Opinion ID: 1031197
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Facts of Wilkinson's Offense Conduct Relevant to the Issues on Appeal.

Text: DESC, a logistics agency of the United States Department of Defense, is responsible for procuring into-plane and posts, camps, and stations (PC & S) aviation fuel supply contracts to service United States military and civilian activities throughout the world. In carrying out this responsibility, DESC conducts a full and open, multi-stage, competitive procurement process with respect to each contract. Competing offerors submit initial bids by a given date, which bids are then reviewed by DESC. Subsequently, competing offerors are permitted to submit best and final bids by a given date. To ensure fairness in the bidding process, competing offerors are not permitted to share initial or best and final bid information. Wilkinson's convictions in this case stem from his criminal activities with respect to three aviation fuel supply contracts awarded by DESCtwo into-plane contracts and one PC & S contract. In general, a single DESC into-plane solicitation will contain line items for numerous airports within a broad geographical area, but offerors are not required to submit an offer with respect to each airport. Rather, each airport may be awarded as a separate contract or, where a single offeror is awarded multiple airports from the same solicitation, a single contract for all such locations is awarded. DESC awards PC & S contracts for delivery of aviation fuel into authorized storage facilities at destinations world wide. Prior to DESC's issuances of the three bid solicitations involved in this case, Wilkinson and Christopher Cartwright (Cartwright) had co-founded Far East Russia Aircraft Services (FERAS) and Aerocontrol, Ltd. (Aerocontrol). The pair served as managing co-directors of each company, are citizens of the United States, and, at all times relevant to this case, resided in the Czech Republic. For ease of reference, we will treat FERAS and Aerocontrol as a single entity and refer to it as FERAS/Aerocontrol. Beginning in February 2005, Wilkinson and Cartwright entered into a consultancy agreement (the Consultancy Agreement) with Matthew Bittenbender (Bittenbender), an employee of FERAS/Aerocontrol's direct competitor Avcard, LLC (Avcard), whereby Bittenbender would secretively feed them Avcard's confidential bid information for various into-plane and PC & S aviation fuel solicitations in exchange for money. [1] Bittenbender had easy access to such information, because one of his primary job responsibilities for Avcard was to prepare Avcard's bid packages for submission to DESC. The Consultancy Agreement provided that, with respect to every into-plane location that FERAS/Aerocontrol's bid would win through the aid of Bittenbender, Wilkinson would pay Bittenbender a flat fee, plus ten percent commission on the profits. With respect to any PC & S aviation fuel contract that FERAS/Aerocontrol would win through the aid of Bittenbender, the Consultancy Agreement provided that Wilkinson would pay Bittenbender a percentage of the fuel sales. DESC issued the first bid solicitation at issue in February 2005 (Bid Solicitation One). Bid Solicitation One pertained to into-plane aviation fuel supply with respect to 109 airports throughout Asia and Eastern Europe. After an amendment changed the initial due date, DESC required initial bids to be submitted on April 11, 2005, and required best and final bids with respect to some airports to be submitted on or around the first week of August 2005. Ultimately, DESC awarded FERAS/Aerocontrol into-plane aviation fuel supply contracts for seven locations under Bid Solicitation One. The second bid solicitation at issue was issued in May 2005, when DESC re-opened a bid solicitation for an into-plane aviation fuel supply contract with respect to an airport in Baku, Azerbaijan (Bid Solicitation Two). DESC awarded the corresponding contract to FERAS/Aerocontrol on or around May 10, 2005. On or about June 16, 2005, DESC issued the third bid solicitation at issueone for a PC & S aviation fuel supply contract with respect to Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan (Bid Solicitation Three). DESC originally required initial bids to be submitted by July 1, 2005, but subsequently postponed the deadline to March 31, 2006. Best and final bids were due by July 13, 2006. On August 16, 2006, DESC awarded the corresponding contract to a company unaffiliated with FERAS/Aerocontrol named Red Star. FERAS/Aerocontrol had withdrawn from the bidding process prior to the final award. With respect to Bid Solicitations One, Two, and Three, Bittenbender fed Wilkinson confidential information regarding Avcard's participation in the bidding process. Wilkinson knowingly and willfully accepted such information with the intent to gain unfair advantages for FERAS/Aerocontrol in the respective bidding processes. [2]