The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has dismissed SpaceX's challenge of the Air Force's Launch Services Agreement award decision, finding the company's complaint does not fall within its jurisdiction and directing the case to be transferred to a California District Court.
In a decision released publicly last week, the court sided with the Air Force in its argument that because the LSA awards were not procurement contracts, the Federal Claims Court lacks jurisdiction to consider SpaceX's complaint that the LSA source selection was "flawed and inconsistent."
The court did, however, grant SpaceX's request to transfer the case to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, noting that the company's complaint deserves to be heard.
"The court agrees with SpaceX that a transfer of this matter to the United States District Court for the Central District of California would be in the interest of justice," the Aug. 28 filing states. "Given the non-frivolous nature of SpaceX's claims, the court believes that SpaceX should be afforded the opportunity to pursue these claims in the district court."
SpaceX filed its initial complaint May 17, after the Air Force denied the company's objection to the service's October 2018 decision to award LSA other transaction agreements to Northrop Grumman, United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin.
SpaceX's complaint alleges that the Air Force did not provide a level competitive playing field and failed to note a preference for government processes and for the use of a risk-evaluation metric different from what was presented in the solicitation. The company claimed the service's "flawed decision" will "cause substantial harm to SpaceX in the final phase of this procurement as SpaceX's competitors will have the benefit of government investment dollars and government cooperation in the development and certification of the competing offerors' approaches."
SpaceX is seeking an injunction to prevent additional Air Force investment in the winning companies' LSAs. As of press time, the case had not been recorded in the district court's public electronic filing system.
In the meantime, the Air Force this spring released a request for proposals for the next phase of competition, Launch Services Procurement, which will award two companies contracts to provide launch services for a five-year manifest. SpaceX has submitted a proposal along with the three LSA recipients. Of note, Blue Origin has filed a pre-award protest of LSP, claiming the service's plan has "a flawed acquisition strategy" that impedes a fair competition.