§ 315.1003 - Debriefing of unsuccessful offerors.

(a) Any HHS employee who receives either a written or oral request for a debriefing from an unsuccessful offeror shall immediately, without any discussion regarding the merits or deficiencies of the unsuccessful offeror's proposal, refer the request to the contracting officer. If the request is made orally, the contracting officer shall require that the request be made in writing. The contracting officer or his/her designee shall be present at all debriefings and shall review written debriefings prior to release.

(b) A debriefing is intended to:

(1) Tell an unsuccessful offeror which areas of its proposal were judged to be weak and deficient and whether the weaknesses or deficiencies were factors in its not having been selected; and

(2) Identify the factors which were the basis for selection of the successful contractor. If the quality of the successful offeror's proposal to satisfy the mission requirement was the basis, the unsuccessful offeror should be so informed, and given a general comparison of significant areas, but not a point-by-point comparison of all the elements considered in the evaluation criteria. If the successful offeror was selected on the basis of cost, the unsuccessful offeror should be told that was the case. If selection was based on other factors, they should be specified.

(d) If an unsuccessful offeror feels that its failure to obtain the award was not justified, it will rely, at least in part, on the information given in the debriefing to determine whether it should seek recourse. Accordingly, it is essential that a debriefing be conducted in a scrupulously fair, objective, and impartial manner, and that the information given the unsuccessful offeror be absolutely factual and consistent with the findings of the contracting officer and the basis on which the award was made.

(e) In some cases, it may be necessary to arrange informal debriefings for an unsuccessful offeror's personnel by departmental technical evaluators. This determination will be made by, and meeting arrangements will be the responsibility of, the contracting officer.

(f) It is very important that all departmental personnel engaged in the evaluation and selection processes be aware of the policies and procedures in FAR subpart 15.10 and this subpart 315.10. Detailed and complete records of the acquisition will be maintained by key technical and contracting personnel in a manner which will facilitate either a written or an oral debriefing of any unsuccessful offeror.