The United States Court of Federal Claims (COFC) is a federal court that has jurisdiction over a variety of claims against the U.S. Government, including contract disputes and bid protests. In the space industry, the COFC plays a role in resolving disputes related to government contracts, particularly those involving agencies like the Space Development Agency (SDA) and NASA, and contractors in the aerospace sector. The COFC has become a key venue for bid protests related to "Other Transaction Agreements" (OTAs) used by the Department of Defense (DoD) for research and prototype projects.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
York filed a complaint in June in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims arguing it should have been able to compete for a Space Systems Command $45.9 million Phase II SBIR contract to build multiple multi-orbit satellites.
Iridium Communications joined the Air Line Pilots Association, Airlines for America, and the International Air Transport Association in a legal filing to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on 2024-02-09 supporting the government’s motion to dismiss Ligado’s lawsuit.
United States government attorneys filed a motion to dismiss Ligado’s lawsuit on 2025-01-25, arguing the U.S. Court of Federal Claims lacks jurisdiction because the Communications Act provides an exclusive administrative and judicial review framework for claims arising from FCC licensing decisions.
Ligado Networks filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on 2023-10-13 suing the U.S. government for derailing its wireless network plans so the company’s assigned spectrum could be used for Department of Defense systems.
The government agreed to a voluntary stay of NASA’s HLS award to SpaceX through 2021-11-01 as part of an agreement to expedite the Court of Federal Claims case.
NASA announced on 2021-08-19 that it would voluntarily pause work on the SpaceX Human Landing System contract until 2021-11-01 in exchange for an expedited review of the Court of Federal Claims case.
SpaceX filed a protest with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on 2019-05-17 over the Air Force’s 2019-10-10 decision to provide funding to Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman, and ULA but not to SpaceX.
SpaceX did not receive LSA contract funding in 2018-10-01 and filed a protest in the Court of Federal Claims on 2019-05-17.
A 2018 RAND Corporation study identified 475 bid protest cases that went to the Court of Federal Claims over an eight-year period versus nearly 11,500 protests handled by the Government Accountability Office.