Debriefings: How to Get Maximum Value from Government Contract Feedback

A debriefing is a meeting or communication where the government explains its evaluation and award decision to an unsuccessful offeror. It's your opportunity to understand why you didn't win.

Purpose of debriefings:

• Understand your proposal's strengths and weaknesses
• Learn how you were evaluated against criteria
• Get insight into the competitive landscape
• Identify areas for improvement
• Discover potential protest grounds

Two types of debriefings:

Pre-award debriefing: When you're excluded from the competitive range before award. Explains why you weren't included in discussions.

Post-award debriefing: After contract award. Explains why you weren't selected for award.

Your right to a debriefing:

Under FAR 15.506, you have the right to request a debriefing for negotiated procurements. The agency must provide it within 5 days of your request.

Format:

Debriefings can be:

• In-person meeting
• Video conference
• Phone call
• Written response

In-person or video allows for questions and dialogue — strongly preferred over written.

Timing requirements (FAR 15.506):

Pre-award debriefing:

• Agency notifies you of exclusion from competitive range
• Request debriefing within 3 days of notification
• Agency provides debriefing within 5 days of request

Post-award debriefing:

• Agency notifies you of award
• Request debriefing within 3 days of notification
• Agency provides debriefing within 5 days of request

Critical: Requesting extends protest deadline

If you request a post-award debriefing within 3 days of award notification, your GAO protest deadline extends to 5 days after debriefing (instead of 10 days after award).

How to request:

Written request (email is fine) to the contracting officer:

• Reference the solicitation number
• State you're requesting a debriefing per FAR 15.506
• Request in-person or video format
• Propose available times

Always request a debriefing

Even if you don't plan to protest, debriefings provide valuable competitive intelligence. They're free and your right — use them.

Required debriefing content (FAR 15.506(d)):

For post-award debriefings, the agency must provide:

• The government's evaluation of significant weaknesses or deficiencies in your proposal
• Your proposal's overall evaluated cost or price (including unit prices)
• Your proposal's overall technical rating
• Your overall ranking (if any ranking was developed)
• A summary of the rationale for award
• Reasonable responses to relevant questions about selection procedures and evaluation

For pre-award debriefings:

• Evaluation results that led to exclusion
• Summary of your proposal's deficiencies

What they cannot disclose:

• Point-by-point comparison with other proposals
• Trade secrets or privileged information of others
• Source selection information that would compromise future acquisitions
• Names of individuals evaluating proposals

Awardee information you can learn:

• Awardee's overall evaluated price
• Awardee's overall technical rating
• Relative ranking (if developed)

You won't get the awardee's specific strengths/weaknesses, but you can understand how they compared to you overall.

Before the debriefing:

Review your proposal:

• Re-read what you submitted
• Note areas where you were uncertain
• Identify sections that may have had weaknesses

Review the solicitation:

• Evaluation criteria and relative importance
• Requirements you may have addressed weakly
• Areas where you took calculated risks

Prepare questions:

Specific questions get better answers. Prepare questions about:

• Technical approach evaluation
• Management approach evaluation
• Past performance assessment
• Price analysis
• Specific requirements you're uncertain about

Assemble your team:

• Proposal manager
• Capture manager
• Subject matter experts (if allowed)
• Attorney (if considering protest)

Set objectives:

What do you want to learn? Prioritize:

1. Why you didn't win
2. Your specific weaknesses
3. How to improve for next time
4. Any evaluation errors (for protest consideration)

Professional conduct:

• Be professional — not defensive or argumentative
• Take detailed notes
• Ask clarifying questions
• Don't challenge evaluators directly
• Thank them for the feedback

Effective questions:

About your proposal:

• "What were the significant weaknesses in our technical approach?"
• "How did you evaluate our past performance references?"
• "Were there any deficiencies in our management approach?"
• "How did our price compare to the competitive range?"

About the evaluation:

• "What factors were most important in the source selection?"
• "How was the price-technical tradeoff conducted?"
• "Were discussions held with other offerors?"

About the awardee (what's permissible):

• "What was the awardee's overall technical rating?"
• "What was the awardee's evaluated price?"
• "Was there a significant price difference?"

Questions to avoid:

• Argumentative questions challenging evaluator judgment
• Requests for other offerors' proprietary information
• Broad questions with no specific focus

Listen for protest grounds:

• Evaluation inconsistent with stated criteria
• Errors in understanding your proposal
• Unequal treatment compared to awardee

Document immediately:

• Complete your notes while fresh
• Summarize key findings
• List specific weaknesses identified
• Note any potential evaluation errors

Internal debrief:

Meet with your proposal team to:

• Share debriefing information
• Validate or challenge findings
• Identify lessons learned
• Discuss protest viability

Evaluate protest potential:

Within 5 days, decide whether to protest. Consider:

• Strength of potential grounds
• Likelihood of success
• Cost vs. benefit
• Customer relationship impact

Create lessons learned:

Regardless of protest decision, document:

• What you'll do differently next time
• Proposal process improvements
• Training needs identified
• Competitive intelligence gained

Update your competitive files:

• Add debriefing notes to opportunity file
• Update competitor profiles
• Revise pricing benchmarks

Pattern analysis:

Track debriefing feedback across multiple losses to identify patterns:

• Are you consistently weak in certain areas?
• Are price issues recurring?
• Do past performance problems persist?
• Are there writing quality issues?

Common improvement areas:

Technical approach:

• More specific, less generic solutions
• Better compliance with all requirements
• Clearer explanation of methodology

Management approach:

• More detailed staffing plans
• Better risk mitigation
• Clearer organizational structure

Past performance:

• More relevant references
• Better documentation of similar work
• Proactive reference preparation

Price:

• More competitive rates
• Better price realism
• Clearer cost justification

Proposal process improvements:

• Earlier capture engagement
• More rigorous internal reviews
• Better compliance checking
• More realistic schedule management

What are enhanced debriefings?

DFARS 215.506 provides additional debriefing rights for DoD procurements, giving you more information and time.

Enhanced debriefing content:

• All information in standard debriefings, PLUS
• For source selections using tradeoff process: the agency's rationale for any tradeoffs among cost/price and non-cost factors in selecting the awardee

Post-debriefing questions:

Within 2 business days after a debriefing, you can submit written questions:

• Questions about debriefing information
• Requests for clarification
• Additional questions about the evaluation

Agency response:

• Agency must respond within 5 business days
• Response must be in writing
• Must address "relevant" questions

Protest timing impact:

The protest deadline is 5 days after you receive:

• The debriefing, OR
• The response to your post-debriefing questions (if submitted timely)

This effectively extends your time to analyze information and decide on protest.

Use enhanced rights strategically:

Post-debriefing questions can:

• Clarify ambiguous debriefing statements
• Fill gaps in required information
• Develop record for potential protest
• Buy additional time for analysis