Free Motion to Amend/Correct - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:08-cv-00021-BAF

Document 47

Filed 07/22/2008

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS Bid Protest _______________________________________ Savantage Financial Services, Inc., ) ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) THE UNITED STATES, ) ) Defendant. ) _______________________________________)

No. 1:08-cv-21 (Judge Futey)

PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR AN AMENDED PROTECTIVE ORDER Pursuant to Rule 7(1)(b) of the rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims, plaintiff respectfully requests that the Court issue an Order amending the existing Protective Order in this case to provide further protection for information that is to be filed in connection with plaintiff's Reply brief in support of its Motion for Award of Attorneys' Fees Under the Equal Access to Justice Act. This case involved plaintiff's challenge to an effort by the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") to procure a financial management software system without conducting a competitive procurement. The Court entered a Protective Order in this case on January 18, 2008. The Protective Order does not prevent DHS employees from viewing any of the filings by either party. The Court entered an order granting plaintiff full relief on March 17, 2008. Plaintiff filed its Motion for Attorneys' Fees on June 9, 2008, and defendant filed its Opposition to plaintiff's Motion on July 7, 2008. In its Opposition, defendant has asserted that plaintiff failed to furnish information to support plaintiff's claim that it is a small business pursuant to the criteria set forth in the Equal Access to Justice Act. Plaintiff intends to provide

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Case 1:08-cv-00021-BAF

Document 47

Filed 07/22/2008

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such information in conjunction with its Reply brief, which is due on Wednesday, July 23, 2008. Plaintiff is a private, woman-owned small business, and its records are not available for public review. Among the documents that plaintiff may furnish with its Reply will be a copy of plaintiff's balance sheet, a list of plaintiff's employees, and a copy of plaintiff's Federal income tax return. These documents contain sensitive, confidential information which plaintiff has consistently protected because its release to any competitor could cause serious competitive harm to plaintiff. Plaintiff has learned that at least one DHS official who has been involved with the underlying procurement is prepared to depart the agency and join one of plaintiff's competitors. In view of the fact that the current administration is in its last stage, plaintiff believes that several other DHS officials could also be leaving the agency to join private industry. Under these circumstances, plaintiff has significant concerns about its confidential business information being released, even inadvertently, to its competitors. As an example, plaintiff's employee list would serve as a virtual shopping list for any company competing with plaintiff for future work, and could be used as a guide for competitors to hire plaintiff's employees. Because of these concerns, plaintiff respectfully requests that the Court amend the Protective Order to limit access to the information filed in connection with plaintiff's Reply to defendant's counsel, including DHS counsel. Because of the nature of this particular proceeding--a request for attorneys' fees--granting this Motion will not prejudice defendant in any way because it does not involve technical information and defendant's counsel (including agency counsel) are quite capable of representing defendant without the assistance of other agency personnel. Counsel for defendant has no objection to this Motion.

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Case 1:08-cv-00021-BAF

Document 47

Filed 07/22/2008

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Based on the above, plaintiff respectfully requests that the Court grant this Motion and restrict access to plaintiff's Reply to counsel for defendant, including agency counsel. Respectfully submitted, s/ Timothy Sullivan Timothy Sullivan 1909 K Street, N.W., 6th Floor Washington, D.C. 20006 (202) 585-6930 (tel.) (202) 508-1028 (fax) Attorney of Record for Plaintiff Of Counsel: Katherine S. Nucci Thompson Coburn LLP 1909 K Street, N.W., 6th Floor Washington, D.C. 20006 (202) 585-6900 (tel.) (202) 585-6969 (fax) Jon W. van Horne 18222 Flower Hill Way #112 Gaithersburg, MD 20879 Dated: July 22, 2008

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Case 1:08-cv-00021-BAF

Document 47

Filed 07/22/2008

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CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify that on the 22nd day of July 2008, a copy of "Plaintiff's Motion For An Amended Protective Order" was filed electronically. I understand that notice of this filing will be sent to all parties by operation of the Court's electronic filing system. Parties may access this filing through the Court's system.

s/ Timothy Sullivan

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