HOW TO PREPARE FOR A DEBRIEFING

First, read FAR 15.505 and 15.506 carefully.  You must submit a written request for a debriefing within 3 days after receipt of notice of exclusion from the competition or after the date on which you have been notified of contract award.

Next, be aware that the regulations list what, at a minimum, must be covered at or in (the debriefing can be done in writing) the debriefing.  For pre-award debriefings, the list is short but includes reasonable responses to relevant questions about whether the source selection procedures in the solicitation, the regulations and "applicable authorities" (case law) were followed.  Information about other offerors is prohibited in pre-award debriefings.

Post award debriefings require the government to provide the contractor the following information:

1. The government's evaluation of the significant weaknesses or deficiencies in your proposal;
2. The overall evaluated price (including unit prices) and technical rating of the successful offeror and your proposal and your past performance information;
3. The overall ranking of all offerors;
4. A summary of the rationale for award;
5. For commercial buys, the make and model of the item proposed by the successful offeror;
6. Reasonable responses to relevant questions  about whether the source selection procedures in the solicitation, the regulations and relevant case law were followed.

Insist that the government provide the information in items 1 through 5 of the above list.  What if the government does not?  Include the failure to follow the regulation in your protest.  But the most important item on the list is number 6.  That's where you need to do your homework and perhaps seek professional help.

What are the questions you should ask?  Put them in your written request for the debriefing.  Many, if not most debriefings these days are in writing (an unfortunate development).  So, you must include the questions up front.  In fact, remind the government in your written request that it is mandatory that the government follow the list of required items in its debriefing.

The evaluation factors are of paramount importance.  Fashion your questions around the evaluation criteria to elicit responses which address whether the evaluation criteria were in fact followed.  Failure to follow those factors is a primary ground for protest.  Ask questions about whether the procedures in FAR 15.304, 305, 306, 307 and 308 were followed.  Tailor your questions and be as specific as possible based on your best intelligence regarding what apparently happened during the pre-award process.

Above all, treat the debriefing as seriously as you did your proposal.  Press for a full and fair debriefing including, most importantly, answers to your well thought out questions.

We've written several articles about debriefings, mostly suggesting improvements in the process.  You can find them by entering "debriefing" in the Google search box in the upper left hand corner.  One thing we feel strongly about is the need for the government to release the source selection decision to the contractor requesting the debriefing, preferably before the debriefing.  We continue to believe this would make the debriefing meaningful and probably reduce frivolous or "blind" protests.

This just in:

The Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act imposes new requirements for debriefings for unsuccessful offerors. If enacted, the bill would direct DoD to issue new regulations requiring contracting offices to:

·         Disclose the agency’s written source selection award determination, redacted as necessary

·         Provide a combined written and oral debriefing for all contract awards and task or delivery orders valued at $10 million or higher

·         Provide outside counsel the option to access an unredacted copy of the source selection award determination and the supporting agency record for contract awards and task or delivery orders valued at $10 million or higher

·         Allow unsuccessful offerors to submit additional, follow-up questions related to the debriefing

The bill also would require GAO to issue DoD-related protest decisions within 65 days, instead of the current 100 days.

 

bill@spriggsconsultingservices.com    bill@spriggslawgroup.com