Opinion ID: 614787
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Claim Relating to Services to Cottonwood Day School in 2004

Text: With regard to Engage's theory that the NCLB Act authorized $11,500 in services provided to the Cottonwood Day School in 2004, we find that the Board erred in dismissing this claim on jurisdictional grounds, but affirm based on the government's alternative motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. See Adair v. United States, 497 F.3d 1244, 1251 (Fed. Cir.2007) (affirming the dismissal on the alternative ground of failure to state a claim) (That the Court of Federal Claims based its dismissal on lack of subject matter jurisdiction, however, is not fatal to the judgment of dismissal.). On the jurisdictional issue, Engage asserted that these services were rendered pursuant to a contract authorized under the NCLB Act and points to a request executed by a qualified supervisor under the Act. As with regard to its other claims, because these allegations are non-frivolous assertions of the existence of a contract under the Act, the Board may not decline to consider them on jurisdictional grounds. Once it exercises jurisdiction, however, the Board may assesswithout resolving any factual disputeswhether the claim is one upon which it can grant relief. See id. Contracting authority under the NCLB Act requires that five conditions be satisfied. See supra. As the Board found, however, Engage failed to allege at least two of the five requisite conditions: that the school board approved the acquisition or that the principal certified that the cost was fair and reasonable. Board Op., at 12-13. Engage does not contest the absence of these conditions on appeal. Accordingly, we affirm the Board's dismissal of Engage's NCLB Act claim.