Opinion ID: 786971
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 2 This is a bid protest action challenging the legality of Bean's performance of dredging operations under Corps solicitation no. DACW54-03-B-0011 (the contract). Bean is a limited liability company organized under Delaware law. Bean is 50% owned by Bean Dredging L.L.C., a U.S. company, and 50% owned by Stuyvesant Dredging Co. (SDC), which is in turn wholly owned by a Dutch corporation. Thus, Bean is 50% foreign owned. The MERIDIAN is a non-hopper dredge owned by a U.S. company, Bean Meridian L.L.C. (Bean Meridian), and is documented under 46 U.S.C. ch. 121. Hopper dredges are self-propelled vessels that pump dredged material from the channel floor and store the material in containers called hoppers aboard the vessel. Nonhopper vessels are unable to store the dredged material on board; the dredged material must be piped to a separate vessel or location. 3 On August 8, 2003, the Corps issued bid solicitation no. DACW54-03-B-0011 for dredging in the vicinity of Morehead City Inner Harbor, North Carolina. Because of environmental concerns, the placement of dredged material on the beaches was to be completed between November 2003 and April 2004. Bean was the low bidder, and proposed performing the work using the MERIDIAN, a non-hopper dredging vessel chartered from Bean Meridian. Norfolk was the second lowest bidder. 4 Norfolk filed an expedited bid protest action in the Court of Federal Claims challenging the legality of Intervenor Bean's performance of the dredging operations in alleged violation of the terms of § 5501 of the Oceans Act of 1992. The parties agreed that Bean should be initially awarded the contract, subject to termination in the event the Court of Federal Claims should find that Bean was not eligible to perform. 5 The Court of Federal Claims observed that the Foreign Dredge Act of 1906, as amended by § 5501 of the Oceans Act of 1992 (codified at 46 U.S.C. app. § 292), bars foreign-built dredges from operating in U.S. waters. Norfolk II, 58 Fed.Cl. at 743. However, the note following 46 U.S.C. app. § 292 contains exceptions that include SDC and any entity in which it owns an interest. Id. at 744. Thus, the issue was whether Bean could legally charter a U.S.-built and documented non-hopper dredge under the statutory exception. Id. The court construed the statutory exception to 46 U.S.C. app. § 292 to exclude Bean's charter of the non-hopper dredge MERIDIAN pursuant to the contract, and thus Bean was barred from performing the contract by § 5501 of the Oceans Act of 1992. Following the court's denial of the Government's motion for reconsideration, Bean and the Corps entered into a no-cost termination of the contract. 6 Bean and the Government timely appealed from the Court of Federal Claims' October 14, 2003 order, Norfolk Dredging Co. v. United States, 58 Fed.Cl. 167 (2003) ( Norfolk I ); November 26, 2003 order on motion for reconsideration; and November 26, 2003 Corrected Opinion and Order, Norfolk II. We have jurisdiction from a final judgment of the Court of Federal Claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(3).