Today was a sad day for one of my long-time clients. She received a letter from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) which said that another firm had been awarded a contract for which she had submitted a bid way back in March (yes, it took that long for the contract to be awarded). My client was pretty sure that she had won this contract -- the government auditors had paid her a visit and reviewed her books, she had done well during oral discussions, and she had a sense of "good vibrations" in subsequent discussions with the Contracting Officer. But alas, it was not to be. She came in second.
So she has requested a formal debriefing on her proposal from CDC. The Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) which governs contracting procedures for the federal government, provides a mechanism for such debriefings. Basically, if you lose a contract, you can request a debriefing. You can also request a debriefing prior to contract award if you are notified that your proposal is not in the competitive range. You must make these debriefing requests within 3 days of receiving notification from the government.
Debriefings can provide you with a lot of useful information that you can apply to future bids and proposals. You won't get a lot of specific information on the winning bid, but the feedback you get on your own bid can steer you down the road to making improvements.
What can you learn from these debriefings? If you have lost a contract, the FAR states that, at a minimum, the government must provide you with the following information:
(1) The Government's evaluation of the significant weaknesses or deficiencies in your proposal, if applicable.
(2) The overall evaluated cost or price (including unit prices) and technical rating, if applicable, of the successful offeror (the winner) and the debriefed offeror (you), and past performance information on the debriefed offeror.
(3) The overall ranking of all offerors, when any ranking was developed by the agency during the source selection.
(4) A summary of the rationale for award.
(5) For acquisitions of commercial items, the make and model of the item to be delivered by the successful offeror; and
(6) Reasonable responses to relevant questions about whether source selection procedures contained in the solicitation, applicable regulations, and other applicable authorities were followed.
(e) The debriefing shall not include point-by-point comparisons of the debriefed offeror's proposal with those of other offerors. Moreover, the debriefing shall not reveal any information prohibited from disclosure by 24.202 or exempt from release under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552) including:
(1) Trade secrets;
(2) Privileged or confidential manufacturing processes and techniques;
(3) Commercial and financial information that is privileged or confidential, including cost breakdowns, profit, indirect cost rates, and similar information;
(4) The names of individuals providing reference information about an offeror's past performance.
My client is a long-time government contractor and a savvy businesswoman. She prepares a list of questions for debriefings and takes extensive notes. When the same or similar contracts come up for bid, she gets out her notes, studies them, and uses the information learned from her debriefings.
For more information on debriefings, you can read applicable portions of the FAR.
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