Life Science Logistics, LLC v. United States

United States Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit
______________________
LIFE SCIENCE LOGISTICS, LLC,
Plaintiff-Appellee
v.
UNITED STATES,
Defendant-Appellant
______________________
2024-1522
______________________
Appeal from the United States Court of Federal Claims
in No. 1:23-cv-02116-ZNS, Judge Zachary N. Somers.
______________________
Decided: April 15, 2026
______________________
D ANIEL HAY , Sidley Austin LLP, Washington, DC, ar-
gued for plaintiff-appellee. Also represented by WILLIAM
R. L EVI.
EVAN WISSER, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Di-
vision, United States Department of Justice, Washington,
DC, argued for defendant-appellant. Also represented by
BRIAN M. BOYNTON, P ATRICIA M. MCCARTHY , D OUGLAS K.
MICKLE.
______________________
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LIFE SCIENCE LOGISTICS , LLC v. US 2
Before M OORE, Chief Judge, STARK, Circuit Judge, and
O ETKEN, District Judge.1
STARK, Circuit Judge.
The government appeals from a judgment of the Court
of Federal Claims declaring that an agency’s decision to
override an automatic statutory stay of performance of a
newly awarded contract was arbitrary and capricious. Ap-
pellee Life Science Logistics, LLC (“LSL”) contends that
the government’s appeal is moot and we should, therefore,
dismiss it for lack of jurisdiction. In the alternative, LSL
asks us to affirm the trial court on the merits. We conclude
that the exception to mootness for disputes that are capa-
ble of repetition yet evading review is applicable here, giv-
ing us jurisdiction to reach the merits. Doing so, we agree
with the Court of Federal Claims. Thus, we affirm.
I
The Strategic National Stockpile (“SNS”) is a nation-
wide network of facilities for the storage and deployment of
medicines, vaccines, and medical supplies. The SNS is
managed by the Administration for Strategic Preparedness
and Response, an agency within the Department of Health
and Human Services.
Since 2007, LSL has operated multiple SNS sites pur-
suant to contracts awarded by the General Services Admin-
istration (“GSA”). Today, LSL holds more SNS contracts
than any other entity. Each contract, the last of which ex-
pires in the early 2030s, is worth millions of dollars and
runs for many years.
In 2011, LSL was awarded a 10-year contract to service
the SNS warehouse in the National Capitol Region
1 Honorable J. Paul Oetken, District Judge, United
States District Court for the Southern District of New
York, sitting by designation.
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LIFE SCIENCE LOGISTICS , LLC v. US 3
(“NCR”), an area that includes New York, Philadelphia,
Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. LSL received satisfac-
tory or better performance evaluations for its work under
the NCR contract. In 2021, the NCR contract expired. At
that point, the government and LSL agreed to an extension
running through December 25, 2023 (the “Bridge Con-
tract”), which the government had the option to extend by
one month.
In May 2022, shortly after the parties agreed to the
Bridge Contract, the government issued a bid solicitation
for a new 10-year contract to manage the NCR SNS facility
(“NCR Contract”). LSL submitted a bid, as did one of its
competitors, Integrated Quality Solutions LLC (“IQS”).
Like LSL, IQS has been awarded other SNS contracts; it is
currently the second largest player in the market, with con-
tracts running into the 2030s. Servicing the SNS is IQS’s
primary line of business.
In August 2022, GSA awarded the NCR Contract to
IQS. LSL filed a “written objection” (a “protest”) to the
award with the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”).
See 31 U.S.C. § 3551(1). Subsequently, after additional so-
licitations, bids, awards, and protests, IQS was awarded
the NCR Contract a second and, finally, a third time, the
latter occurring on October 30, 2023. On November 20,
2023, LSL protested the third award by again filing an ob-
jection with GAO.
LSL’s latest protest triggered an automatic stay under
the Competition in Contracting Act (“CICA”), which pre-
vented GSA and IQS from beginning performance under
the NCR Contract while GAO evaluated LSL’s protest, a
period that could last, by statute, up to 100 days. See id.
§ 3553(d)(3)(A)(i) (“If the Federal agency awarding the con-
tract receives notice of a protest . . . the contracting officer
may not authorize performance of the contract to begin
while the protest is pending.”); see also id. § 3554(a)(1)
(“[T]he Comptroller General shall issue a final decision
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LIFE SCIENCE LOGISTICS , LLC v. US 4
concerning a protest within 100 days after the date the pro-
test is submitted.”). On December 7, 2023, however, only a
few weeks into the stay period, GSA decided to override the
stay pursuant to a different provision of CICA. See id. §
3553(d)(3)(C). In support of the override, GSA issued a De-
termination and Findings (“D&F”), in which it found that
“urgent and compelling circumstances now exist that sig-
nificantly affect the interests of the United States and do
not permit waiting for the GAO decision in the protest,”
and that “it is in the best interest of the United States to
override the mandatory stay of performance and authorize
IQS to being performance of the Awarded [NCR] Contract.”
J.A. 246, 252.
Six days later, on December 13, 2023, LSL filed suit in
the Court of Federal Claims, alleging that the override was
unlawful because the D&F’s reasoning was arbitrary and
capricious, in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act
(“APA”), 5 U.S.C. § 706(2). As relief, LSL requested a de-
claratory judgment or, alternatively, an injunction reim-
posing the CICA stay.
The Court of Federal Claims reviewed the case expedi-
tiously. On December 21, 2023, the court held a hearing,
at the conclusion of which it ruled in favor of LSL, issuing
a declaratory judgment that the override was arbitrary and
capricious. In reaching that conclusion, the court rejected
the government’s contention that LSL was required to
prove an entitlement to injunctive relief under the four eq-
uitable factors traditionally governing preliminary injunc-
tion motions, i.e., likelihood of success on the merits,
irreparable harm, balance of the equities, and the public
interest. The court explained:
In creating the CICA stay, Congress decided that
injunctive relief factors need not be invoked when
a bid protest is timely filed with the GAO, instead
requiring that contract performance be stayed au-
tomatically. . . . To allow an arbitrary override
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LIFE SCIENCE LOGISTICS , LLC v. US 5
decision to insert the injunctive relief requirements
into this process would convert the CICA stay into
something other than what Congress created.
J.A. 107.
On February 17, 2024, the government timely ap-
pealed. Ten days later, on February 27, 2024, GAO sus-
tained LSL’s most recent protest, leading GSA to withdraw
the override. See Matter of: Life Sci. Logistics, LLC, No. B-
421018.4 et al., 2024 WL 982583, at *12 (Comp. Gen. Feb.
27, 2024).
II
“The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit shall have exclusive jurisdiction [over] . . . an ap-
peal from a final decision of the United States Court of Fed-
eral Claims.” 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(3). “We review the Court
of Federal Claims decisions de novo for errors of law and
for clear error on findings of fact.” Sys. Fuels, Inc. v. United
States, 818 F.3d 1302, 1305 (Fed. Cir. 2016). “We give def-
erence to the Court of Federal Claims’ decision to grant or
deny injunctive relief, only disturbing the court’s decision
if it abused its discretion.” Oak Grove Techs., LLC v.
United States, 116 F.4th 1364, 1375 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (inter-
nal quotation marks omitted). “An abuse of discretion ex-
ists where the Court of Federal Claims made a clear error
of judgment in weighing the relevant factors or exercised
its discretion based on an error of law or clearly erroneous
fact finding.” Dell Fed. Sys., L.P. v. United States, 906 F.3d
982, 991 (Fed. Cir. 2018) (internal quotation marks omit-
ted).
III
We must first determine whether we have jurisdiction
to consider the government’s appeal. The parties agree
that the specific dispute that existed when this appeal was
filed in February 2024 – whether the Court of Federal
Claims’ declaratory judgment that GSA’s override of the
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LIFE SCIENCE LOGISTICS , LLC v. US 6
CICA stay relating to the award of the NCR Contract to
IQS was arbitrary and capricious – became moot shortly
thereafter, when the government withdrew the override.
LSL argues that this undisputed mootness means we lack
jurisdiction and must dismiss this appeal. We disagree.
Instead, we agree with the government that the issue pre-
sented in this appeal is capable of repetition yet may oth-
erwise evade review and, accordingly, falls within a well-
established exception to the mootness doctrine.
A
“Article III of the Constitution grants the Judicial
Branch authority to adjudicate ‘Cases’ and ‘Controver-
sies.’” Already, LLC v. Nike, Inc., 568 U.S. 85, 90 (2013).
“A corollary to this case-or-controversy requirement is that
an actual controversy must be extant at all stages of re-
view, not merely at the time the complaint is filed.” Gene-
sis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk, 569 U.S. 66, 71 (2013)
(internal quotation marks omitted). Without a live case or
controversy, a lawsuit typically becomes moot, and Article
III courts lack jurisdiction to hear it. See eSimplicity, Inc.
v. United States, 122 F.4th 1373, 1376 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (“A
case should generally be dismissed as moot when, during
the course of litigation, it develops that the relief sought
has been granted or that the questions originally in contro-
versy between the parties are no longer at issue.”) (internal
quotation marks and alterations omitted).
A well-settled exception to the mootness doctrine arises
when the parties’ dispute is capable of repetition but is
also, because of time constraints, likely to evade judicial
review. See, e.g., Kingdomware Techs., Inc. v. United
States, 579 U.S. 162, 169 (2016). “A dispute qualifies for
th[is] exception only if (1) the challenged action is in its du-
ration too short to be fully litigated prior to cessation or
expiration, and (2) there is a reasonable expectation that
the same complaining party will be subjected to the same
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LIFE SCIENCE LOGISTICS , LLC v. US 7
action again.” United States v. Sanchez-Gomez, 584 U.S.
381, 391 (2018) (internal quotation marks omitted).
We agree with the government that the merits issue
here – whether judicial reversal of a government override
of a CICA stay can occur without a bid protestor demon-
strating that equitable relief is warranted under the four-
factor test – is capable of repetition yet evading review.
B
1
We have already determined that issues relating to
overrides of a CICA stay meet the “evading review” re-
quirement. See NIKA Techs., Inc. v. United States, 987
F.3d 1025, 1027 (Fed. Cir. 2021). CICA stays, as well as
overrides of such stays, are limited by statute to a maxi-
mum duration of 100 days. This is due to the interaction
of three provisions in CICA: (i) § 3554(a)(1), requiring GAO
to decide a bid protest within 100 days;
(ii) § 3553(d)(3)(A)(i), staying performance of the awarded
contract during GAO review; and (iii) § 3553(d)(3)(C), al-
lowing the contracting agency to override the automatic
stay during the pendency of GAO review. In NIKA, 987
F.3d at 1027, we recognized that litigating a CICA dispute
“in 100 days is unrealistic, if not impossible,” because “a
party has at most 100 days for proceedings at the Court of
Federal Claims,” and then “to file an appeal with this court,
and for this court to consider and decide the case.” During
that brief window of time, “the underlying action is almost
certain to run its course before either this court or the Su-
preme Court can give the case full consideration.” Associ-
ated Energy Grp., LLC v. United States, 131 F.4th 1312,
1318 (Fed. Cir. 2025) (internal quotation marks omitted).
The Supreme Court recently made essentially the same
point when it explained that “three months [is] a period too
short to complete judicial review.” FCC v. Consumers’
Rsch., 606 U.S. 656, 671 n.1 (2025) (internal quotation
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LIFE SCIENCE LOGISTICS , LLC v. US 8
marks omitted) (allowing case to proceed under “capable of
repetition yet evading review” exception). Earlier, in King-
domware, 579 U.S. at 170, the Supreme Court similarly
held, in the specific context of government contract dis-
putes, that even “a period of two years is too short to com-
plete judicial review of the lawfulness of [a government]
procurement.” Thus, a protestor’s challenge to a CICA
stay, as well as the government’s appeal of a judicial order
relating to an agency’s override, are issues “evading re-
view.”
2
The second requirement for the mootness exception,
“whether there is a reasonable expectation that the party
invoking review here will run into this same problem
again,” is satisfied as well. NIKA, 987 F.3d at 1028. The
party seeking review in this case is the government. Since
“[t]he government will be involved in all future bid pro-
tests,” “there is a reasonable expectation that the govern-
ment will be subject to the same action again,” i.e., a
judgment that an agency override of a CICA 100-day stay
is arbitrary and capricious, without factoring in the tradi-
tional equitable considerations. Id. (internal quotation
marks and alterations omitted). As the government points
out, “the standard for setting aside a CICA stay override
will be relevant to every CICA stay override dispute.” Re-
ply Br. at 11.
Both parties read our opinion in NIKA, which relied on
the Supreme Court’s reasoning in Kingdomware, as hold-
ing that the “capable of repetition” requirement is not sat-
isfied based merely on evidence that the same dispute is
reasonably likely to come up again between the govern-
ment and some other bidder; it must be reasonably likely
to arise again between the government and LSL in
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LIFE SCIENCE LOGISTICS , LLC v. US 9
particular. See, e.g., Oral Arg. at 3:35-502 (Government
counsel: “So as we understand the relevant Supreme Court
precedent, primarily Kingdomware, in the context of bid
protests especially, it’s that there has to be some showing
of a likelihood of recurrence between the two named par-
ties.”); id. at 22:41-45 (LSL counsel: “As all agree, it has to
be a dispute between these same parties.”); see also Open.
Br. at 14; LSL Br. at 16. We have no occasion today to
question this proposition, as the record fully supports the
government’s contention that this same dispute is reason-
ably likely to recur between the government and LSL.
LSL is the largest player in “an unusually tight mar-
ket” that currently consists of only three participants: LSL,
IQS, and a third party. J.A. 251. These three regularly
compete for all SNS contracts. Each SNS contract runs for
years and is worth millions of dollars. As the government
observes, “there are often very few viable options for an
SNS facility in a given region because of the strict geo-
graphic, safety, and conditioning requirements.” Open. Br.
at 14 (citing J.A. 2369-77).
Hence, it is a near certainty that LSL will bid on future
SNS contracts, including, as is the case here, contracts to
continue operating SNS sites at which LSL is the incum-
bent provider. This is vividly illustrated by the fact that
LSL bid on the renewal of the NCR Contract three times.
It is likewise a near certainty that LSL will, if not selected
as the winning bidder, protest an award to one of its com-
petitors, as it did three times here. It is, then, entirely rea-
sonable to expect that the government and LSL will spar
over an agency override of a CICA stay again in the future.
Thus, the circumstances presented here are far more
similar to those in Kingdomware, 579 U.S. at 170, where
2 Available at https://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/oral-ar-
guments/24-1522_12032025.mp3.
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LIFE SCIENCE LOGISTICS , LLC v. US 10
the Supreme Court found no mootness because the dispute
was reasonably likely to recur between the government
and a contractor who “ha[d] been awarded many previous
contracts,” id., than they are to the “considerably more ten-
uous scenario” we confronted in Safeguard Base Opera-
tions, LLC v. United States, 792 F. App’x 945, 948 (Fed. Cir.
2019), where the protestor “ha[d] never received a federal
contract.” The government’s reliance on Safeguard is
therefore unavailing.
In sum, because the issue the government raises is ca-
pable of repetition yet evading review, we have jurisdiction
to reach the merits of this appeal.
IV
Turning to the merits, we conclude that the Court of
Federal Claims did not err when it granted declaratory re-
lief without first evaluating whether LSL met the tradi-
tional four-factor test for preliminary injunctions. A bid
protestor seeking a declaration that an agency override of
a CICA stay is arbitrary and capricious need only show
that, in fact, the agency’s override was arbitrary and capri-
cious. The protestor is not also required to demonstrate a
likelihood of success on the merits, irreparable harm, a bal-
ance of the equities in its favor, and a benefit to the public.
See Centech Grp., Inc. v. United States, 554 F.3d 1029,
1036-37 (Fed. Cir. 2009) (noting difference between arbi-
trary and capricious standard and four-factor injunction
test).
A
We begin with the text and structure of CICA. When
an “actual or prospective bidder” with a “direct economic
interest” is not selected for a government contract, it may
file a written protest with GAO. 31 U.S.C. §§ 3551(2)(A),
3552. “A protest concerning an alleged violation of a pro-
curement statute or regulation shall be decided by the
Comptroller General,” i.e., the head of GAO. Id. § 3552(a).
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LIFE SCIENCE LOGISTICS , LLC v. US 11
“Within one day after the receipt of a protest, the Comp-
troller General shall notify the Federal agency involved of
the protest.” Id. § 3553(b)(1). Then, subject to exceptions
not pertinent here, “the Comptroller General shall issue a
final decision concerning a protest within 100 days after
the date the protest is submitted.” Id. § 3554(a)(1).
A protest “trigger[s] an automatic stay under [CICA],
prohibiting [the agency] from awarding [or authorizing
performance of] a new contract pending a decision on the
protest.” RAMCOR Servs. Grp., Inc. v. United States, 185
F.3d 1286, 1287 (Fed. Cir. 1999); see also 31 U.S.C.
§ 3553(c)(1) (“[A] contract may not be awarded in any pro-
curement after the Federal agency has received notice of a
protest with respect to such procurement from the Comp-
troller General and while the protest is pending.”); id.
§ 3353(d)(3)(A)(i) (“[T]he contracting officer may not au-
thorize performance of the contract to begin while the pro-
test is pending.”). Because CICA requires the Comptroller
General to resolve the protest within 100 days, the stay of
performance of the protested contract can last only up to
100 days. See id. § 3554(a)(1).
“CICA, however, also allows an agency to override the
automatic stay.” RAMCOR, 185 F.3d at 1287. Specifically,
as pertinent here, CICA sets out that:
The head of the procuring activity [within the
agency awarding a contract] may authorize the
performance of the contract (notwithstanding a
protest of which the Federal agency has notice un-
der this section) –
(i) upon a written finding that –
(I) performance of the contract is in the best
interests of the United States; or
(II) urgent and compelling circumstances
that significantly affect interests of the
United States will not permit waiting for
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LIFE SCIENCE LOGISTICS , LLC v. US 12
the decision of the Comptroller General
concerning the protest; and
(ii) after the Comptroller General is notified of
that finding.
31 U.S.C. § 3553(d)(3)(C).
Although CICA does not expressly provide for judicial
review of an agency’s exercise of this override authority, we
recognized in RAMCOR, 185 F.3d at 1290, that such review
is available pursuant to the Tucker Act.3 To be precise, a
protestor whose entitlement to an automatic 100-day CICA
stay has been overridden by the awarding agency may file
a complaint in the Court of Federal Claims, alleging that
the override decision is arbitrary and capricious in viola-
tion of the APA. See 28 U.S.C. § 1491(b)(1) (“[Courts] shall
have jurisdiction to render judgment on an action by an in-
terested party objecting to a solicitation by a Federal
agency for bids or proposals for a proposed contract or to a
proposed award or the award of a contract or any alleged
violation of statute or regulation in connection with a pro-
curement or a proposed procurement.”); id. § 1491(b)(4)
(“[T]he courts shall review the agency’s decision pursuant
to the standards set forth in section 706 of title 5.”);
5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A) (“The reviewing court shall . . . hold
unlawful and set aside agency action, findings, and
3 RAMCOR involved an agency override of a “pre-
award” CICA stay, which the agency undertook pursuant
to 31 U.S.C. § 3553(c) (relating to contract awards that, ab-
sent a stay, are “otherwise likely to occur within 30 days”),
rather than, as here, an exercise of override authority in
the “post-award” context governed by 31 U.S.C. § 3553(d).
Neither party suggests that this distinction has any impact
on the reviewability of the CICA stay override at issue
here.
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LIFE SCIENCE LOGISTICS , LLC v. US 13
conclusions found to be . . . arbitrary, capricious, an abuse
of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.”).
Thus, in conjunction with the Tucker Act and the APA,
CICA sets out the following “Procurement Protest System,”
31 U.S.C. § 3551, et seq.:
(1) an agency may award a contract to an eligible
bidder;
(2) an interested party may file a protest;
(3) upon the filing of such a protest, a CICA stay is
automatically triggered and lasts up to 100
days;
(4) the agency, upon making certain findings, may
override the stay and proceed with performance
of the contract; and
(5) the protestor may then file an APA claim in the
Court of Federal Claims challenging the over-
ride as an arbitrary and capricious government
action.
The parties’ dispute relates to step 5 and the standards
to be applied by the Court of Federal Claims in reviewing
a protestor’s APA claim. As we elaborate below, we agree
with LSL that a bid protestor need only prove that the
agency decision was arbitrary and capricious; it need not
also prove the four factors of the traditional equitable relief
test.
B
In CICA, Congress prescribed exactly what is to occur
when an interested party, like LSL, protests a contract
award to another bidder, such as IQS. First, Congress es-
tablished a default rule: CICA imposes an automatic stay
of 100 days to allow GAO to evaluate the protest before the
contract may be implemented. See 31 U.S.C.
§ 3553(d)(3)(A)(i). Second, Congress set out a single
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LIFE SCIENCE LOGISTICS , LLC v. US 14
exception to that default: the procuring agency may over-
ride the stay if it finds that “performance of the contract is
in the best interests of the United States” or that “urgent
and compelling circumstances that significantly affect in-
terests of the United States will not permit waiting.” Id.
§ 3553(d)(3)(C)(i). If a court determines that the govern-
ment’s override is arbitrary and capricious, that agency ac-
tion is a nullity and the default rule – i.e., the automatic
stay – is reimposed.
There is no place in this statutory regime for courts to
superimpose the judge-made four-factor test governing eq-
uitable relief as an additional burden on the protestor.
Congress explicitly imposed no burden whatsoever on the
protestor in CICA; rather, the simple filing of a written pro-
test “trigger[s] an automatic stay.” RAMCOR, 185 F.3d at
1287 (emphasis added). It cannot have been Congress’ in-
tent to require a protestor whose automatic stay has been
overridden by arbitrary and capricious government action
to have to prove to a court – in addition to the unlawfulness
of the override – that the protestor faces irreparable harm,
the equities are in its favor, and the public would benefit
from granting the relief requested. None of CICA, the
Tucker Act, or the APA reference any of these traditional
equitable factors. We will not read into this congressional
silence an unexpressed intent to require protestors to prove
all of them.
In making this determination, we are mindful of the
adverse consequences that might arise were we to decide
otherwise. Were we to hold that a protestor must, even to
obtain a declaration that an override is unlawful, prevail
on the four-factor test, we would undesirably incentivize
the government to override more (if not all) CICA stays. In
that scenario, as LSL aptly puts it, “the government could
simply override the stay for no reason at all and then push
the burden to the bidder to make a full four-factor showing
for equitable relief.” LSL Br. at 4. Imposing this greater,
non-statutory burden would assuredly doom more protests,
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LIFE SCIENCE LOGISTICS , LLC v. US 15
an outcome that would sit uncomfortably next to Congress’
express choice to provide protestors an automatic stay for
100 days by doing nothing more than filing a protest.
C
In urging us to reach the opposite conclusion, the gov-
ernment insists that the declaratory judgment the Court of
Federal Claims granted LSL is “coercive,” and has the
same practical effect as a preliminary injunction. Open.
Br. at 17. Thus, says the government, LSL must satisfy
the four factors of the traditional equitable relief test. In
support of its position, the government relies heavily on our
decision in PGBA, LLC v. United States, 389 F.3d 1219,
1227-28 (Fed. Cir. 2004). We are not persuaded.
In PGBA, which did not involve CICA, we found that a
bid protestor’s request for a declaratory judgment was
“tantamount to injunctive relief” because the protestor was
“asking to have the award set aside, which is coercive and
has the same practical effect as an injunction.” Id. at 1228
(“[T]he nature of the relief sought by PGBA was injunc-
tive.”). The specific remedies the PGBA protestor sought
were (i) a “declaratory judgment that [the agency’s] deci-
sion to award the Contract to [the third-party bidder] is ar-
bitrary, capricious, [and] an abuse of discretion,” and
(ii) “an order setting aside the award.” Id. at 1222 (empha-
sis added).
Here, by contrast, the relief granted to LSL was merely
a declaration that the override is arbitrary and capricious
based on the reasoning contained in the D&F. J.A. 106
(“[T]he D&F was arbitrary and capricious and [therefore]
LSL, the Protestor, is entitled to declaratory relief.”); J.A.
109 (“[T]he determination to override the automatic stay
imposed under CICA lacks a reasonable basis.”). Even
LSL’s alternative request for an injunction sought only to
“enjoin[] performance of the contract awarded to IQS . . .
until the GAO issues a ruling on LSL’s GAO protest.” J.A.
234. LSL did not ask for, and the Court of Federal Claims
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LIFE SCIENCE LOGISTICS , LLC v. US 16
did not grant, either a declaration or injunction vacating
the contract award to IQS. Nor did the court order that the
contract be awarded outright to LSL. These are material
distinctions from the circumstances we considered in
PGBA.
Additionally, and importantly, unlike in PGBA, any
purportedly “coercive” impact from the declaratory judg-
ment here was the result of CICA, not the court’s judgment
itself. That is, the Court of Federal Claims’ order here did
not compel the government to take or refrain from taking
any action; it instead simply restored the default statutory
stay. As the court well stated, “[i]n CICA override cases,
. . . declaratory relief is not tantamount to an injunction be-
cause there is no coercive action on the part of the
Court. . . . [Instead,] [b]y operation of law, the automatic
stay in [LSL’s] GAO protest is reinstated.” J.A. 108-09.
Our holding today, then, is entirely consistent with PGBA.
In short, we agree with the Court of Federal Claims
that it is not necessary for a bid protestor to satisfy the
four-factor equitable relief test in order to overcome an ar-
bitrary and capricious government override of an auto-
matic CICA stay.
V
Accordingly, for the foregoing reasons, we affirm the
judgment of the Court of Federal Claims.
AFFIRMED
COSTS
Costs to LSL.
Case: 24-1522 Document: 65 Page: 16 Filed: 04/15/2026

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