Government Contracts Monitor

COFC Issues TRO Enjoining Contract Start-Up in Postal Service Reverse Auction Case

September 28, 2011

In a recent case at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Hodges considered what happens when an on-line electronic reverse auction goes wrong and one of only two bidders is unable to see the other’s later low bid, and thus believed it was the winning bidder, only to later learn of the lower bid.

  The Postal Service’s answer was to deem the actual low bidder the winner, and to then negotiate a much lower price with such bidder on an exclusive basis, rather than re-open the bidding as requested by the injured bidder.  Judge Hodges disagreed, and concluded, at least upon the present limited record in a TRO context, that the protestor had shown a reasonable likelihood that it would succeed on the merits of its claims that the Postal Service’s actions violated the RFP and were arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion.  The underlying procurement involved a consolidation of two highway mail transportation routes.  Since the Postal Service could continue to receive service under the expiring contracts, and the harm to the protestor in having its route constituting almost 70% of the total work phased out would far exceed any injury to the Postal Service and the intervening awardee from delaying the transition, the Court issued the TRO enjoining the contract transition scheduled to otherwise take place in only 12 hours.  BJ Trucking Co., Inc. v. U.S., COFC Case No. 11-551c, Sept. 1, 2011 (Mem. Op. and Order).*

 

Hopwell Darneille III is the attorney responsible for the content of this post.

*Jackson Kelly PLLC represented the plaintiff bid protestor in this case.