Rules Set for Debriefings An amendment to the Federal Acquisition Regulation sets out what information a losing bidder is entitled to receive during a debriefing. The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council issued the final FAR amendment Dec. 11; it is effective Jan. 12. Under the rule, if an agency offers a debriefing to an unsuccessful bidder, it should disclose: (1) the agency’s evaluation of the significant weak or deficient factors in the unsuccessful offer; (2) the cost or price and technical rating of the successful and unsuccessful offeror and the losing bidder’s past performance information; (3) the overall ranking of all offerors, if a ranking was developed; (4) a summary of the rationale for the award; (5) for commercial items, the make and model of the item to be delivered by the winning bidder; (6) reasonable responses to questions posed by the losing bidder; The FAR councils said the debriefing official does not have to reveal the number of “points” a bidder received under the evaluation of its past performance, because agencies use different methods of evaluation; not all agencies use a point system. The rule is FAR case 2002-014.