Usdn

MEMORANDUM

The Plaintiff leases property from the Navy to operate a submarine museum at which the former U.S.S. Bowfin, a World War II submarine, is exhibited. In a prior lawsuit to which the Plaintiff was not a party, a federal district court concluded that the Randolph-Sheppard Act, 20 U.S.C. § 107 et seq. (RSA), applies on land leased by the Navy to private parties. The RSA requires that certain preferences be granted to blind vendors of foodstuffs and certain other goods on federal proper ty. The district court did not, however, specifically instruct the Navy as to how to implement the RSA at the particular property leased by the Plaintiff, nor did the district court examine whether any of the statutory exemptions that apply to certain federal properties applied to the Plaintiffs particular facilities. After the Navy advised the Plaintiff that it viewed itself as bound by the district court’s order to impose new conditions requiring blind vendor preference at the Plaintiffs facilities in any future lease, the Plaintiff filed this lawsuit contending that the RSA does not require the implementation of blind preference at its particular facilities. The district court found that…