10 U.S.C. § 3304: Post-award debriefings

When a contract is awarded by the head of an agency on the basis of competitive proposals, an unsuccessful offeror, upon written request received by the agency within 3 days after the date on which the unsuccessful offeror receives the notification of the contract award, shall be debriefed and furnished the basis for the selection decision and contract award. The head of the agency shall debrief the offeror within, to the maximum extent practicable, five days after receipt of the request by the agency. the agency’s evaluation of the significant weak or deficient factors in the offeror’s offer; the overall evaluated cost and technical rating of the offer of the contractor awarded the contract and the overall evaluated cost and technical rating of the offer of the debriefed offeror; the overall ranking of all offers; a summary of the rationale for the award; in the case of a proposal that includes a commercial product that is an end item under the contract, the make and model of the item being provided in accordance with the offer of the contractor awarded the contract; reasonable responses to relevant questions posed by the debriefed offeror as to whether source selection procedures set forth in the solicitation, applicable regulations, and other applicable authorities were followed by the agency; and an opportunity for a disappointed offeror to submit, within two business days after receiving a post-award debriefing, additional questions related to the debriefing. The agency shall respond in writing to any additional question submitted under paragraph (1)(G) within five business days after receipt of the question. The agency shall not consider the debriefing to be concluded until the agency delivers its written responses to the disappointed offeror. The debriefing may not include point-by-point comparisons of the debriefed offeror’s offer with other offers and may not disclose any information that is exempt from disclosure under section 552(b) of title 5 . Each solicitation for competitive proposals shall include a statement that information described in subsection (c) may be disclosed in post-award debriefings. the information provided in debriefings under this paragraph regarding the offer of the contractor awarded the contract; and the same information that would have been provided to the original offerors. The contracting officer shall include a summary of any debriefing conducted under this section in the contract file. In the case of a contract award in excess of $100,000,000, a requirement for disclosure of the agency’s written source selection award determination, redacted to protect the confidential and proprietary information of other offerors for the contract award, and, in the case of a contract award in excess of $10,000,000 and not in excess of $100,000,000 with a small business or nontraditional contractor, an option for the small business or nontraditional contractor to request such disclosure. A requirement for a written or oral debriefing for all contract awards and task or delivery orders valued at $10,000,000 or higher. Provisions ensuring that both unsuccessful and winning offerors are entitled to the disclosure described in paragraph (1) and the debriefing described in paragraph (2). Robust procedures, consistent with section 2305(b)(5)(D) of title 10 , United States Code [now 10 U.S.C. 3304(d) ], and provisions implementing that section in the Federal Acquisition Regulation, to protect the confidential and proprietary information of other offerors.”