Opinion ID: 449460
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The jurisdiction of the district courts under the FCIA

Text: 12 Although the express language of Sec. 1491(a)(3) would appear to divest the district courts of jurisdiction of pre-award contract claims, the courts are divided on this issue. See Opal Manufacturing Co. v. U.M.C. Industries, Inc., 553 F.Supp. 131 (D.D.C.1982) (no jurisdiction in district courts); accord, B.K. Investments v. United States, 715 F.2d 713, 715 n. 4 (dictum) (2nd Cir.1983). Cf., Coco Bros., Inc. v. Pierce, 741 F.2d 675 (3rd Cir.1984) (there is jurisdiction), United States v. John C. Grimberg, 702 F.2d 1362, 1369-72 (Fed.Cir.1983) (there is jurisdiction). 13 Relying solely on the literal language of section 1491(a)(3), the District Court for the District of Columbia held, in Opal Manufacturing Co., supra, that the FCIA must be read to vest jurisdiction in the Claims Court for pre-award contract claims, to the exclusion of this Court. (Emphasis added). This position, based upon the interpretation of the word exclusive as applying to any and all other courts was, however, rejected by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. In Coco Bros., Inc., supra, the Third Circuit found that construction plausible but erroneous by reason of the legislative history of the statute in question. 14 The legislative history explaining the grant of equitable powers to the Claims Court was reviewed in John C. Grimberg, supra. As summarized in Coco Bros., Inc., supra, at 678, it explained: 15 In an early version of the proposed legislation, the Claims Court was to be given equitable power in all cases brought before it. See S. 21, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. Sec. 132(a)(2) (1981); H.R. 2405, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. Sec. 126(d) (1981). However, because of strenuous objections by the Justice Department, that provision was changed to limit the grant to pre-award contract cases. The Federal Circuit Court, although not presented with the issue of pre-award jurisdiction, commented that it could find no indication that Congress intended to take away the district court's power to act in those cases. 16 Observations by the House Judiciary Committee regarding the grant of equitable power to the Claims Court include a statement to the effect that: This enlarged authority is exclusive of the Board of Contract Appeals and not to the exclusion of the district court. (Emphasis supplied). H.R.Rep. No. 312, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. 43 (1981). That exclusion of the district courts was not contemplated is further emphasized in that report where it states: 17 It is not the intent of the Committee to change existing case law as to the ability of the parties to proceed in the district court pursuant to the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act in instances of illegal agency action.... Nor is it the intent of the Committee to obligate lawyers, litigants, and possibly witnesses to travel to Washington, D.C., whenever equitable relief is sought in a contact (sic) action prior to award. Although Claims Court judges will travel, they cannot be expected to do so at (sic) extremely short notice. Therefore, for the time being, the Committee is satisfed (sic) by clothing the Claim Court with enlarged equitable powers not to the exclusion of the district courts. The dual questions of whether these powers should be even broader and of whether they should be exclusive of the district courts will have to wait for a later date. 18 Id. (Emphasis added). 19 The Senate Report supports the House report in its assertion that under Section 1491(a)(3) there is no change in the jurisdiction of the district courts: 20 By conferring jurisdiction upon the Claims Court to award injunctive relief in the pre-award stage of the procurement process, the Committee does not alter the current state of the substantive law in this area. Specifically, the Scanwell doctrine as enunciated by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1970 is left in tact (sic). See Scanwell Laboratories, Inc. v. Shaffer, 424 F.2d 859 (D.C.Cir.1970).... 21 Since the court is granted jurisdiction in this area boards of contract appeals would not possesses comparable authority pursuant to the last sentence of section 8(d) of the Contract Disputes Act. 22 S.Rep. No. 275, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. 23, reprinted in 1982 U.S.Code Cong. and Admin.News 11, 33. 23 We are well aware that in going behind the apparently plain language of Sec. 1491(a)(3) we seem to be violating a cardinal principal of legislative interpretation. See T.V.A. v. Hill, 437 U.S. 153, 184 n. 29, 98 S.Ct. 2279, 2296 n. 29, 57 L.Ed.2d 117 (1978). Yet this rule is not without exceptions. In our recent opinion in Cia. Petrolera Caribe, Inc. v. Arco Caribbean, Inc., et al., 754 F.2d 404 at 415 (1st Cir., 1985), we made reference to such an exception:If the statutory language is unambiguous, in the absence of a clearly expressed legislative intent to the contrary, that language must ordinarily be regarded as conclusive. 24 [Emphasis added]. See also Consumer Product Safety Commission v. GTE Sylvania Corp., 447 U.S. 102, 108, 100 S.Ct. 2051, 2056, 64 L.Ed.2d 766 (1980); Russello v. United States, 464 U.S. 16, ----, 104 S.Ct. 296, 299, 78 L.Ed.2d 17 (1983); United States v. Turkette, 452 U.S. 576, 580, 101 S.Ct. 2524, 2527, 69 L.Ed.2d 246 (1981). As previously indicated, the legislative history of Sec. 1491(a)(3) puts FCIA squarely within this exception. 25 In the case at bar, giving credence to the asserted plain meaning of Section 1491(a)(3) deprives the district court of its heretofore jurisdiction by implication rather than by specific pronouncement of Congress. 4 For this reason we believe that in this case scrutiny of the legislative history is appropriate. 26 We should point out that in TVA, notwithstanding the plain statutory language, the Supreme Court, did undertake an historical analysis of the act in question. In that case the plain language of the Endangered Species Act required the permanent halting of a virtually completed dam for which Congress had expended more than $100 million. See TVA, supra, 437 U.S. at 172-173, 98 S.Ct. at 2290-2291. As it turned out the legislative history supported the statute's explicit provisions. In this case, unlike TVA, our search has yielded an entirely opposite purpose and intent. Here, a facial reading of the language in Section 1491(a)(3) leads one to a result never intended by Congress. Coco Bros., Inc., supra, at 679. We, therefore, conclude that 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1491(a)(3) did not divest the district courts of jurisdiction in pre-award contract claims.