Raytheon Company v. United States
24-1824 · cofc · 2025-02-24
Summary
In Raytheon Company v. United States, the Court of Federal Claims denied the government's motion to dismiss a bid protest challenging the Missile Defense Agency's decision, under Other Transaction agreements for the Glide Phase Interceptor hypersonic-defense program, to continue Northrop Grumman while discontinuing Raytheon. Surveying the case law from SpaceX through IRTC, the court declared itself the de facto forum for OT/OTA bid protests under 10 U.S.C. §§ 4021–4022 and articulated a working test—jurisdiction exists where the OT is an acquisition instrument intended to provide the government a direct benefit in the form of products or services, as opposed to merely seeding a commercial market. The court also found Raytheon an interested party with standing and held that the OTA's internal dispute-resolution clause could not impose an administrative-exhaustion precondition on the court's Tucker Act bid-protest jurisdiction.