World Wide Technology, Inc. v. Office of Administration, State of Missouri and Division of Purchasing and Materials Management Office of Administration, State of Missouri

572 S.W.3d 512
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 9, 2019
DocketWD81815
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 572 S.W.3d 512 (World Wide Technology, Inc. v. Office of Administration, State of Missouri and Division of Purchasing and Materials Management Office of Administration, State of Missouri) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
World Wide Technology, Inc. v. Office of Administration, State of Missouri and Division of Purchasing and Materials Management Office of Administration, State of Missouri, 572 S.W.3d 512 (Mo. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

In the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District

 WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY, INC.,  Appellant,   v.   WD81815 OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION, STATE  OF MISSOURI AND DIVISION OF  OPINION FILED: PURCHASING AND MATERIALS  MANAGEMENT, OFFICE OF  APRIL 9, 2019 ADMINISTRATION, STATE OF  MISSOURI,  Respondents;    SHI INTERNATIONAL CORP.,   Respondent. 

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cole County, Missouri The Honorable Jon Edward Beetem, Judge

Before Division Three: Mark D. Pfeiffer, Presiding Judge, Lisa White Hardwick, Judge, Anthony Rex Gabbert, Judge

World Wide Technology, Inc. (World Wide) appeals the circuit court’s Judgment dismissing

its Petition for Declaratory Judgment and Injunctive Relief against Missouri’s Division of

Purchasing and Materials Management Department of the Office of Administration. On appeal,

World Wide contends the circuit court, 1) erred in refusing to grant World Wide’s application for

change of judge, 2) erred in denying World Wide’s alternative post-trial motion for leave to amend, 3) erred in dismissing Counts I, II, III, and VII in that World Wide adequately alleged that the

Request for Proposals contained unlawful criteria that rendered the entire Request for Proposals

unfair, 4) erred in dismissing the First Amended Petition on the ground World Wide waived its

claims, 5) erred in dismissing Count I of the First Amended Petition because Count I stated a claim,

6) erred in dismissing Counts II and VII because both stated a claim, 7) erred in dismissing Count

III because Count III stated a claim, and 8) erred in dismissing Count V because Count V stated a

claim.1 We affirm.

Factual and Procedural History

World Wide is a Missouri corporation that provides technology solutions to public and

private entities. World Wide previously held a contract with Missouri’s Office of Administration

to provide PC Prime Vendor Services, which permitted state agencies to purchase computer

hardware, software, software maintenance, and related services from World Wide on an as-needed

basis. World Wide’s contract expired March 31, 2018.

On June 28, 2016, the Office of Administration (OA) and Division of Purchasing and

Materials Management (“Defendants” collectively) issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to award

a PC Prime Vendor Services contract to replace the one held by World Wide when it expired.

Defendants subsequently issued six addenda to the RFP. The RFP specified the manner in which

proposals would be evaluated, identified a point based system, and described how points would be

applied. The RFP also provided Instructions for Submitting a Solicitation Response.2 Included in

the Instructions were provisions stating that it was the vendor’s responsibility to advise the

1 All statutory references are to the Revised Statutes of Missouri as supplemented through 2018 unless otherwise noted. 2 These instructions were not amended in the addenda.

2 Division of Purchasing if the vendor believed anything within the RFP violated state or federal

law or regulations; all issues were to be raised no later than ten days prior to the due date of the

proposals. The final date for submitting proposals was August 23, 2016. World Wide raised no

issues of concern prior to submitting its proposal.

Three offerors responded to the RFP: World Wide; SHI International Corp. (SHI), a New

Jersey Company; and Technology Group Solutions, LLC (TGS), a Kansas Company. After

receiving the proposals, Defendants entered Best and Final Offer (BAFO) negotiations with the

offerors. Defendants issued a total of eight BAFO requests. Following BAFO negotiations,

Defendants evaluated the proposals and awarded the contract to SHI on February 9, 2018.

On February 26, 2018, World Wide issued a bid protest letter to Defendants. Therein,

World Wide claimed that the method OA used to calculate and award Minority Based Enterprise

(MBE)/Women Based Enterprise (WBE) points was an unpromulgated rule, OA’s method of

calculating MBE/WBE points was unlawfully based on a superseded executive order rather than a

current regulation, the cost evaluation method OA used was an unpromulgated rule, OA’s cost

analysis formula resulted in an arbitrary and capricious cost evaluation, OA failed to give

preference to World Wide as a Missouri company as required by law, OA’s evaluation of the

offerors’ references was unlawful, arbitrary, and capricious, and OA’s award to SHI of full points

for its “Method of Performance” was arbitrary and capricious. Four days later, on March 2, 2018,

World Wide filed a Petition for Declaratory Judgment and Injunctive Relief seeking judicial review

pursuant to Section 536.150, a declaratory judgment that any contract awarded SHI was void, and

a permanent injunction barring Defendants from entering any contract resulting from the

procurement. A judge was assigned that same date.

3 On March 15, 2018, World Wide moved for a preliminary injunction to prevent OA from

taking any further steps to implement the contract awarded to SHI, arguing that World Wide would

suffer immediate and irreparable injury in the absence of such relief as the awarded contract was

set to begin April 1, 2018, and “every day that the state is not ordered to re-bid the contract using

lawful process is another day that World Wide does not have the opportunity to bid for the work.”

World Wide gave notice of a March 22, 2018, hearing on World Wide’s Motion for Preliminary

Injunction, but later withdrew that notice. On March 20, SHI moved to intervene and filed notice

that a hearing on that motion would be held March 30, 2018. On March 27, 2018, World Wide

filed a First Amended Petition. On March 30, 2018, the hearing on SHI’s motion to intervene was

held and SHI’s motion was granted. Both OA and SHI filed motions to dismiss, and argument for

those motions was scheduled for April 13, 2018; a bench trial on World Wide’s petition was

scheduled for May 18, 2018.

On April 12, 2018, World Wide filed Suggestions in Opposition to the State Defendants’

Motion to Dismiss, or, in the Alternative, Motion for Leave to Amend. On April 13, 2018, a

hearing was held on the motions to dismiss. The parties presented argument and the court took the

matter under advisement. On April 16, 2018, World Wide filed an Application for Change of Judge

under Rule 51.05.

On April 19, 2018, the circuit court entered an Order and Judgment dismissing World

Wide’s First Amended Petition with prejudice. Therein, the court concluded that World Wide’s

Application for Change of Judge came three days after the pending Motions to Dismiss were

argued, submitted, and taken under advisement, and the application had not been noticed for

presentment under Rule 51.05. The court found that the application did not preclude the court

from ruling on matters already submitted.

4 On April 23, 2018, World Wide filed Notice of Presentation of Application for Change of

Judge, therein stating that the previously filed application would be presented April 27, 2018. On

April 26, 2018, World Wide filed a Motion for Reconsideration or, in the Alternative, Motion for

Leave to File Second Amended Petition. On April 27, 2018, the court denied World Wide’s

Application for Change of Judge. The court set World Wide’s Motion for Reconsideration for a

May 17, 2018, hearing. On May 30, 2018, the court denied the motion. This appeal follows.

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572 S.W.3d 512, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/world-wide-technology-inc-v-office-of-administration-state-of-missouri-moctapp-2019.