Court Unseals Ruling Against FCC Landlord
Current FCC landlord Parcel 49C “has simply not shown” that General Services Administration award of the bid for the commission's new headquarters to developer Trammell Crow was based on conflicts of interest, said the U.S. Court of Federal Claims opinion…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
(in Pacer) rejecting Parcel 49C's bid protest. Though the opinion was handed down Nov. 30 (see 1612050046), it was only unsealed and published this week. “The GSA conducted a reasonable evaluation process for the RLP [request for lease proposals] at issue in this litigation,” said the opinion, which also rejected Parcel 49C's request for an injunction that would bar the award from going forward pending an appeal. “Given the many weaknesses in Parcel 49C’s challenges to the GSA’s evaluation process, Parcel 49C has also not demonstrated that it is entitled to the injunctive relief that it seeks in this case,” said the opinion. Parcel 49C argued against numerous aspects of the GSA's award process, including the way the GSA calculated the cost of the FCC's moving versus staying at the current Portals location, that the company judging the bids -- CBRE -- owns eventual winner Trammell Crow, and the FCC's requests for a location with backup power sources and an 11-foot ceiling on the first floor. “Parcel 49C has simply not shown that the GSA’s actions here were arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or not in accordance with the RLP or applicable law.” The regulator's lease expires in October.