The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has dismissed consolidated bid protests challenging NOAA contract awards under the ProTech 2.0 Fisheries and ProTech 2.0 Oceans multiple-award IDIQ programs. The protests stemmed from awards made to 1stMission LLC after the mentor-protégé relationship between joint venture members International Business Sales & Services Corporation (IBSS) and @Orchard had been terminated. The court did not address the merits of the allegations regarding NOAA’s award decisions, instead finding that neither protester qualified as an interested party with standing to bring the claims.
According to the opinion, IBSS and @Orchard formed 1stMission as a mentor-protégé joint venture and submitted proposals under the ProTech 2.0 Fisheries and ProTech 2.0 Oceans solicitations. After proposal submission but before award, the mentor-protégé relationship was terminated, and IBSS informed NOAA that it would not participate in performance under any resulting contracts.
Despite those developments, NOAA awarded contracts to 1stMission under both solicitations. IBSS later challenged the awards, arguing that NOAA proceeded after being informed that circumstances underlying the proposals had changed. The court concluded that IBSS lacked standing because 1stMission, rather than IBSS, was the entity that submitted the proposals and received the awards.
A second protest filed by Fish and Lynker Ocean Alliance Team Partners LLC (FLOAT), an awardee under the ProTech 2.0 Fisheries solicitation, was also dismissed. The court found that FLOAT was not an interested party with respect to the award challenged in the protest because it had already received the contract award for which it competed.
The opinion also dismissed challenges related to NOAA’s subsequent novation of the contracts to @Orchard, finding that contract novations are matters of contract administration and therefore outside the court’s bid protest jurisdiction.
The court granted motions to dismiss filed by the government and @Orchard and directed entry of judgment in both consolidated cases.
