Is asking for a debrief seen as difficult?

No. It is an entitlement on the procurements where it applies and contracting officers expect it. What is occasionally resented is a debrief request used as reconnaissance for a protest with no real grounds, which is a reason to ask straightforward questions and to mean them.

The debrief was three sentences. Can I ask for more?

You can ask follow-up questions, and whether you get more depends on the office and the procurement. Sending specific written questions in advance is what produces a substantive debrief, because it lets the contracting officer prepare answers rather than improvise.

Will protesting blacklist me?

Formally, no, and retaliation would be improper. Practically, people remember. A well-founded protest on a real issue is a legitimate use of a legitimate process. A speculative one against an office you want to sell to for a decade is an expensive way to be remembered.

What if the awarded contract does not match my proposal?

Raise it in writing with the contracting officer straight away. The contract governs, so an error that goes unmentioned becomes the deal. Most differences at this stage are administrative and are fixed by a modification in the first fortnight.

How soon can I ask about the recompete?

Not at the debrief, which is about this procurement. But the period of performance on the award notice tells you the date, and eighteen months before it is a perfectly normal time to ask the office for a capability briefing.

Course, module 14 of 16

Award, debrief and protest

Most firms treat a loss as the end of the transaction. It is the cheapest information you will ever get about how a customer evaluates, and it is an entitlement.

openness 61 of 99: a door exists here

By the end of this module you will be able to

Request a debrief in time, and ask questions that produce useful answers
Read the award notice for what it tells you about the next competition
Say what a protest is, what it costs, and when it is genuinely warranted
Check an awarded contract against your own proposal before the kickoff meeting
Record the outcome so that next year's bid decisions are better than this year's

The debrief

On competitive negotiated procurements, an unsuccessful offeror who requests a debrief in writing within the stated period is entitled to one. Timing matters: request it promptly, because the entitlement and the protest clock both run on short deadlines.

A debrief should tell you the evaluation of your own proposal, the significant weaknesses or deficiencies found, the overall rating of the winner, the award price, and the rationale. It will not give you the other proposals or a competitor's confidential information.

How to get value from it: send specific written questions in advance rather than asking how you did. Ask which factor cost you the most points, what a higher rating would have required on that factor, and whether anything was found non-compliant. Take notes and keep them; three debriefs from the same office will show you a pattern.

Request a debrief when you win too. It tells you what nearly went wrong and what the office actually valued.

Keep reading

The rest of this module opens with your name and email

All sixteen modules open on this device for about six months. No card and no password.

Still to come in this module

Questions worth sending in advance
Protests, honestly
The three forums, in outline
Reading the award notice for the next competition
If you won
Record the outcome while it is still true
Questions at this stage