W & D Ships Deck Works, Inc. v. United States

42 Cont. Cas. Fed. 77,222, 39 Fed. Cl. 638, 1997 U.S. Claims LEXIS 284, 1997 WL 763463
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedDecember 1, 1997
DocketNo. 97-308C
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 42 Cont. Cas. Fed. 77,222 (W & D Ships Deck Works, 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
W & D Ships Deck Works, Inc. v. United States, 42 Cont. Cas. Fed. 77,222, 39 Fed. Cl. 638, 1997 U.S. Claims LEXIS 284, 1997 WL 763463 (uscfc 1997).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER1

WEINSTEIN, Judge.

On April 30, 1997, plaintiff filed a complaint seeking to enjoin award of a federal government contract until plaintiffs proposal was reinstated in the negotiation process, together with a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO). The government indicated it would take no further action on the contract until a hearing was held on May 5, 1997. At the hearing, after a full argument on the merits of plaintiffs complaint, the court denied the TRO motion and, sua sponte, granted judgment to the government on the pleadings, and dismissed the complaint. This opinion constitutes the court’s written findings of fact and conclusions of law.

Facts

None of the following facts are in dispute. All of the facts mentioned in this section and considered by the court in its decision are either alleged in plaintiffs complaint or found in the incorporated documents, and are taken as true for purposes of this opinion and order. See Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 326-27, 109 S.Ct. 1827, 1832-33, 104 L.Ed.2d 338 (1989); Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683,1686, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974) (discussing Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1)).

On December 11, 1996, the United States government, acting through the Military Sealift Command, Atlantic (MSCLANT), of the United States Navy, issued Solicitation No. N62381-97-R-0300 (the solicitation), requesting proposals on a negotiated fixed-price contract to: (1) paint the topsides of ships; (2) repaint the topsides of ships; (3) paint the decks of ships; (4) apply non-skid surfaces to the decks of ships; (5) paint interiors of ships; and (6) clean the exterior painted surfaces of ships. Solicitation at 1, 8, 12,16,19,23, 26. All the ships subject to the contract were located either in Norfolk, Vir[640]*640ginia, or in Baltimore, Maryland. Id. at 28. The government designated the contract as a 100% set-aside for small businesses. Id. at 1. Plaintiff, W & D Ships Deck Works, Inc. (W & D), a small company located in Atlantic Beach, Florida, submitted a timely proposal. Compl. H111, 6.

Around March 21, 1997, the contracting officer (“CO”) for the solicitation notified plaintiff that its proposal was determined to be outside the competitive range for negotiations due to unacceptable deficiencies in the technical proposal. Id, f 7. Plaintiff’s protest of this decision with MSCLANT was filed on March 28, 1997, and rejected by the CO, with a detailed explanation of the reasons, on April 22, 1997. Id. 11118, 9; MSCLANT letter at 1 (Ex. D to Compl.)

Plaintiff’s complaint seeking injunctive relief in this court, filed on April 30, 1997, alleges that there was “no major deviation in Plaintiff’s proposal from any of the Solicitation’s requirements,” Compl. 1111, and that any deviations were “minor irregularities,” Id. U13, involving “post-bid responsibility matters or post-award contract administrative matters.” Id. f 11.

Discussion

At the hearing, the court denied plaintiff’s motion for a TRO as unlikely to succeed on the merits and dismissed the complaint, sua sponte, pursuant to Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (RCFC) 12(b)(4), because there were no material facts in question and the government was clearly entitled to judgment.

I. 1996 Bid Protest Act

The recent passage of the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act of 1996, Pub.L. No. 104-320, § 12, 110 Stat. 3870, 3874-75 (1996), brought about a significant enlargement in the court’s bid-protest jurisdiction, to encompass post-award protests. In doing so, the 1996 legislation repealed 28 U.S.C. § 1491(a)(3), the former statutory source of the court’s authority to provide equitable relief in pre-award bid protest cases, and substituted a broader jurisdictional section, codified at 28 U.S.C. § 1491(b)(l)-(4), encompassing pre- and post-award objections. It provides, in part:

(b)(1) Both the Unites [sic] States Court of Federal Claims and the district courts of the United States shall have jurisdiction to render judgment on an action by an interested party objecting to a solicitation by a Federal agency for bids or proposals for a proposed contract or to a proposed award or the award of a contract or any alleged violation of statute or regulation in connection with a procurement or proposed procurement. Both the United States Court of Federal Claims and the district courts of the United States shall have jurisdiction to entertain such an action without regard to whether suit is instituted before or after the contract is awarded.
(2) To afford relief in such an action, the courts may award any relief that the court considers proper, including declaratory and injunctive relief except that any monetary relief shall be limited to bid preparation and proposal costs.

28 U.S.C. § 1491(b). The scope of the review to be utilized in such cases is set out at 5 U.S.C. § 706. 28 U.S.C. § 1491(b)(4).

Under the new statute, the plaintiff’s suit may be based, not only on (1) an objection to a solicitation, or (2) an objection to a proposed award, but also on (3) an objection to an award or (4) a violation of a statute or regulation. 28 U.S.C. § 1491(b)(1).

This court has long had jurisdiction under the Tucker Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1491(a)(1), to hear cases and grant relief premised on the theory that when the government invited bids or solicited proposals from the public, it entered into a supposedly “implied-in-fact” contract to treat those bids or proposals fairly. See e.g., CACI, Inc.-Federal v. United States, 719 F.2d 1567, 1573 (Fed. Cir.1983); United States v. John C. Grimberg Co., Inc., 702 F.2d 1362, 1367 (Fed.Cir.1983); Keco Indus., Inc. v. United States, 192 Ct.Cl. 773, 428 F.2d 1233, 1237 (1970). (Of course a contractual responsibility not in fact imposed by the parties, whether explicitly or indirectly, is not properly implied “in fact,” but “in law.” Cf. Hercules Inc. v. United States, 516 U.S. 417,423,116 S.Ct. 981, 986,134 L.Ed.2d 47 (1996) (explaining difference between implied in fact and implied in law contracts).

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Bluebook (online)
42 Cont. Cas. Fed. 77,222, 39 Fed. Cl. 638, 1997 U.S. Claims LEXIS 284, 1997 WL 763463, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/w-d-ships-deck-works-inc-v-united-states-uscfc-1997.