American Science and Engineering, Inc. v. Kelly
99-10365 · district · 1999-08-24
Summary
U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts (O'Toole, J., 1999) decision denying American Science and Engineering a preliminary injunction against a U.S. Customs Service award to EG&G of a mobile truck x-ray (MTXR) prototype contract issued through a Broad Agency Announcement, which AS&E alleged violated CICA and misappropriated its trade secrets. The court found the BAA was an improper noncompetitive procurement because the MTXR was "development" of specific hardware rather than the basic or applied research a BAA may competitively procure under FAR 6.102(d)(2), but denied relief because AS&E suffered no legal prejudice (Customs sought a second source and would not have awarded to AS&E) and failed to show its collimator technology was a protectable trade secret. It marks the boundary between research and hardware development when a BAA is used to procure a prototype, and the prejudice requirement for setting aside an award.