Precedent Shows Executive Orders Subject to APA Challenge, Orbital ATK Says

The precedents that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency cites for dismissal of Orbital ATK's lawsuit (see 1706120016) confirm DARPA's Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program is a final agency action subject to court challenge, Orbital ATK said in a reply (in Pacer) posted Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia. Orbital ATK said it wasn't an RSGS program bidder but instead put in noncompliant submissions to the request for proposals to get DARPA to recognize the company's concerns about competing in the commercial space market "with a highly subsidized entity" already promising cheaper pricing due to "the unfair massive injection of taxpayer funds" that is coming from RSGS. Space Systems Loral received the DARPA contract. Orbital ATK said DARPA mischaracterized its arguments and there's no government need for the RSGS program, the evidence being DARPA acknowledgements no federal agencies expressed a need for servicing of their geostationary orbit assets. And Orbital ATK said the court's 1974 decision in National Broiler Council v. Federal Labor Relations Council, also dealing with Administrative Procedures Act claims grounded in an executive order, like Orbital ATK's complaint, establishes its standing. DARPA counsel didn't comment Wednesday.