Debriefings are an Important Part of the Procurement Process

Debriefings play a vital role in the procurement process. When conducted fully and fairly, a debriefing provides an offeror with valuable insight into the strengths and shortcomings of its proposal, thus enabling the offeror to improve its offering under future solicitations. But when an agency provides only a perfunctory debriefing, the process can be virtually worthless–and may actually encourage an unsuccessful offeror to file a bid protest.

With this in mind, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy recently issued a memorandum that urges agencies to strengthen the debriefing process. In doing so, OFPP has encouraged agencies to adopt a debriefing guide that will help facilitate effective and efficient debriefings.

FAR 15.506, which governs the post-award debriefing process, provides only general guidance as to the information that must be included in a debriefing. Basically, agencies need only provide minimal information about the award decision, including the evaluation of a proposal’s significant weaknesses or deficiencies and a “summary of the rationale for award.” The FAR prohibits an agency from providing a point-by-point comparison of proposals, or any information that can be deemed as confidential, proprietary, or as a trade secret. Given these restrictions, and considering that agencies are often tasked with debriefing numerous offerors under a solicitation (including the awardee), debriefings can devolve into little more than a notation of the offeror’s score and the awardee’s price.  READ MORE….