Chief Judge Susan G. Braden

I have learned a great deal about the Court during my tenure as Chief; most importantly, how fortunate we are to have such an outstanding Team of professionals in the Office of the Clerk. Lisa Reyes, our new Clerk, Kelley Morgan, Chief Deputy Clerk, Bill Alexander, Finance Director, Chris Warner, IT/Systems Office Director, Peter Naum, Human Resources Director, Debbie Samler, who manages our bid protest wheel, Jacob Wilson, Management Analyst, and Aimee Snow, Executive Assistant extraordinaire--ALL make the job of Chief easy. Under their stewardship, the Court was able to return approximately $250,000 to the Administrative Office in fiscal year 2017 and we hope to increase that amount when the books close on September 30th. I also have been impressed with Chief Special Master Dorsey's leadership in inspiring the Special Masters to continue to push forward to adjudicate an absolutely crushing caseload of vaccine-injury petitions.

I have been in awe of the extraordinary effort made by all the judges of the Court to keep their cases moving. This is the first time in the 15 years that I have been on the Court that EVERY judge has a current docket—no motions or cases are late—and, at a time when the case filings are near a historic high. This would not have been possible without the significant contributions of Senior Judges Bruggink, Damich, Firestone, Hodges, Horn, and Smith, each of whom voluntarily assumed a 100% docket and participates on the bid protest wheel. Judge Wiese has been very helpful in mediating a number of significant cases and kept our Rules up-to-date, including finalizing a new Appendix J, concerning the management of patent cases. Finally, the Management Committee, Judges Griggsby, Kaplan, Lettow, and Wheeler were instrumental in the favorable findings the Court received earlier this year in the RAND REPORT and implementing a number of initiatives that have made the work of the Court more transparent to the bar, including the monthly publication of the Court's statistics on the Court’s public website, that evidence a growing workload of both general jurisdiction and bid protest cases.

With the help of Joan Goldfrank, Director of Operations, and Supervisor Harold Wymbs, over 200 complaints filed last fall have been consolidated into two sub-dockets for purposes of adjudicating jurisdiction and liability issues. Early next year, Judge Lettow will conduct a trial in the "upstream" sub-docket in Houston; I will conduct a trial in the "downstream" sub-docket.

Under the leadership of Bill Bergmann, a Partner at Baker Hostetler, and Senior Judge Smith, the CFC Bar Association continued to grow and provide the Court with invaluable services, such as the new Sixth Edition of the DESKBOOK FOR PRACTITIONERS, which is a must-have resource for all attorneys who practice before the Court. Likewise, the Court's Advisory Committee, under the new leadership of Lew Weiner, Co-Chair of the Global Financial Services, Disputes, and Investigations Group at Eversheds Sutherland and Senior Judge Firestone, will continue to provide essential outreach and perspective to the Court's work. In that regard, I would like to extend a special note of appreciation to the new members of the Court's Bid Protest Advisory Committee: Josh Brost, Senior Director of Government Business Development at Space X Technologies Corp., formerly with the Boston Consulting Group; Bill Haynes, formerly Executive VP, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary at CSRA, Inc. and General Counsel of the Department of Defense; Joe Reeder, Partner at Greenberg Traurig and formerly Under Secretary of the Army; and Catherine Ronis, Vice President and Associate General Counsel Litigation and Investigations at BAE Systems, Inc. and formerly a Partner at Wilmer Hale. Each of these individuals has a wealth of experience in the bid protest area, particularly those concerning the Department of Defense. Their advice will provide the Court with insight into this important area of the Court's jurisdiction.

In closing, I share with you words from my dear friend and some time travel companion, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor: "We don't accomplish anything in this world alone . . . and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads form one to another that creates something." My sincere appreciation to President Trump and the White House Counsel’s Office for their trust and support and the leadership of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees and their outstanding staff for their continued collective interest in the work of the Court. Adieu.

Susan

United States Court of Federal Claims Statistics

Fiscal Years 2006-2018




*As of 6/30/2018



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*As of 6/30/2018



*Fiscal Year 2017 contains two sealed decisions that will be officially published on the Court’s website in early Fiscal Year 2018. Please visit the Court’s website at http://www.uscfc.uscourts.gov/ to view all published decisions.

**As of 6/30/2018



*As of 6/30/2018



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*As of 6/30/2018