41 U.S.C. § 3704 (PUBLIC CONTRACTS)
§ 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 unsuccessful 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.
(c) Information To Be Provided.—
The debriefing shall include, at a minimum—
(1) the executive agency’s evaluation of the significant weak or deficient factors in the offeror’s offer;
(2) 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;
(3) the overall ranking of all offers;
(4) a summary of the rationale for the award;
(5) in the case of a proposal that includes a commercial item 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; and
(6) 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 executive agency.
(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 executive 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 head of the executive agency shall make available to all offerors—
(1) the information provided in debriefings under this section 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 the debriefing in the contract file.
(Pub. L. 111–350, § 3, Jan. 4, 2011, 124 Stat. 3771; Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title VIII, § 836(b)(15), Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 1864.)
heading: Amendment of Subsection (c)(5)
text: Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title VIII, § 836(b)(15), (h), Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 1864, 1874, provided that, effective Jan. 1, 2020, subject to a savings provision, subsection (c)(5) of this section is amended by striking “commercial item” and inserting “commercial product”. See 2018 Amendment note below.
text: Historical and Revision Notes
Revised
Section
Source (U.S. Code)
Source (Statutes at Large)
3704(a)
41:253b(e)(1) (1st sentence).
June 30, 1949, ch. 288, title III, § 303B(e), as added Pub. L. 103–355, title I, § 1064(2), Oct. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 3268; Pub. L. 104–106, title XLI, § 4104(b)(1), Feb. 10, 1996, 110 Stat. 645.
3704(b)
41:253b(e)(1) (last sentence).
3704(c)
41:253b(e)(2).
3704(d)
41:253b(e)(3).
3704(e)
41:253b(e)(4).
3704(f)
41:253b(e)(5).
3704(g)
41:253b(g) (related to 41:253b(e)).
June 30, 1949, ch. 288, title III, § 303B(g) (related to § 303B(e)), as added Pub. L. 104–106, title XLI, § 4104(b)(3), Feb. 10, 1996, 110 Stat. 645.
heading: Amendments
text: 2018—Subsec. (c)(5). Pub. L. 115–232 substituted “commercial product” for “commercial item”.
heading: Effective Date of 2018 Amendment
text: Amendment by Pub. L. 115–232 effective Jan. 1, 2020, subject to a savings provision, see section 836(h) of Pub. L. 115–232, set out as an Effective Date of 2018 Amendment; Savings Provision note under section 453b of Title 6, Domestic Security.