International Criminal Court Lacks Authority to Proceed Against Israel

SAMUEL ESTREICHER, GEORGE BOGDEN

NYU law professor Samuel Estreicher and JD candidate George Bogden, PhD, comment on a recent filing by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) asking the court to exercise jurisdiction and grant permission to pursue an investigation of alleged war crimes in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Estreicher and Bogden argue that because Israel is not a state party to the action and Palestine is not a state recognized by international law, the ICC lacks territorial jurisdiction under the Rome Statute.

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Office Design Group v. United States

Court: US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Docket: 19-1337

Opinion Date: March 6, 2020

Judge: Jimmie V. Reyna

Areas of Law: Government Contracts

The VA issued Requests for Proposals (RFP) for the provision of healthcare furniture and related services for VA facilities for five geographic regions. The RFP described a best-value tradeoff selection process that considered three primary evaluation factors: Technical Capability, Past Performance, and Price. Technical Capability was more important than Past Performance and Past Performance more important than Price. Technical Capability subfactor 3 specified that an offeror’s technical proposal must include specific elements. The RFP noted that an “unacceptable” rating for any technical subfactor would result in an overall “unacceptable” technical proposal. An offeror with an unacceptable Technical Capability subfactor was ineligible for a contract award. The VA assigned ODG's bid an unacceptable rating for its technical proposal, noting that it was only able to locate responses to six of the 33 questions in Attachment 15, resulting in a failing score of 12 points. The VA explained that ODG’s technical proposal “lacked detail” and failed to address seven service requirements. Each of the awardees earned at least 40 points for its technical proposal. ODG filed a bid protest. The Claims Court and Federal Circuit upheld the VA’s actions, rejecting arguments that the VA unreasonably and disparately evaluated ODG's technical proposal in comparison to the awardees’ technical proposals and improperly relied on Attachment 15 to evaluate its technical proposal.