The Small Business Administration, Swift & Staley and a firm that successfully challenged the latter’s size eligibility for a Department of Energy landlord contract at the Paducah Site in Kentucky have until after Independence Day to file briefs with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Federal Claims Judge Thompson Dietz last week gave the government, Swift & Staley and Virginia-based Akima Intra-Data until July 6 to reply to a May motion to reverse a finding by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and that agency’s Hearings and Appeals board that Swift & Staley is too big to meet the set-aside criteria for the $160-million DOE contract awarded in December.
Kentucky-based Swift & Staley asked the SBA hearings and appeals board decision be overturned based on the existing administrative record in the case. The Swift & Staley memorandum in support of its motion for judgment was filed under seal on May 21. The other parties requested more time to file their reply and on June 3, Judge Dietz gave everyone until July 6.
The SBA appeals board ruled in April that Swift & Staley exceeds the $41.5 million size standard for the new contract at Paducah once its share of a joint venture providing similar services at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio is taken into account. North Wind is the lead partner in the Portsmouth Mission Alliance.
Swift & Staley is Paducah’s incumbent provider of services such as recordkeeping, technical support, and routine maintenance of roads, buildings and parking lots. In February, the DOE extended the firm for another year, until March 2022, while the current legal dispute plays out.
