Your Right to a Debriefing
Under FAR 15.506, any unsuccessful offeror in a competitive negotiated procurement may request a debriefing from the contracting officer. The request must be submitted in writing within 3 days of receiving the award notification. The government must provide the debriefing within 5 days of the request (though extensions are common).
Debriefings are available for both pre-award (if eliminated during the competitive range determination) and post-award (after contract award). Post-award debriefings provide more information because the evaluation is complete and the government can discuss the winning proposal’s strengths at a high level.
For simplified acquisitions (under $250,000), the right to a debriefing is more limited, but you can still request feedback. Even an informal conversation with the contracting officer about your proposal’s strengths and weaknesses is valuable.
What to Expect in a Debriefing
A debriefing typically covers: your proposal’s evaluated strengths and weaknesses under each evaluation factor, your overall rating for each factor, the rationale for the award decision (without disclosing proprietary information from the winning proposal), and any deficiencies or significant weaknesses that were identified.
The government cannot share: the winning proposal’s proprietary approach or pricing, point scores or specific numerical ratings of competitors, or trade secrets. However, they can tell you the winning proposal’s overall adjectival ratings (e.g., "Outstanding" for technical approach) so you understand the competitive bar.
Debriefings may be conducted in person, by phone, or in writing. In-person debriefings are preferred because they allow you to ask follow-up questions and have a dialogue about the evaluation. Written debriefings are more common for lower-dollar procurements.
Preparing Effective Questions
Come to the debriefing with prepared questions that extract maximum actionable feedback. Focus on understanding where you lost points and what a stronger response would have looked like.
- What specific weaknesses or deficiencies were identified in our technical approach?
- How did our past performance evaluation compare to the competitive range?
- Were there areas where our proposal lacked sufficient detail or specificity?
- What strengths did the evaluators identify that we should continue to emphasize?
- Were there compliance issues with our proposal format or content?
- How was our pricing evaluated relative to the technical rating?
Turning Feedback into Future Wins
The real value of a debriefing is in what you do with the information afterward. Create a formal lessons learned document for every debriefing and share it with your proposal team. Identify specific, actionable improvements for your next proposal.
Track debriefing feedback across multiple proposals to identify patterns. If evaluators consistently note that your past performance narratives lack specificity, that’s a systemic issue in your proposal process, not a one-time problem. Address root causes, not just symptoms.
Over time, debriefing data becomes a strategic asset. Companies that systematically collect and analyze debriefing feedback improve their win rates measurably within 12-18 months. The feedback loop between debriefings and proposal improvement is one of the most underutilized tools in government contracting.
Every Loss Is an Investment
Debriefings transform proposal losses from wasted effort into valuable intelligence. The companies that consistently improve their win rates are the ones that request debriefings for every loss, prepare carefully, ask good questions, and systematically apply the feedback.
Make debriefing requests a standard part of your post-submission process. The information you receive will directly improve your next proposal. In a market where win rates of 20-30% are considered good, even small improvements in proposal quality translate to significant revenue impact.