Court Upholds Forest Service Selection Of Offerors For Heli-Ski Permit

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A federal court upheld the Forest Service’s selection of three offerors to be considered for special use permits authorizing heli-ski operations in Alaska. The offers were submitted in response to a competitive prospectus. An offeror that was not selected appealed the agency’s decision to the agency. When the offeror’s appeal was denied, it filed a challenge in federal court. The offeror specifically alleged that its proposal was superior to one of the three offerors selected.  It further alleged that the Forest Service should be required to select the offeror for award and reject the other offeror’s proposal. The court rejected the non-selected offeror’s arguments on several bases.

First, the court found that the Forest Service reasonably explained its decision as to which heli-ski companies it would allow to operate on national forests and was therefore entitled to deference. As the court stated, it was “in no position to second-guess” it. The basis for this deference was the agency’s need to rely on its technical expertise to determine which proposals for operations in remote and potentially dangerous environments were best. The court also found that, contrary to the allegations made against the selected offeror’s qualifications, the agency followed the evaluation criteria in the Prospectus when it assigned scores to the proposals. In addition, the court found that the issues raised as to the selected offeror were not materially relevant to those evaluation criteria. Finally, the court described the allegations as “cherry-picked attempts to poke holes” in an overall sound evaluation which did not support vacating the agency’s decision.

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