Opinion ID: 482000
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the facts giving rise to this litigation

Text: 4 The facts which gave rise to this case are set out in detail in the district court's opinion, 607 F.Supp. at 964-65, and in this panel's earlier opinion, 787 F.2d at 879-80. We review them briefly here for the convenience of the reader. 5 Plaintiff Ameron, Inc. submitted a bid in response to the Army's Invitation for Bids on a sewer repair and cleaning project to be completed at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Ameron's bid was the lowest submitted, but the Army did not award Ameron the contract because it believed Ameron's bid bond did not comply with the requirements set out in the Invitation. Ameron believed that its bid was in compliance, and after the award was announced but before execution had begun, Ameron filed a bid protest with the Comptroller General. 6 Although CICA requires the executive to stay execution on challenged contracts until the Comptroller General's recommendation is issued, the Army proceeded with execution because it believed the stay provisions unconstitutional. Ameron filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, seeking, inter alia, an order that the Army obey CICA's stay provisions. The Army defended by asserting CICA's unconstitutionality. 7 The district court found that CICA was constitutional, and it accordingly held that Ameron was entitled to a preliminary injunction enforcing CICA's stay provisions. 607 F.Supp. at 974. The Army then appealed to this court, which affirmed. 787 F.2d at 891. A majority of the panel held in that opinion that the Comptroller General was not an agent of the legislative branch and therefore that it was permissible for Congress to delegate to the Comptroller the power to decide when CICA's stay should be lifted. See 787 F.2d at 885-87. 2 8 A motion for panel or in banc reconsideration was then filed by the Army. By that time certiorari had been granted in Bowsher v. Synar. The court deferred action on the motions pending the Supreme Court's decision in Synar. 9 The Supreme Court's decision in Synar was contrary to the reasoning of the panel majority in the first Ameron opinion: the Supreme Court held that for separation of powers purposes the Comptroller General must be regarded as an agent of the legislative branch, and therefore that the Comptroller may not exercise any power which Congress itself may not possess. We therefore granted panel rehearing, and received further briefs and oral argument. We now reconsider the Army's challenge to CICA in light of those developments.