” i.e., the January 4, 2024 Modification, as making “an exception” for SBA’s MPP joint ventures, who “could hold a SeaPort contract even if one or more of their members do.” J.A. 354, ¶117. According to Island Creek, the “[a]mendment” violated the Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) § 1.602-2(b) provision that contracting officers shall “[e]nsure that contractors receive impartial, fair, and equitable treatment.” J.A. 354, ¶113 (quoting FAR § 1.602-2(b)).

Count II challenged the agency’s “Actions,” i.e., the action of:

amend[ing] SeaPort in such a manner so as to allow contractors with [MPP] joint ventures who both

4 It is not clear from the record below whether Secise held a SeaPort-NxG MAC at the time it was awarded a task order. Compare J.A. 351, ¶¶101–02, with J.A. 351–53, ¶¶104–07.

6 ISLAND CREEK ASSOCIATES, LLC v. US

individually hold a SeaPort contract and whose joint venture hold[s] a SeaPort contract to maintain both contracts, giving said contractors an advantage in being able to bid either a joint venture or on their own.

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