Debriefing

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On March 18, 2022, the Department of Defense (“DOD”) issued its long-awaited Final Rule implementing Section 818 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (“NDAA FY 2018”), and formally codifying defense contractors’ rights to post-award enhanced debriefings. Contractors have been bound by a Class Deviation implementing these requirements since March 2018, with DOD only issuing its proposed rule in May 2021. Though the Final Rule largely tracks the proposed rule, it does include several important clarifications, and, of course, directly impacts timeliness rules for filing post-award protests of DOD awards at the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”).
Continue Reading The Impact of DOD’s Enhanced Debriefings Rule on Bid Protest Timeliness

Debriefings provide disappointed offerors an invaluable opportunity to hear from agencies directly as to why contract award decisions came out the way they did. Debriefings can also extend the deadlines to file a timely protest in the Government Accountability Office and to file a protest entitled to an automatic stay of the awarded contract’s performance under the Competition in Contracting Act. But debriefings are not without their traps for the unwary. The Federal Acquisition Regulation sets forth specific rules as to when and how a debriefing must be requested, as well as when and how the aforementioned deadline extensions are triggered. These rules continue to evolve, with the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 representing a significant example of recent changes to the debriefing process. Failure to abide by the regulatory scheme governing debriefings could mean not only losing the right to be debriefed but forfeiting rights to protest and obtain an automatic stay of performance.
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Continue Reading So Your Proposal Lost – Now What? Understanding Debriefings

By Keith R. Szeliga

A debriefing can be a valuable opportunity on many levels: from learning how to write more successful proposals to identifying potential grounds for challenging an agency’s evaluation and source selection decision. Based on our experience, the tips below generally help contractors to maximize the amount and value of the information obtained at a debriefing and to better position themselves for a potential bid protest.
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Continue Reading Ten Tips for a Successful Debriefing