§ 3304. Post-award debriefings

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(a)Request for Debriefing.— 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.

(b)When Debriefing to Be Conducted.— 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.

(c)Information to Be Provided.—

(1)The debriefing shall include, at a minimum—

(A)the agency’s evaluation of the significant weak or deficient factors in the offeror’s offer;

(B)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;

(C)the overall ranking of all offers;

(D)a summary of the rationale for the award;

(E)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;

(F)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

(G)an opportunity for a disappointed offeror to submit, within two business days after receiving a post-award debriefing, additional questions related to the debriefing.

(2)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.

(d)Information Not to Be Included.— 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.

(e)Inclusion of Statement in Solicitation.— Each solicitation for competitive proposals shall include a statement that information described in subsection

(c)may be disclosed in post-award debriefings.

(f)After Successful Protest.— If, within one year after the date of the contract award and as a result of a successful procurement protest, the agency seeks to fulfill the requirement under the protested contract either on the basis of a new solicitation of offers or on the basis of new best and final offers requested for that contract, the agency shall make available to all offerors—

(1)the information provided in debriefings under this paragraph regarding the offer of the contractor awarded the contract; and

(2)the same information that would have been provided to the original offerors.

(g)Summary to Be Included in File.— The contracting officer shall include a summary of any debriefing conducted under this section in the contract file.

(Added and amended Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title XVIII, § 1816(c)(2)(D), (6), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 4182, 4183; Pub. L. 118–31, div. A, title XVIII, § 1801(a)(26), Dec. 22, 2023, 137 Stat. 684.)

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