United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Andrus v. Glover Construction Co., 446 U.S. 608 (1980)

Andrus v. Glover Construction Co.

No. 79-48

Argued March 24, 1980

Decided May 27, 1980

446 U.S. 608

Syllabus

Held: The Buy Indian Act, which permits the Secretary of the Interior to purchase "the products of Indian industry . . . in open market," does not authorize the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to enter into road construction contracts with Indian-owned companies without first advertising for bids pursuant to Title III of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (FPASA). There is no such authority even if the Buy Indian Act's language "the products of Indian industry" could be construed to embrace road construction, since, while negotiated procurements "otherwise authorized by law" are one of the specified exceptions to Title III's broad directive in 41 U.S.C. § 252(c) that all procurement by the covered executive agencies (including the BIA) proceed through advertising, such exception is omitted from the list of the exceptions specified in § 252(e) to the requirement that § 252(c) not be construed to permit any road construction contract to be negotiated without advertising. From this omission, only one inference can be drawn: Congress meant to bar the negotiation of road construction projects under the authority of laws like the Buy Indian Act. Pp. 446 U. S. 612-619.

591 F.2d 554, affirmed.

STEWART, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.

Page 446 U. S. 609