Information Technology & Applications Corporation v. United States: An Interested Party's 'Substantial Chance' at APA Standing

摘要

This paper asserts that Federal Circuit's decision in Information Technology & Applications Corporation V. United States has transformed CICA's 'interested party' definition into the functional equivalent of the current law governing APA standing. Building on CICA's 'interested party' definition with Information Technology's refinement of 'substantial chance' rule, the Federal Circuit has effectively translated 'APA standing' into the language of government contracts. The purpose of this paper is not to prove with mathematical certainty that the standing result would be identical whether a court applied the Federal Circuit's 'interested party' standard or the APA two- prong test. Just as reasonable people will differ, reasonable Justices do differ, especially when it comes to the thorny matter of standing. Instead, the purpose is to illustrate that interested party standing determinations based on the substantial chance rule are actually consistent with highly probable standing outcomes under the APA.