Source: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/538/803.html
Timestamp: 2017-02-23 05:58:41
Document Index: 525230197

Matched Legal Cases: ['§51', '§51', '§51', '§51', '§51', '§51', '§51', '§605', '§606', '§1295', '§607', '§5951', '§5965', '§51', '§51', '§51', '§607', '§401', '§51', '§553', '§51', '§51', '§51', '§51', '§51', '§51', '§ 607', '§5951', '§51', '§5951', '§5965', '§1491', '§602', '§611', '§51', '§1491']

NATIONAL PARK HOSPITALITY ASSN. v. DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR | FindLaw
NATIONAL PARK HOSPITALITY ASSOCIATION v. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR et al., (2003)
Argued: March 4, 2003 Decided: May 27, 2003
Held: The controversy is not yet ripe for judicial resolution. Determining whether administrative action is ripe requires evaluation of (1) the issues' fitness for judicial decision and (2) the hardship to the parties of withholding court consideration. Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner, 387 U. S. 136, 149. Regarding the hardship inquiry, the federal respondents concede that, because NPS has no delegated rulemaking authority under the CDA, §51.3 is not a legislative regulation with the force of law. And their assertion that §51.3 is an interpretative regulation advising the public of the agency's construction of the statutes and rules which it administers is incorrect, as NPS is not empowered to administer the CDA. That task rests with agency contracting officers and boards of contract appeals, as well as the federal courts; and any authority regarding the agency boards' proper arrangement belongs to the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy. Consequently, §51.3 is nothing more than a general policy statement designed to inform the public of NPS' views on the CDA's proper application. Thus, §51.3 does not create "adverse effects of a strictly legal kind," which are required for a hardship showing. Ohio Forestry Assn., Inc. v. Sierra Club, 523 U. S. 726, 733. Moreover, §51.3 does not affect a concessioner's primary conduct, e.g., Toilet Goods Assn., Inc. v. Gardner, 387 U. S. 158, 164, as it leaves the concessioner free to conduct its business as it sees fit. Moreover, nothing in the regulation prevents concessioners from following the procedures set forth in the CDA once a dispute over a concession contract actually arises. This Court has previously found that challenges to regulations similar to §51.3 were not ripe for lack of a hardship showing. See, e.g., id., at 161-162. Petitioner's contention that delaying judicial resolution of the issue will cause real harm because the CDA's applicability vel non is a factor taken into account by a concessioner preparing its bids is unpersuasive. Mere uncertainty as to the validity of a legal rule does not constitute a hardship for purposes of the ripeness analysis. As to whether the issue here is fit for review, further factual development would "significantly advance [this Court's] ability to deal with the legal issues presented," Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, Inc., 438 U. S. 59, 82, even though the question is "purely legal" and §51.3 constitutes "final agency action" under the Administrative Procedure Act, Abbott Laboratories, supra, at 149. Judicial resolution of the question presented here should await a concrete dispute about a particular concession contract. Pp. 4-9.
NATIONAL PARK HOSPITALITY ASSOCIATION,PETITIONER v. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR et al.
The CDA establishes rules governing disputes arising out of certain Government contracts.1 The statute provides that these disputes first be submitted to an agency's contracting officer. §605. A Government contractor dissatisfied with the contracting officer's decision may seek review either from the United States Court of Federal Claims or from an administrative board in the agency. See §§606, 607(d), 609(a). Either decision may then be appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.2 See 28 U. S. C. §1295; 41 U. S. C. §607(g).
The specific rules governing national parks concession contracts have changed over time. In 1998, however, Congress enacted the National Parks Omnibus Management Act of 1998 (1998 Act or Act), Pub. L. 105-391, 112 Stat. 3497 (codified with certain exceptions in 16 U. S. C. §§5951-5966), establishing a new and comprehensive concession management program for national parks. The 1998 Act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to enact regulations implementing the Act's provisions, §5965.
"A concession contract (or contract) means a binding written agreement between the Director and a concessioner ... . Concession contracts are not contracts within the meaning of 41 U. S. C. 601 et seq. (the Contract Disputes Act) and are not service or procurement contracts within the meaning of statutes, regulations or policies that apply only to federal service contracts or other types of federal procurement actions."3 36 CFR §51.3 (2002).
Through this provision NPS took a position with respect to a longstanding controversy with the Department of Interior's Board of Contract Appeals (IBCA). Beginning in 1989, the IBCA ruled that NPS concession contracts were subject to the CDA, see R & R Enterprises, 89-2 B. C. A., ¶ ;21708, pp. 109145-109147 (1989), and subsequent attempts by NPS to convince the IBCA otherwise proved unavailing, National Park Concessions, Inc., 94-3 B. C. A., ¶ ;27104, pp. 135096-135098 (1994).
Determining whether administrative action is ripe for judicial review requires us to evaluate (1) the fitness of the issues for judicial decision and (2) the hardship to the parties of withholding court consideration. Abbott Laboratories, supra, at 149. "Absent [a statutory provision providing for immediate judicial review], a regulation is not ordinarily considered the type of agency action 'ripe' for judicial review under the [Administrative Procedure Act (APA)] until the scope of the controversy has been reduced to more manageable proportions, and its factual components fleshed out, by some concrete action applying the regulation to the claimant's situation in a fashion that harms or threatens to harm him. (The major exception, of course, is a substantive rule which as a practical matter requires the plaintiff to adjust his conduct immediately... .)" Lujan v. National Wildlife Federation, 497 U. S. 871, 891 (1990). Under the facts now before us, we conclude this case is not ripe.
We turn first to the hardship inquiry. The federal respondents concede that, because NPS has no delegated rulemaking authority under the CDA, the challenged portion of §51.3 cannot be a legislative regulation with the force of law. See Brief for Federal Respondents 15, n. 6; Supplemental Brief for Federal Respondents 6. They note, though, that "agencies may issue interpretive rules 'to advise the public of the agency's construction of the statutes and rules which it administers,' " Brief for Federal Respondents 15, n. 6 (quoting Shalala v. Guernsey Memorial Hospital, 514 U. S. 87, 99 (1995)) (emphasis added), and seek to characterize §51.3 as such an interpretive rule.
We disagree. Unlike in Guernsey Memorial Hospital, where the agency issuing the interpretative guideline was responsible for administering the relevant statutes and regulations, NPS is not empowered to administer the CDA. Rather, the task of applying the CDA rests with agency contracting officers and boards of contract appeals, as well as the Federal Court of Claims, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and, ultimately, this Court. Moreover, under the CDA, any authority regarding the proper arrangement of agency boards belongs to the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy. See 41 U. S. C. §607(h) ("Pursuant to the authority conferred under the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act [41 U. S. C. §401 et seq.], the Administrator is authorized and directed, as may be necessary or desirable to carry out the provisions of this chapter, to issue guidelines with respect to criteria for the establishment, functions, and procedures of the agency boards ..."). Consequently, we consider §51.3 to be nothing more than a "general statemen[t] of policy" designed to inform the public of NPS' views on the proper application of the CDA. 5 U. S. C. §553(b)(3)(A).
Moreover, §51.3 does not affect a concessioner's primary conduct. Toilet Goods Assn., Inc. v. Gardner, 387 U. S. 158, 164 (1967); Ohio Forestry Assn., supra, at 733-734. Unlike the regulation at issue in Abbott Laboratories, which required drug manufacturers to change the labels, advertisements, and promotional materials they used in marketing prescription drugs on pain of criminal and civil penalties, see 387 U. S. 167, 171 (1967) (regulations governing conditions for use of color additives in foods, drugs, and cosmetics were "self-executing" and had "an immediate and substantial impact upon the respondents").
We have previously found that challenges to regulations similar to §51.3 were not ripe for lack of a showing of hardship. In Toilet Goods Assn., for example, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a regulation requiring producers of color additives to provide FDA employees with access to all manufacturing facilities, processes, and formulae. 387 U. S., at 161-162. We concluded the case was not ripe for judicial review because the impact of the regulation could not "be said to be felt immediately by those subject to it in conducting their day-to-day affairs" and "no irremediabl[y] adverse consequences flow[ed] from requiring a later challenge." Id., at 164. Indeed, the FDA regulation was more onerous than §51.3 because failure to comply with it resulted in the suspension of the producer's certification and, consequently, could affect production. See id., at 165, and n. 2. Here, by contrast, concessioners suffer no practical harm as a result of §51.3. All the regulation does is announce the position NPS will take with respect to disputes arising out of concession contracts. While it informs the public of NPS' view that concessioners are not entitled to take advantage of the provisions of the CDA, nothing in the regulation prevents concessioners from following the procedures set forth in the CDA once a dispute over a concession contract actually arises. And it appears that, notwithstanding §51.3, the IBCA has been quite willing to apply the CDA to certain concession contracts. Watch Hill Concessions, Inc., 01-1 B. C. A., ¶ ;31298, pp. 154520-154521 (IBCA 2001) (concluding that concession contract was subject to the CDA despite the contrary language in §51.3).
NATIONAL PARK HOSPITALITY ASSOCIATION, PETITIONER v. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR et al.
The CDA provides certain significant protections for private parties contracting with federal agencies. It authorizes de novo review of a contractor's disputed decision, payment of prejudgment interest if a dispute with the agency is resolved in the contractor's favor, and expedited procedures for resolving minor disputes. §§ 607-612. The value to contractors of these protections have notbeen quantified in this case, but they are unquestionablysignificant.
Ever since the enactment of the CDA in 1978, the National Park Service has insisted that the statute does not apply to contracts with concessionaires who operate restaurants, lodges, and gift shops in the national parks. See, e.g., Lodging of Federal Respondents 1. In its view, the statute applies to Government contracts involving the procurement of goods or services that the Government agrees to pay for, not to licenses issued by the Government to concessionaires who sell goods and services to the public. After the enactment of the National Parks Omnibus Management Act of 1998, 16 U. S. C. §§5951-5966, the Park Service issued a regulation restating that position. 36 CFR §51.3 (2002). There is nothing tentative or inconclusive about the agency's position. The promulgation of the regulation indicated that the agency had determined that a clear statement of its interpretation of the CDA would be useful to potential concessionaires bidding for future contracts. Under the Park Service's view, nearly 600 concession contracts in 131 national parks fall outside of the CDA. Lodging of Federal Respondents 6.
In our leading case discussing the "ripeness doctrine" we explained that the question whether a controversy is "ripe" for judicial resolution has a "twofold aspect, requiring us to evaluate both the fitness of the issues for judicial decision and the hardship to the parties of withholding court consideration." Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner, 387U. S. 136, 148-149 (1967). Both aspects of the inquiry involve the exercise of judgment, rather than the application of a black-letter rule.
At oral argument, counsel reiterated that the resolution of this question was "important" and that concessionaires "need to know now, in terms of deciding whether to bid on certain contracts, what their rights are under those contracts." Tr. of Oral Arg. 7-8. After argument, when asked to brief the issue of ripeness, petitioner stated that its members "need to know before a dispute arises--and in fact, before deciding whether to bid on a concessions contract--what procedural mechanisms will apply to contractual disputes," and that "the prices at which concessioners 'compete for Government contract business' would be directly affected." Supplemental Brief for Petitioner 1, 5 (citations omitted). It is fair to infer from the record before us, however, that petitioner's members have bid on, and been awarded, numerous contracts without having the benefit of a definitive answer to the important legal question that their complaint has identified.
For another thing, the challenged Park Service interpretation causes a present injury. If the CDA does not apply to concession contract disagreements, as the Park Service regulation declares, then some of petitioner's members must plan now for higher contract implementation costs. Given the agency's regulation, bidders will likely be forced to pay more to obtain, or to retain, a concession contract than they believe the contract is worth. That is what the Association argues. Supplemental Brief for Petitioner 4-6. See also App. to Supplemental Brief for Petitioner 3a-4a. Certain general allegations in the underlying complaints support this claim. See, e.g., App. 20-22, ¶ ;¶ ;35, 61-67; Amfac Resorts, L. L. C. Complaint in No. 1:00CV02838 (DC), pp. 4-5, ¶ ;8 (available in Clerk of Court's case file); id., at 31-33, ¶ ;¶ ;102-111. Cf. Amfac Resorts, L. L. C. v. United States Dept. of Interior, 282 F. 3d 818, 830 (CADC 2002). And several uncontested circumstances indicate that such allegations are likely to prove true.
These circumstances make clear that petitioner's members will likely suffer a concrete monetary harm, either now or in the foreseeable future. Such a showing here is sufficient to satisfy the Constitution's standing requirements. And the threatened injuries, present and future--monetary harm, injuries to a potential or actual contractual relationship, and injuries that arguably fall within the CDA's protective scope--are sufficient to satisfy "prudential" standing requirements as well. See Federal Election Comm'n v. Akins, 524 U. S. 11, 19-20 (1998); Association of Data Processing Service Organizations, Inc. v. Camp, 397 U. S. 150, 153 (1970). Cf. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. v. United States, 316 U. S. 407, 421-422 (1942).
Given this threat of immediate concrete harm (primarily in the form of increased bidding costs), this case is also ripe for judicial review. As Justice Stevens explains in Parts I and II of his opinion, the case now presents a legal issue--the applicability of the CDA to concession contracts--that is fit for judicial determination. That issue is a purely legal one, demanding for its resolution only use of ordinary judicial interpretive techniques. See ante, at 3 (opinion concurring in judgment). The relevant administrative action, i.e., the agency's definition of "concession contract" under the National Parks Omnibus Management Act of 1998, 16 U. S. C. §§5951-5966, has been "formalized," Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner, 387 U. S. 136, 148 (1967). It is embodied in an interpretive regulation issued after notice and public comment and pursuant to the Department of the Interior's formal delegation to the National Park Service of its own statutorily granted rulemaking authority, §5965; ante, at 2-3. (Unlike the majority, I would apply to the regulation the legal label "interpretive rule," not "general statement of policy," ante, at 6 (internal quotation marks and alteration omitted), though I agree with the majority that, because the Park Service does not administer the CDA, see ante, at 5-6, we owe its conclusion less deference.) The Park Service's interpretation is definite and conclusive, not tentative or likely to change; as the majority concedes, the Park Service's determination constitutes "final agency action" within the meaning of the Administrative Procedure Act. Ante, at 8 (internal quotation marks omitted).
But the fact of immediate and particularized (and not totally reparable) injury during the bidding process offsets the first of these considerations. And the second is more than offset by a related congressional statute that specifies that prospective bidders for Government contracts can obtain immediate judicial relief from agency determinations that unlawfully threaten precisely this kind of harm. See 28 U. S. C. §1491(b)(1) (allowing prospective bidder to object, for instance, to "solicitation by a Federal agency for bids ... for a proposed contract" and permitting review of related allegation of "any ... violation of statute or regulation in connection with a procurement or a proposed procurement"). See also R. Nash, S. Schooner, & K. O'Brien, The Government Contracts Reference Book 308, 423 (2d ed. 1998). This statute authorizes a potential bidder to complain of a proposed contractual term that, in the bidder's view, is unlawful, say, because it formally incorporates a regulation that embodies a specific, allegedly unlawful, remedial requirement. Cf. App. 25, ¶ ;¶ ;114-116 (excerpts from petitioner's complaint making just this claim); App. to Supplemental Brief for Petitioner 2a, ¶ ;¶ ;121-122 (same). That being so, i.e., the present injury in such a case being identical to the present injury at issue here, I can find no convincing prudential reason to withhold Administrative Procedure Act review.
FOOTNOTESFootnote 1 Title 41 U. S. C. §602(a) provides:
"Unless otherwise specifically provided herein, this chapter applies to any express or implied contract (including those of the nonappropriated fund activities described in sections 1346 and 1491 of title 28) entered into by an executive agency for--
Footnote 2 The CDA also provides that a prevailing contractor is entitled to prejudgment interest. §611.
Footnote 3 For ease of reference, throughout this opinion we will refer to the second sentence quoted in the text as §51.3.
Footnote 4 Petitioner notes that its complaint challenged not only the regulation but also two specific prospectuses issued by NPS in late 2000. Thus, petitioner argues, even if the first challenge is not ripe, the latter two are reviewable under the Tucker Act, 28 U. S. C. §1491(b)(1). See Supplemental Brief for Petitioner 6-8. Petitioner did not seek certiorari review on these issues; accordingly, we decline to consider them. See this Court's Rule 14.1(a); Yee v. Escondido, 503 U. S. 519, 535-536 (1992).
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