Opinion ID: 2784995
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Prospective Bidder

Text: CGI never submitted a bid in response to the 2014 RFQs and thus is not an actual bidder. CGI must therefore show that it was a prospective bidder at the time it filed its protest in the Court of Federal Claims. We hold that it has made such a showing. The parties primarily debate the implications of four cases in which we have opined on the meaning of “prospective bidder.” A brief description of each case is helpful. In MCI Telecommunications Corp. v. United States, we considered the meaning of “prospective bidder” within the now-defunct Brooks Act, 40 U.S.C. § 759(f)(9)(B), which included a definition of “interested party” identical to the definition in CICA. 878 F.2d 362 (Fed. Cir. 1989). There, we held that MCI was not a prospective bidder because it did not participate in the bidding process and did not file the protest at issue until after the contract had been awarded. Id. at 364-65. We noted that MCI could not “achieve prospective bidderhood” via its postaward protest because “the opportunity to qualify either as an actual or prospective bidder ends when the proposal period ends.” Id. at 365. One year later in Federal Data Corp. v. United States, we held that Federal Data was not a “prospective bidder” within the meaning of the Brooks Act because it withdrew from the bidding process prior to filing a protest. 911 F.2d 699, 702-05 (Fed. Cir. 1990). “Federal Data knowingly took itself out of the bidding prior to filing its amended protest,” and therefore “relinquished any chance of receiving the contract by that action.” Id. at 703-04. CGI FEDERAL INC. v. US 5 We noted that Federal Data “could have continued to compete for the contract award . . . and could have utilized the protest procedures available to an interested party to correct any deficiencies it perceived in the procurement process,” but did not. Id. at 705. We stated that a “prospective bidder” “does not include one who only intends to bid in the event of a reprocurement.” Id. at 704. We considered the meaning of “prospective bidder” in the context of an interested party under § 1491 in Rex Service Corp. v. United States, 448 F.3d 1305 (Fed. Cir. 2006). Rex initially filed a pre-award protest with the agency. Id. at 1307. The agency denied its protest, and Rex, having not submitted a bid, did not pursue the matter further. Id. The agency subsequently awarded the contract to another party and—two months after the award and three months after the agency denied its initial protest—Rex filed a post-award protest in the Court of Federal Claims, raising issues entirely different from those raised in its agency protest. Id. We held that Rex was not a prospective bidder because it “could have bid, but chose not to.” Id. at 1308. We noted that in Rex’s case, its pre-award agency protest was “not relevant” to determining its prospective bidder status. Id. We again noted that “‘the opportunity to qualify either as an actual or a prospective bidder ends when the proposal period ends.’” Id. (quoting MCI, 878 F.2d at 365). We held that “In the end, Rex did not submit a bid; nor did it file a timely bid protest in the Court of Federal Claims.” Id. Finally, in Digitalis, we held that a protestor that failed to submit the required statement of capability to the agency in the allotted time period and filed its Court of Federal Claims protest more than two months after the contract was awarded was not a prospective bidder. 664 F.3d at 1383-86. Citing to both MCI and Rex, we again noted that “the opportunity to become a prospective bidder ends when the proposal period ends.” Id. at 1385. 6 CGI FEDERAL INC. v. US While none of these cases is directly on point, together they are instructive. In each case, the party failed to obtain prospective bidder status because it did not diligently pursue its protest rights, e.g., by failing to file any protest until well after a contract award (MCI, Digitalis), affirmatively abandoning any interest in the contract (Federal Data), or delaying months after both denial of a timely protest and the award of a contract before filing the protest at issue (Rex). The same cannot be said of CGI, which diligently and continuously pursued its rights in the GAO and then, immediately upon dismissal by the GAO, in the Court of Federal Claims. 1 Neither party disputes that CGI qualified as a prospective bidder on the day that it filed its GAO protest. Thus, it “achieve[d] prospective bidderhood” at that time. MCI, 878 F.2d at 365. The fact that—as MCI, Federal Data, and Digitalis all make clear—CGI’s opportunity to qualify as a prospective bidder ends when the solicitation period ends does not doom CGI because it had already achieved prospective bidder status with its timely GAO protest. It seems equally clear that CGI retained its prospective bidder status throughout the pendency of its GAO protest because it was continuously pursuing its challenge to the payment terms in the 2014 1 The government argues that our precedent pre- cludes standing for “‘one who only intends to bid in the event of a reprocurement.’” Appellee’s Br. at 24 (quoting Federal Data, 911 F.2d at 704) (emphasis added). CGI is not one who only intends to bid in the event of a reprocurement. CGI is a prospective bidder who filed a protest during the bidding period. CGI diligently pursued its interests and rights in the process from GAO protest (filed prior to the expiration of the bidding period) to present day. CGI FEDERAL INC. v. US 7 RFQs. 2 The question, then, is whether CGI lost its prospective bidder status during the three business days between the GAO denial and filing the Court of Federal Claims protest. In other words, has this brief passage of time or some affirmative act stripped CGI of its prospective bidder status? In this case, the answer is no. While we recognize that the government has been guided in its view by language in Rex, we agree with the Court of Federal Claims, which concluded that CGI’s position is readily distinguishable from the protestor in Rex. In Rex, the protestor waited nearly three months after the agency denied its initial protest before filing the protest at issue and, in the interim, the agency awarded the contract to another bidder. Rex, 448 F.3d at 1307. Here, CGI filed its Court of Federal Claims protest within three business days of receiving its dismissal from the GAO and before CMS had awarded the contract. 3 CGI, 2 The government argued that CGI’s prospective bidder status dissolved on the day bidding ended in the middle of its GAO protest. Oral Argument 23:10-24:15, 25:55-26:29, available at http://oralarguments.cafc. uscourts.gov/default.aspx?fl=2014-5143.mp3. We do not agree. CGI was a prospective bidder by virtue of filing a timely protest and its status did not dissolve in the midst of this protest while it was diligently pursuing its rights. The government presents no authority or good reason for concluding otherwise. Indeed, in discussing statutory standing in court, it states that “the proper inquiry is whether CGI had or was expecting to submit quotes at the time it filed its lawsuit” in court. Appellee’s Br. at 25. We see no basis for a different view for the GAO process. 3 The Court of Federal Claims also distinguished Rex by noting that the subsequent Court of Federal Claims protest “had nothing to do with” the earlier agency protest. Order and Opinion at 13. It is correct that the 8 CGI FEDERAL INC. v. US having secured prospective bidder status by filing its timely GAO protest, did not lose it in the three business days it took to file in the Court of Federal Claims. 4 We acknowledge that Rex explained that the timely filed agency protest was “not relevant to Rex’s status” as a prospective bidder at the time that it filed its Court of Federal Claims protest. This, we conclude, is because Rex failed to continue to pursue its rights in a diligent fashion, and thus ceased to be a prospective bidder. Rex’s agency denial was met with inaction. That inaction persisted for months, and during that time the government awarded the contract. By the time Rex filed its Court of Federal Claims protest, its agency protest was no longer relevant. Were we to adopt the government’s argument that CGI is not a prospective bidder, it would create a chasm between an actual bidder and a prospective bidder in terms of the review rights accorded to each. For example, two protests in Rex were unrelated; they were premised upon different grounds of alleged illegality. It is also correct that CGI made the same arguments before the Court of Federal Claims as it did before the GAO. It has diligently pursued its claim that the solicitation’s terms were illegal in both fora. It is not immediately apparent, and given the facts here we need not decide, how any change in arguments by a continuously diligent protestor affects prospective bidder status—an issue distinct from whether a protestor waived arguments. See, e.g., Blue & Gold Fleet, L.P. v. United States, 492 F.3d 1308, 1313 (Fed. Cir. 2007). 4 A longer delay than necessary may be a factor in the Court of Federal Claims declining to exercise jurisdiction. For example, 28 U.S.C. § 1291(b)(3) states that “[i]n exercising jurisdiction under this subsection, the courts shall give due regard to . . . the need for expeditious resolution of the action.” CGI FEDERAL INC. v. US 9 an actual bidder would undisputedly have the right to serially file a protest in the GAO and then, if the GAO protest were denied, in the Court of Federal Claims. If we accepted the government’s position, this sequence of redress would not be available to a prospective bidder. It would be virtually impossible to file a timely GAO protest, wait for a GAO decision, and then file a protest in the Court of Federal Claims prior to the close of bidding. By the time the GAO protest concluded, bidding would almost certainly be closed. Oral Argument 30:30-31:15. And the two cannot proceed simultaneously. 4 C.F.R. § 21.11(b) (“GAO will dismiss any case where the matter involved is the subject of litigation before . . . a court of competent jurisdiction.”). We see nothing in this statute, CICA (from which we derived the actual or prospective bidder requirement), or any policy justification for differing treatment among actual and prospective bidders. We have been presented no indication that Congress intended different review rights for actual and prospective bidders. CGI was a prospective bidder when it promptly initiated and diligently pressed its protest in the GAO forum, which Congress has encouraged protestors to use before suing in court. Unsuccessful in the GAO, it immediately filed for relief in court. We do not think that Congress meant for a protestor in CGI’s position to lose its entitlement to sue just because delays engendered by the GAO adjudicatory process pushed completion past the closing date for bid submissions. Concluding, as we do, that CGI filed a protest prior to the close of bidding and thereby established its prospective bidder status, and that CGI thereafter diligently pursued its rights, CGI has prospective bidder status to pursue its Court of Federal Claims protest.