Opinion ID: 297019
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Judicial Reviewability Generally.

Text: 9 The actions of the Forest Service officials in conducting the sale were taken under the provisions of 36 C.F.R. Section 221.10 which in relevant part provided as follows: 10 'Awards of Advertised Timber. (a) Advertised timber will be awarded to the highest bidder upon satisfactory showing by him of ability to meet financial requirements and any other conditions of the sale offer unless: 11 '(1) Determination is made to reject all bids. 12 '(c) If the highest bid is not accepted and the sale is still deemed desirable, all bids may be rejected and the timber readvertised; or, if the highest bidder cannot meet the requirements under which the timber was advertised or the withholding of award to him is based on one or more of paragraphs 4, 5, and 6 above, award at the highest price bid may be offered to the next highest qualified bidders in order of their bids until the award is accepted by one or refused by all of the qualified bidders.' 13 The manual of the Forest Service further provided in Section 2431.7 that pursuant to Section 221.10 'all bids may be rejected only when such rejection is in the interest of the United States.' 14 A cursory reading of the regulations clearly reveals that their basic acheme calls for the exercise of discretion in carrying out government timber sales. In a Section 1361 action, we are called upon to determine whether a governmental officer has acted within the delegated scope of discretion. See Byse and Fiocca, 'Section 1361 of the Mandamus and Venue Act of 1962 and 'Nonstatutory' Judicial Review of Federal Administrative Action', 81 Harv.L.Rev. 308 (1967). 15 Before we may determine whether the Secretary's determination to reject all bids for the reasons stated was a permissible exercise of the discretion delegated to him, however, we must first consider the effect of Section 10 of the Administrative Procedure Act hereinafter ('Act'), 5 U.S.C. Section 701(a) (Supp. II, 1967) on the availability of review by this Court. Section 10 provides that the Act applies to provide review 'except to the extent that--   (2) agency action is committed to agency discretion by law.' Lacking specific legislative instruction as to the availability of judicial review, the court must balance the need for the speedy and efficient enforcement of Congressional programs and the growing demands on judicial resources against an individual's interest in having a claim adjudicated. See Saferstein, 'Nonreviewability: A Functional Analysis of 'Committed to Agency Discretion, 82 Harv.L.Rev. 367 (1968). 16 The test cannot simply be whether the agency possesses some discretion under the controlling law. As we said in Ferry v. Udall, 336 F.2d 706, 711 (9th Cir. 1964): 17 'We recognize the intrinsic difficulty in determining whether a discretionary action of an agency is reviewable. Almost every agency action involves some degree of discretion of judgment. Yet it cannot be said that, for this reason, every agency action is unreviewable. Homovich v. Chapman, 89 U.S.App.D.C. 150, 153, 191 F.2d 761, 764. The analytical problem is that of determining when the agency action is 'committed to agency discretion' within the meaning of section 10 of the Administrative Procedure Act, and when it merely 'involves' discretion which is nevertheless reviewable. 4 Davis, Administrative Law Treatise 28.16, pp. 80-81; Anno., Administrative Procedure Act, 97 L.Ed. 884, 889.' 18 More recently, the Supreme Court, in Association of Data Processing Service Organizations, Inc., v. Camp, 397 U.S. 150, 90 S.Ct. 827, 25 L.Ed.2d 184 (1970) and Barlow v. Collins, 397 U.S. 159, 90 S.Ct. 832, 25 L.Ed.2d 192 (1970), made clear the principle that judicial review may not be denied unless there is persuasive reason to believe that this was the intent of Congress in passing the statute. The relevant provision, 16 U.S.C. 476, readily provides such an inference. At length, it delegates to the Secretary power to provide rules and regulations to govern such sales as well as explicitly authorizing him to exercise his discretion in many instances. Section 476 as an example of his broad discretion specifically provides that 'In cases in which advertisement is had and no satisfactory bid is received, or in cases in which the bidder fails to complete the purchase, the timber may be sold, without further advertisement, at private sale, in the discretion of the Secretary of Agriculture, at not less than the appraised valuation, in quantities to suit purchasers'. 19 In determining reviewability we must also examine the regulations and investigate the nature and breadth of the discretion delegated to the Forest Service in the sale of timber. Under the regulations in effect, the Forest Service could 'reject all bids with or without reason.' S & S Logging Co. v. Barker, 366 F.2d 617 (9th Cir. 1966). Although there were requirements which had to be met before a contract could be awarded to the next highest bidder, there were none attached to a decision to reject all bids. The caveat in the manual (which does not rise to the status of a regulation) that such a rejection must be made 'only when in the interest of the United States' can be read to call for an informed managerial discretion. The only restriction upon the discretion to reject all bids is that this power should be invoked only in situations to benefit the government, rather than those private parties with whom its agents deal. 20 Our reading of the discretionary power relating to the rejection of all bids convinces us that several conpelling reasons exist to justify nonreview because the decision is committed to agency discretion. First, the authority delegated is quite broad. While we assume that the regulations provide sufficient guidelines to review a decision to award the contract to one who was not the highest bidder, we have no standards before us by which we could review the rejection of all bids. The development of such criteria and factors to be weighed would be too onerous a burden upon this or any court. Secondly, the decision whether to award a specific contract in view of the government's need for revenue, management of timber and its road-building needs, is one which is necessarily based upon some expertise in the financial and ecological management of our natural resources. This Court has neither the technical expertise nor the intuitive knowledge gained from daily acquaintance with this subject to provide an informed review of executive decision-making. Thirdly, the timber sale activities of the Forest Service are in the nature of a continuing and comprehensive managerial function. The decision in question reflects managerial policies which may be important to the overall program of the agency. Although we may be able to understand the basic issue of whether compensating consideration is required in lieu of unnecessary roadwork, it is likely that this policy is one of a complex group with which we are generally unfamiliar. Finally, our review of the facts assures us that the Forest Service appeals procedures provide a fair and expeditious forum in which dissatisfied participants in the bidding may lodge their protests and have them fully considered. What took place in this case confirms that view. 21 The analysis above clearly distinguishes the administrative scheme in this case from that presented in Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402, 91 S.Ct. 814, 28 L.Ed.2d 136 (1971), where the Supreme Court found the statute involved contained specific requirements to guide and control agency action. 22 These factors lead us to conclude that the Secretary's decision is within the ambits of those removed from judicial review on the merits by section 10 of the A.P.A. See Panama Canal Co. v. Grace Line, Inc., 356 U.S. 309, 78 S.Ct. 752, 2 L.Ed.2d 788 (1958). 23