DoD Issues Proposed Rule on Enhanced Debriefings
Today, the Department of Defense ("DoD") published its long-awaited proposed rule on enhanced postaward debriefings as provided under Section 818 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 ("2018 NDAA").
The proposed rule provides a number of changes consistent with the 2018 NDAA, including to DFARS 215.506, which "implements new requirements for contracting officers when providing postaward debriefings, stipulating the requirements for information to be provided to successful and unsuccessful offerors." Notably, under DFARS 215.506(d)(i) and (ii), the proposed rule provides the following:
For award of a contract in excess of $10 million and not in excess of $100 million with a small business or nontraditional defense contractor, an option for the small business or nontraditional defense contractor to request disclosure of the agency's written source selection decision document, redacted to protect the confidential and proprietary information of other offerors for the contract award.
For award of a contract in excess of $100 million disclosure of the agency's written source selection decision document, redacted to protect the confidential and proprietary information of other offerors for the contract award.
Comments on the proposed rule are due on or before July 19, 2021.
Takeaway
Debriefings are a powerful tool for government contractors because they provide a great opportunity for information gathering (lessons learned) and relationship building. DoD's proposed rule takes debriefings a step further by ensuring that, under certain circumstances, defense contractors have an opportunity to obtain much more information than would normally be provided under a FAR Part 15 debriefing.
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