L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, L.P. v. United States

79 Fed. Cl. 453, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 373, 2007 WL 4208804
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedNovember 16, 2007
DocketNo. 06-396C
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 79 Fed. Cl. 453 (L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, L.P. 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
L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, L.P. v. United States, 79 Fed. Cl. 453, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 373, 2007 WL 4208804 (uscfc 2007).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S AND INTERYENOR’S MOTIONS TO DISMISS

WILLIAMS, Judge.

In this post-award bid protest, L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, L.P. (L-3) challenges the Air Force’s award of two contracts to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company (Lockheed Martin) to modernize the C-5 Galaxy aircraft (C-5 AMP) and seeks its bid preparation and proposal costs of $2,564,397.2 This protest was filed in the wake of the former Principal Deputy Secretary of the Air Force’s conviction for violating conflict of interest laws. Specifically, the former Principal Deputy Secretary, Darleen Druyun, admitted that she allowed her personal interest to influence her procurement decisions with respect to the Boeing Company—she, her daughter and son-in-law negotiated for employment with Boeing while she was a top Air Force procurement official.3

[455]*455Although the award here was made over eight years ago and the contracts have largely been performed, L-3 contends that this action is timely because it could not have known the basis of its protest until the Department of Defense Inspector General (IG) issued a report relating the involvement of Druyun in this procurement. The IG Report indicated that Druyun had appointed herself the Source Selection Authority (SSA) for the C-5 AMP procurement without justification and “adjusted the Advisory Council’s ratings to better support the higher cost proposal presented by Lockheed.” Am. Compl., Ex. A at 13. Boeing was not involved in the C-5 AMP procurement. Nonetheless, Plaintiff claims that Druyun favored Lockheed Martin in this procurement because she also had been negotiating with Lockheed Martin and had a “handshake agreement” to join Lockheed Martin prior to negotiating with Boeing.

Plaintiff has raised several grounds of protest, claiming that through Druyun’s unauthorized assumption of the SSA duties and her change of evaluation ratings to justify the selection of Lockheed Martin’s higher cost proposal, the Air Force improperly compromised the integrity of the procurement process, breached its implied contract to treat proposals fairly, honestly, and in good faith, and violated a panoply of procurement statutes and regulations.4 L-3 further claims that Druyun was biased in favor of Lockheed Martin and acted in bad faith in the C-5 AMP procurement. Finally, L-3 asserts that the Air Force acted arbitrarily and capriciously in making award to Lockheed Martin.

This matter comes before the Court on Defendant’s and Intervenor’s motions to dismiss this action as untimely under the applicable six-year statute of limitations, 28 U.S.C. § 2501, on the ground that the challenged award was made in 1999, more than six years before L-3 filed suit. Because this protest is challenging Druyun’s alleged improper manipulation of the evaluation and selection process to favor Lockheed Martin in the C-5 AMP procurement, Plaintiff could not have known of Druyuris alleged illegal conduct until this conduct was revealed in the IG Report in February of 2006. As such, L-3’s cause of action accrued at that time, and this action is timely. Alternatively, the accrual suspension doctrine applies, and the accrual of L-3’s cause of action was suspended until it had reason to know of its claim.5

Intervenor has also moved to dismiss this action for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, arguing that Plaintiff cannot meet its burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that Druyun failed to act in good faith. The Court does not weigh the evidence or determine the likelihood of a plaintiff ultimately prevailing in resolving a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, but rather assesses whether a plaintiff has alleged facts, which if proven, would entitle it to the relief sought. Because L-3 has alleged conduct which, if proven, would entitle it to an award of bid and proposal preparation costs, this motion is denied.

[456]*456 Background 6

On August 18, 1998, the United States Air Force issued solicitation number F33657-98-R0006, requesting proposals to assist with a program to modernize the C-5 Galaxy aircraft. Am. Compl. H 2. More specifically, the solicitation sought proposals for the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) and Contractor Operated Supply Support (COSS) phases of the C-5 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP). Id. The C-5 AMP had two components: the All-Weather Flight Control System and Global Afr Traffic Management compliance. L-3’s predeees-sor-in-interest, Raytheon E-Systems Inc. (Raytheon), and Lockheed Martin were the only contractors which submitted proposals. Am. Compl. If 3.

On January 22, 1999, the Air Force informed Raytheon that the C-5 AMP contracts had been awarded to Lockheed Martin. On January 28, 1999, the Air Force provided a debriefing to Raytheon at its plant. J.A. 275. Raytheon was advised at the debriefing that Darleen Druyun, then the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Acquisition and Management,7 acted as the Source Selection Authority (SSA) for the C-5 AMP acquisition. Am. Compl. UH 6-7. As the SSA, Druyun was “responsible for the proper and efficient conduct of the entire source selection process encompassing proposal solicitation, evaluation, selection, and contract award.” J.A. 300.

The following written materials were provided to Raytheon at the debriefing: (1) the Debriefing Charts; (2) Druyun’s Source Selection Decision Document (SSDD) dated January 21, 1999; and (3) the undated Proposal Analysis Report (PAR) prepared by the Source Selection Advisory Council (SSAC).8 J.A. 139-249; see also J.A. 275 (AF Memo for Record dated Feb. 4, 1999). The Debriefing Charts reflected that Druyun had disagreed with the following weaknesses assigned by Air Force evaluators to Lockheed Martin’s proposal, stating:

[]

J.A. 198, 209.

Druyun’s unredaeted SSDD, also provided to Raytheon, stated in pertinent part:

[9]

J.A. 145-48.

According to the Air Force Memorandum for Record of the debriefing prepared by the source selection evaluation team co-chairs, Raytheon raised the following issues or concerns at the debriefing:

5(b) []

5(c) []

5(e) []

5© []

[457]*4575(1) [ ]

5(o) []

J.A. 276-77.

Handwritten notes taken by Raytheon officials during the January 28, 1999 debriefing state the following:

•[]

• SSA made decision. SSET did not.

• They verified that the SSA did change color & risk ratings.

J.A. 251, 255, 263, 268, 262, 267, 265 and 270.

During the summer of 2002, Druyun “reached the decision that she would retire from the Air Force late that year.” J.A. 59. She did not disclose her decision publicly. In order to explore employment opportunities, Druyun disqualified herself in writing from all Air Force matters involving Lockheed Martin and Raytheon on August 26, 2002. J.A. 60.10

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79 Fed. Cl. 453, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 373, 2007 WL 4208804, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/l-3-communications-integrated-systems-lp-v-united-states-uscfc-2007.