118 
§ 3509. Notification of violations of Federal criminal law or 
overpayments 
(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘covered contract’’ means any 
contract in an amount greater than $5,000,000 and more than 120 days 
in duration. 
(b) FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION.—The Federal Acquisition Reg-
ulation shall include, pursuant to FAR Case 2007–006 (as published at 72 
Fed. Reg. 64019, November 14, 2007) or any follow-on FAR case, provi-
sions that require timely notification by Federal contractors of violations of 
Federal criminal law or overpayments in connection with the award or per-
formance of covered contracts or subcontracts, including those performed 
outside the United States and those for commercial items. 
CHAPTER 37—AWARDING OF CONTRACTS 
Sec. 
3701.
Basis of award and rejection. 
3702.
Sealed bids. 
3703.
Competitive proposals. 
3704.
Post-award debriefings. 
3705.
Pre-award debriefings. 
3706.
Encouragement of alternative dispute resolution. 
3707.
Antitrust violations. 
3708.
Protests. 
§ 3701. Basis of award and rejection 
(a) AWARD.—An executive agency shall evaluate sealed bids and competi-
tive proposals, and award a contract, based solely on the factors specified 
in the solicitation. 
(b) REJECTION.—All sealed bids or competitive proposals received in re-
sponse to a solicitation may be rejected if the agency head determines that 
rejection is in the public interest. 
§ 3702. Sealed bids 
(a) OPENING OF BIDS.—Sealed bids shall be opened publicly at the time 
and place stated in the solicitation. 
(b) CRITERIA FOR AWARDING CONTRACT.—The executive agency shall 
evaluate the bids in accordance with section 3701(a) of this title without 
discussions with the bidders and, except as provided in section 3701(b) of 
this title, shall award a contract with reasonable promptness to the respon-
sible source whose bid conforms to the solicitation and is most advantageous 
to the Federal Government, considering only price and the other price-re-
lated factors included in the solicitation. 
(c) NOTICE OF AWARD.—The award of a contract shall be made by trans-
mitting, in writing or by electronic means, notice of the award to the suc-
cessful bidder. Within 3 days after the date of contract award, the executive 
agency shall notify, in writing or by electronic means, each bidder not 
awarded the contract that the contract has been awarded. 
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§ 3703. Competitive proposals 
(a) EVALUATION AND AWARD.—An executive agency shall evaluate com-
petitive proposals in accordance with section 3701(a) of this title and may 
award a contract— 
(1) after discussions with the offerors, provided that written or oral 
discussions have been conducted with all responsible offerors who sub-
mit proposals within the competitive range; or 
(2) based on the proposals received and without discussions with the 
offerors (other than discussions conducted for the purpose of minor 
clarification), if, as required by section 3306(b)(2)(B)(i) of this title, 
the solicitation included a statement that proposals are intended to be 
evaluated, and award made, without discussions unless discussions are 
determined to be necessary. 
(b) LIMIT ON NUMBER OF PROPOSALS.—If the contracting officer deter-
mines that the number of offerors that would otherwise be included in the 
competitive range under subsection (a)(1) exceeds the number at which an 
efficient competition can be conducted, the contracting officer may limit the 
number of proposals in the competitive range, in accordance with the cri-
teria specified in the solicitation, to the greatest number that will permit 
an efficient competition among the offerors rated most highly in accordance 
with those criteria. 
(c) CRITERIA FOR AWARDING CONTRACT.—Except as otherwise provided 
in section 3701(b) of this title, the executive agency shall award a contract 
with reasonable promptness to the responsible source whose proposal is most 
advantageous to the Federal Government, considering only cost or price and 
the other factors included in the solicitation. 
(d) NOTICE OF AWARD.—The executive agency shall award the contract 
by transmitting, in writing or by electronic means, notice of the award to 
that source and, within 3 days after the date of contract award, shall notify, 
in writing or by electronic means, all other offerors of the rejection of their 
proposals. 
§ 3704. Post-award debriefings 
(a) REQUEST FOR DEBRIEFING.—When a contract is awarded by the 
head of an executive agency on the basis of competitive proposals, an unsuc-
cessful offeror, on 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 executive agency shall 
debrief the offeror within, to the maximum extent practicable, 5 days after 
receipt of the request by the executive agency. 
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