Bowsher v. Merck & Co.

I join Part V of the Court’s opinion, and I concur in the remainder to the extent it upholds the GAO’s right to inspect Merck’s “direct” cost records.1 I dissent to the extent the Court refuses to allow the GAO access to any of Merck’s “indirect” cost records.

The statutory provisions at issue, 10 U. S. C. § 2313(b) and 41 U. S. C. § 254(c), clearly were intended to allow the GAO the right to a reasonable degree of access to contractors’ records needed to determine whether prices charged to the Government were excessive. Of course, this right was not intended to be unlimited; the Court…