Rule 1. Scope and Purpose of Rules

These rules govern the procedure in the United States Court of Federal Claims in all suits. They shall be construed and administered to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action.
(As revised and reissued May 1, 2002.)
Rules Committee Note
2002 Revision
The Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims are drawn under the authority of 28 U.S.C. §§ 2071(a), (c); 2503(b) (generally); 2521(a) (subpoena and incidental powers). These rules may be cited as “RCFC.” Rule 1 has been revised to: (i) reflect the change in the court’s name; (ii) eliminate, as no longer necessary, the previous reference to proceedings pending in the court on October 1, 1982, the year of the court’s establishment; (iii) incorporate the 1993 revision to Rule 1 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) emphasizing that the rules are to be both construed and administered to ensure that civil litigation is resolved not only fairly, but without undue cost and delay; (iv) delete subdivision (a)(3)for consistency with the FRCP (while retaining the substance of this provision in RCFC 83(b), which is modeled on FRCP 83(b)); and (v) move subdivision (b)to the preamble, because it is explanatory rather than prescriptive.