5543179 Contracting and Procurement, Office of - Notice of Final Rulemaking - To amend Title 27 (Contracts and Procurement), Sections 1647 and 1648 to permit pre- and post-award debriefings.
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OFFICE OF CONTRACTING AND PROCUREMENT
NOTICE OF FINAL RULEMAKING
The Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) of the District of Columbia, pursuant to the authority set forth in Sections 204 and 1106 of the Procurement Practices Reform Act of 2010, effective April 8, 2011 (D.C. Law 18-371; D.C. Official Code §§ 2-352.04 and 2-361.06 (2012 Repl.)) (the “Act”), hereby gives notice of the adoption of the final rulemaking to amend Sections 1647 and 1648 of Chapter 16 (Procurement by Competitive Sealed Proposals), of Title 27 (Contracts and Procurement), of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations (DCMR).
This rulemaking updates the regulations and outlines the procedures applicable to procurement by competitive proposals. The amendments authorize preaward debriefings for unsuccessful offerors, and outlines the applicable process, as well as clarifies the procedures for postaward debriefings to unsuccessful offerors. These changes are necessary to fully implement the Act and to ensure transparent and fair procurement.
The CPO gave notice of her intent to adopt these rules on February 25, 2015, and the emergency and proposed rules were published in the D.C. Register on March 20, 2015, at 62 DCR 3421. No comments were received and no changes have been made to the text of the rules as published. The CPO took final action to adopt these rules on April 22, 2015.
The rules will become effective upon publication of this notice in the D.C. Register.
Chapter 16, PROCUREMENT BY COMPETITIVE SEALED PROPOSALS, of Title 27 DCMR, CONTRACTS AND PROCUREMENT, of the DCMR is amended as follows:
Section 1647 is amended to read as follows:
1647 PREAWARD DEBRIEFINGS
1647.1 Offerors excluded from the competitive range or otherwise excluded from the competition before award may submit a written request for a preaward debriefing to the contracting officer.
1647.2 The contracting officer shall make reasonable efforts to debrief the unsuccessful offeror as soon as practicable, unless the Director determines that to do so is not in the best interest of the District.
1647.3 A preaward debriefing shall include, at a minimum:
(a) The District’s evaluation of significant elements in the offeror’s proposal;
(b) A summary of the rationale for eliminating the offeror from the competition; and
(c) Reasonable responses to relevant questions about whether source selection procedures contained in the solicitation, applicable regulations, and other applicable authorities were followed.
1647.4 A preaward debriefing shall not disclose:
(a) The number of offerors;
(b) The identity of another offeror;
(c) The content of another offeror’s proposal;
(d) The ranking of other offerors;
(e) The evaluation of other offerors; or
(f) Any information prohibited by § 1648.3(b) of this chapter.
Section 1648 is amended to read as follows:
1648 POSTAWARD DEBRIEFINGS
1648.1 If a contract is awarded on a basis other than price alone, the contracting officer shall provide a postaward debriefing for any unsuccessful offeror that submits a written request for a debriefing, unless the Director determines that to do so is not in the best interest of the District.
1648.2 If a postaward debriefing is held, the information provided shall include, at a minimum:
(a) The District’s evaluation of the significant weak or deficient factors in the unsuccessful offeror’s proposal;
(b) The overall evaluated cost or price (including unit prices), the numeric technical rating, if applicable, of the successful offeror and the debriefed offeror, and past performance information on the debriefed offeror;
(c) The overall numeric ranking of all offerors, if any ranking was developed by the procuring agency during the evaluation;
(d) A summary of the rationale for award; and
(e) Reasonable responses to relevant questions about whether source selection procedures contained in the solicitation, applicable regulations and other applicable authorities were followed.
1648.3 The postaward debriefing shall not:
(a) Include point-by-point comparisons of the debriefed offeror's proposal with those of other offerors; or
(b) Reveal any information prohibited from disclosure by Section 417 of the Procurement Practices Reform Act of 2010, effective April 8, 2011 (D.C. Law 18-371; D.C. Official Code § 2-354.17 (2012 Repl.)) or exempt from release under the District of Columbia Freedom of Information Act, effective March 25, 1977 (D.C. Law 1-96; D.C. Official Code §§ 2-531 et seq. (2012 Repl.)), including:
(1) Information which has been designated as confidential and proprietary by an offeror;
(2) Trade secrets and commercial or financial information where disclosure would impair the competitive position of an offeror, including cost breakdowns, profit, indirect cost rates, and similar information;
(3) Inter-agency or intra-agency memoranda or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency, including the names and written comments of the members of the evaluation panel;
(4) Information of a personal nature where the public disclosure thereof would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, including offerors’ employees’ names, résumés, contact information, the names of offerors’ partners and the names of individuals providing reference information about an offeror's past performance; and
(5) Federal tax identification numbers or other information specifically exempted from disclosure by statute.
