So you lost the contract that the company put lots of time and money into and you want to know why. You want an answer and you want it now!! As a contracting officer I have had those phone calls; some were nice and some were not so nice – and, in a few cases, they called their congressman. However, the contracting officer does owe you some response to that question and depending on the type of acquisition, it may be formal or informal.
So when can you request a debrief? Usually there are two decisions that can trigger a request for a debrief: elimination from the competitive range and the award decision.
Each debriefing for these two events are basically the same but the latter will provide you with award information.
Let’s be honest and acknowledge that at least one company in that debrief is going to be a bit unhappy. Now some contracting officers use written debriefs to avoid the face-to-face meeting. While perfectly legal, I have found that the use of the written debrief will be viewed negatively and has resulted in protest. In dealing with debriefs I trained my specialist that companies wanted their day in “court” and you could give it to them under your terms or to GAO in a protest response.
Acknowledge that there may be some “hostility” in the room so it’s important to prepare for this debrief and provide enough information to the company for them to understand the reasons they were eliminated. It’s important to note that the contracting officer will not get into a debate over the winning offerors’ proposal. The contracting officer will explain your rating and show you the rating of the winning offeror but he will not discuss why the winner got the ratings it received. I know this frustrates many people but the debrief wasn’t intended for the contractor to debate the decision of the contracting officer. What the contracting officer is attempting to do is educate and inform the losing company that the government followed its selection criteria and this was why and where your company ranked as the end of the evaluation. Hopefully when you get the debrief your company will be open to learning as to why you were not selected. Ask lots of questions about why your company did not score well in an area where your rankings were low. The government wants you to learn and get better for the next effort you may want to bid.
Also remember that in the source selection process as companies get more technically equal, price becomes more of a factor. I have seen companies get very frustrated when they have scored really well on the technical side and still lost based on price. I have had source selections where companies have scored really high with an awesome product but so did the competition and price became the deciding factor.
The selection process is designed to be fair and contracting officers have significant reviews so while mistakes can be made, it most cases they are honest mistakes, Respect the contracting officer. I have seen many situations where companies have come to a debrief and have been hostile and accusing the contracting officer of intentionally not picking their company. I have talked before about that relationship with a contracting officer and how to build a good one. Being disrespectful will not help your company in the long run.
One issue that come up is should I bring my lawyer? You can but if you bring one the contracting officer will bring one too. In my opinion it doesn’t change the information given but it can have a cooling effect and it is only natural. People are more cautious with a lawyer in the room. But if you want one there, be prepared for the government to have one too.
In conclusion the debrief is really a learning tool for your company to determine where the weakness was in your proposal. The contracting officer will help you as much as they can to get better by answering questions where he can about your proposal. No one is ever happy to lose, but the process is designed to be fair and in the vast majority of cases the selection process works.