Hydraulics International, Inc. v. United States
22-364 · cofc · 2022-08-08
Summary
Court of Federal Claims (Holte, J., 2022) post-award protest by Hydraulics International of Army Other Transaction Agreements for Aviation Ground Power Unit (AGPU 1.1) prototypes awarded to Sun Test and John Bean Technologies through a consortium (10 U.S.C. §§ 4021-4022). The court denied the government's motion to dismiss, rejecting the argument that OTs are categorically exempt from Tucker Act review and holding that because the prototype project could lead to a noncompetitive follow-on production contract for over 150 units, it was "in connection with a proposed procurement" (following Distributed Solutions, Kinemetrics, and MD Helicopters); on the merits it upheld the Army's best-value evaluation and granted the government judgment on the administrative record. It is a strong statement that OT prototype awards carrying follow-on production potential fall within the court's protest jurisdiction.