Outdoor Venture Corp. v. United States

100 Fed. Cl. 146, 2011 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1487, 2011 WL 3100343
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedJuly 25, 2011
DocketNo. 11-353 C
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 100 Fed. Cl. 146 (Outdoor Venture 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
Outdoor Venture Corp. v. United States, 100 Fed. Cl. 146, 2011 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1487, 2011 WL 3100343 (uscfc 2011).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

HEWITT, Chief Judge.

This is a post-award bid protest brought by Outdoor Venture Corporation (OVC or plaintiff), the awardee in Solicitation SPM1C1-09-R-0141 (Solicitation), issued by the United States government acting through the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, now known as the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support (DLA, the agency, the government or defendant). Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (Complaint or [148]*148Compl.), Docket Number (Dkt. No.) 1, ¶¶4, 16.

Before the court are plaintiffs Complaint, filed on June 3, 2011; Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss (defendant’s Motion or Def.’s Mot.), filed on June 8, 2011, Dkt. No. 12; Plaintiffs Opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss (plaintiffs Response or PL’s Resp.), filed on June 13, 2011, Dkt. No. 13; and Defendant’s Reply in Support of Motion to Dismiss (defendant’s reply or Def.’s Reply), filed on June 15, 2011, Dkt. No. 15.

The court held a telephonic oral argument on Thursday, June 16, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.2

Defendant moves to dismiss OVC’s Complaint under Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (RCFC). Def.’s Mot. 1. Defendant contends that OVC’s Complaint should be dismissed for five reasons: (1) OVC lacks standing to bring this bid protest because “OVC was the winning bidder on the solicitation at issue, and, therefore, cannot demonstrate prejudice;” (2) OVC has “failed to exhaust its administrative remedies;” (3) “OVC’s claim is not justiciable because the applicable regulation provides that the Small Business Administration (‘SBA’) has ‘sole discretion’ to determine whether to reopen a claim;” (4) OVC has “failed to state a claim because, under the applicable regulation, SBA was required to deny OVC’s request to reopen SBA’s size determination as untimely;” and (5) “the [cjourt does not possess jurisdiction to grant OVC’s request that the [cjourt enjoin the agency from terminating the contract for convenience.” Def.’s Mot. 1. For the reasons discussed below, defendant’s Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED.

1. Background

On June 7, 2009 DLA issued Solicitation SPM1C1-09-R-0141. Compl. ¶ 4. The Solicitation requested offers on an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity contract for the manufacture and delivery of two-man combat tents. Compl. ¶ 5. The Solicitation was a Total Small Business Set>-Aside. Compl. ¶ 6.

On December 2, 2010 OVC was awarded a contract under the Solicitation. Compl. ¶ 16. Following the award to OVC, Diamond Brand Products (Diamond), one of the unsuccessful offerors on the contract, filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), in which it challenged the award to OVC on a number of grounds. Compl. ¶ 17. One of the grounds for protest was that OVC should not be classified as a small business because “the end items OVC would be supplying would, in fact, be produced by a large business” and because “OVC would be subcontracting more than 50% of its work [to a large business].” Compl. ¶ 17. When Diamond filed its protest at GAO, OVC’s contract was automatically suspended. June 16, 2011 Oral Argument (Oral Argument), Argument of Mr. Marc Lamer at 2:14:18-48; see also 48 C.F.R. § 33.104(e)(1) (2010) (stating, with exceptions, that, “[wjhen the agency receives notice of a protest from the GAO within 10 days after contract award ..., the contracting officer shall immediately suspend performance or terminate the awarded contract”).

Because Diamond had failed to file a timely size protest with SBA, GAO suggested that DLA refer the small business issues in the protest to SBA. Compl. ¶¶ 17, 18. DLA did so, and Diamond withdrew those portions of its GAO protest relating to OVC’s classification as a small business. Compl. ¶ 18. Diamond’s protest was dismissed by GAO on March 24, 2011. Compl. ¶ 24. Plaintiffs counsel stated at oral argument that, “[wjhen that protest was denied by GAO, the ... statutory stop work order ... was no longer there, but the agency ... never lifted the stay, so performance is still suspended,” Oral Argument, Argument of Mr. Marc Lamer at 2:14:34-48, a statement that was not contradicted, see Oral Argument passim.

On March 2, 2011 OVC received a notification letter from SBA that OVC’s “status as a small business concern has been protested in connection with the [Solicitation].” Compl. ¶¶ 19, 20. The SBA letter requested Mor-[149]*149mation from OVC, including a “statement in answer to the allegations of the protest letter with any supporting evidence.” Compl. ¶ 22. OVC responded to the letter on March 8, 2011. Compl. ¶ 23. On April 2, 2011 OVC received an email from SBA requesting additional information about its subcontractor, Johnson Outdoors Gear, LLC (JOG). Compl. ¶¶ 25, 26; see also Compl. ¶ 12 (stating that “[i]n its proposal, OVC identified [JOG] as a subcontractor, pursuant to a Teaming Agreement”). On April 4, 2011 OVC replied to SBA, “explaining that JOG is a publicly held large business,” Compl. ¶ 28, but “reiterating] that [OVC], a small business, would be the manufacturer of the end-item,” Compl. ¶ 29. On April 6, 2011 SBA “found OVC to be other than small for the particular procurement” at issue. Compl. ¶ 30.

SBA regulations provide that a party who wishes to appeal an SBA determination to SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) must do so within fifteen days of receipt of the determination. Revised Size Protest Appeal Procedures, 76 Fed.Reg. 5680, 5685 (Feb. 2, 2011) (to be codified at 13 C.F.R. § 134.304(a)). Because OVC received the determination on April 6, 2011,3 see Compl. ¶ 34, OVC was required to file its appeal with OHA by April 21, 2011, see 76 Fed.Reg. at 5685.

On April 21, 2011 counsel for OVC attempted to file OVC’s appeal with OHA electronically by email, as provided in OHA’s regulations. Compl. ¶¶ 35, 36. Because OVC’s appeal petition was larger than the maximum file size allowed by SBA, the email was returned. Compl. ¶ 37. Counsel for OVC then divided the appeal petition into three parts and sent them separately. Compl. ¶ 38. On April 25, 2011 OVC’s counsel called OHA and was informed that OHA had not received the appeal petition. Compl. ¶40. OVC’s counsel attempted to re-send the appeal petition by email, but OHA did not receive OVC’s emails. Compl. ¶¶ 41, 42. OVC’s counsel then sent a paper copy of the appeal petition to OHA by overnight delivery. Compl. ¶ 44.

On April 29, 2011 OVC’s counsel received an Order to Show Cause by email from OHA directing OVC to show cause why the appeal petition should not be dismissed as untimely. Compl. ¶45. OVC replied to this order on May 6, 2011. Compl. ¶ 46. On May 17, 2011 OHA dismissed the appeal as untimely filed. Compl. ¶ 47.

On May 18, 2011 OVC requested that SBA reopen the OVC size determination based upon administrative error, pursuant to 13 C.F.R. § 121.1009(h), citing SBA’s failure to inform OVC that SBA was considering the ostensible subcontractor rule. Compl. ¶48 (citation omitted). On June 1, 2011 SBA denied the request to reopen the OVC size determination, finding that under the version of 13 C.F.R.

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Bluebook (online)
100 Fed. Cl. 146, 2011 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1487, 2011 WL 3100343, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/outdoor-venture-corp-v-united-states-uscfc-2011.