Hydraulics International, Inc. v. United States
25-312 · cofc · 2025-04-15
Summary
Court of Federal Claims (Tapp, J., 2025) pre-award protest by Hydraulics International, its third challenge in the AGPU 1.1 saga, this time attacking the Army's proposed sole-source award to Sun Test made under FAR/CICA sole-source authority (10 U.S.C. § 3204(a)(1)) after the OT statute was amended (10 U.S.C. § 4022(a)(2)(C)) to require a "critical national security" justification for noncompetitive follow-on production. The court denied a preliminary injunction, finding HII showed neither a likelihood of success (it failed to prove it was another responsible source with a fully compliant, simultaneously-operating unit) nor irreparable harm. It illustrates the transition from an OT prototype project to a FAR-based sole-source production award and the tightened limits on noncompetitive OT follow-ons.