Post-Award Protest Primer: Part 2

Part 2: Debriefings

You just received an email: "We appreciate your interest in the XYZ procurement. The Agency determined that your proposal did not represent the best value to the Government. Award has been made to Acme Corp. at a price of $50,000,000." After kicking your trashcan across the office, what do you do next?

If the procurement was conducted on the basis of competitive proposals under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 15, or as a task/delivery order competition resulting in an award exceeding $5.5 million under FAR Subpart 16.5, you're entitled to a debriefing so long as you request one in writing within three days of your receipt of the notice of award. See FAR 15.506(a); 16.505(b)(6). Even when a debriefing is not required, many agencies will offer one (or some form of feedback resembling one). In a future post on timeliness, we'll discuss some important differences between these non-required debriefings and required debriefings in