Stellacom, Inc. v. United States

37 Cont. Cas. Fed. 76,127, 24 Cl. Ct. 213, 1991 U.S. Claims LEXIS 259, 1991 WL 110913
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedJune 24, 1991
DocketNo. 91-1159C
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 37 Cont. Cas. Fed. 76,127 (Stellacom, Inc. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stellacom, Inc. v. United States, 37 Cont. Cas. Fed. 76,127, 24 Cl. Ct. 213, 1991 U.S. Claims LEXIS 259, 1991 WL 110913 (cc 1991).

Opinion

ORDER

MOODY R. TIDWELL, III, Judge.

This case is before the court on the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment. For the reasons stated below, the court grants defendant’s motion, and denies plaintiff's cross-motion.

FACTS

Plaintiff, a Texas corporation involved in video film production and other television support services, currently is under contract to provide television support services [214]*214to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas. NASA awarded this contract, which will expire on August 31, 1991, to plaintiff under a total small business set-aside procurement.

On January 10, 1991, NASA issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for television support services intended as a follow-on procurement to plaintiff’s contract. This RFP also was a total small business set-aside. The solicitation documents included a Standard Industrial Code of 7819, Services Allied to Motion Picture Production, and attendant size standard of annual receipts not in excess of $14,500,000.00. Plaintiff submitted its initial proposal on February 21, 1991, self-certifying that it was a small business under Small Business Administration (SBA) regulations. Plaintiff determined its small business status relying on its calculation of revenues based upon the books of account and tax returns of its affiliated companies. Specifically, plaintiff included the revenues listed on the tax returns of its affiliate, Walter Bennett Company (WBC) as required by 13 C.F.R. § 121.401 (1991). WBC, an advertising agency, owns 72% of plaintiff’s stock. NASA notified plaintiff that it was in the competitive range, and plaintiff submitted its best and final offer on April 17, 1991.

On March 12, 1991, Taft Broadcasting Company (Taft) submitted a protest to the SBA challenging plaintiff’s small business self-certification, and requesting that the SBA render a size determination of plaintiff pursuant to 13 C.F.R. § 121.9 (1991). Because Taft’s pre-award protest was premature, Stephen C. Cleland, the contracting officer, adopted Taft’s protest as his own pursuant to 13 C.F.R. § 121.1603(b) (1991). In response to the contracting officer’s protest, plaintiff submitted its tax returns and the tax returns of its affiliates, including WBC, to support its claim of eligibility as a small business.

Like other advertising agencies, WBC has a substantial flow of “client billings.” These billings are monies WBC receives from its client advertisers and pays to media vendors on the clients’ behalf. WBC purchases time or space in the broadcast or print media for its clients. The media vendor sends a bill to WBC which, in turn, sends the bill to the clients. The clients send payment for the media service to WBC, which then pays the vendor. WBC does not pay the vendor without first receiving payment from the clients. WBC receives a commission on these transactions, but does not treat the “pass through” client billings as income or revenue on its books of account. Neither are pass through billings reported as income or revenue on WBC’s income tax returns. This is an accepted method of accounting and tax filing in the advertising industry. Excluding the pass through billings, plaintiff unquestionably would qualify as a small business. However, with the pass through billings included, the total yearly revenue of plaintiff and its affiliates exceeds the $14.5 million limit.

Pursuant to 13 C.F.R. § 121.402(b)(2) (1990), which explicitly permits only real estate and travel agents to exclude pass through billings from annual receipts calculated to support a size determination, the SBA Regional Officer (RO) issued a decision determining that plaintiff was other than a small business.1 On April 21, 1991, plaintiff appealed the RO’s decision to the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA). On May 8, 1991, OHA affirmed the RO’s determination that plaintiff was other than a small business, holding that pass through billings properly are included as revenue for purposes of determining the average annual receipts of an advertising agency.

On May 20, 1991, plaintiff filed a complaint seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, and a temporary restraining order to enjoin NASA from proceeding with its planned procurement. Plaintiff further asked the court to vacate the OHA size [215]*215determination as arbitrary, capricious, unsupported by evidence, and erroneous as a matter of fact and law; and to declare that plaintiff is a small business under applicable size standards. NASA voluntarily agreed to suspend all further action towards the award of the contract for 30 days in order to give the court an opportunity to decide plaintiff’s size determination claim on the merits.

DISCUSSION

Summary judgment is appropriate where the pleadings raise no genuine dispute as to any material fact so that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. RUSCC 56; Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2509, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Summary judgment is particularly appropriate in a case such as this which involves the limited review of an administrative decision of the SBA. See Reel-O-Matic Sys., Inc. v. United States, 16 Cl.Ct. 93, 94 n. 1 (1989).

A. Under § 1491(a)(3), This Court May Not Consider The Validity Of Regulations Underlying A Request For Proposals.

The court’s jurisdiction to hear plaintiff’s claim derives from 28 U.S.C. § 1491(a)(3) (1990), which grants the Claims Court pre-award injunctive authority in contract cases. This authority is based upon an implied-in-fact contract, which arises between the government and all bidders on a government contract, that the government will consider all bids fully and fairly. See Keco Indus., Inc. v. United States, 192 Ct.Cl. 773, 428 F.2d 1233, 1237 (1970); Heyer Prods. Co. v. United States, 135 Ct.Cl. 63, 140 F.Supp. 409, 412 (1956). Therefore, the scope of this court’s review is limited to whether defendant considered plaintiff’s bid fully and fairly, i.e., whether defendant properly applied to all bidders the SBA regulations pertaining to size determinations.

Jurisdiction predicated on an implied-in-fact contract does not grant this court the authority to review the validity of the SBA regulations themselves. See Hero, Inc. v. United States, 3 Cl.Ct. 413, 416-17 (1983); Ingersoll-Rand Co. v. United States, 2 Cl.Ct. 373, 376 (1983). The implied-in-fact contractual right does not provide a jurisdictional basis for a bidder to challenge the underlying regulations because those regulations came “into existence before the implied contract and, in fact, form[ed] the basis of that contract.” Ingersoll-Rand, 2 Cl.Ct. at 376; see also Eagle Constr. Co. v. United States, 4 Cl.Ct. 470, 476 (1984).

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Bluebook (online)
37 Cont. Cas. Fed. 76,127, 24 Cl. Ct. 213, 1991 U.S. Claims LEXIS 259, 1991 WL 110913, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stellacom-inc-v-united-states-cc-1991.