FAR 14.409—Information to bidders.

Award of unclassified contracts.

FAR 14.409-1 explains what the contracting officer must do after award of an unclassified sealed bid contract and how bid-result information may be disclosed. It covers the required notice to unsuccessful bidders, the timing of that notice, the courtesy language that must be included, and the special requirement to explain why a low bidder was rejected when award goes to someone else. It also adds extra disclosure rules for procurements covered by the World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement or a Free Trade Agreement, including the successful bid amount and the awardee’s name and address. Beyond bidder notices, the section addresses what information may be given to unsuccessful bidders on request, what may be provided to non-bidders who ask about the award, when the contracting office may limit disclosure because of workload, and how requests for records are controlled by agency FOIA/records regulations under subpart 24.2. In practice, this section is about balancing transparency in sealed bidding with administrative efficiency and any applicable trade agreement obligations, while protecting the contracting office from unnecessary disruption.

Award of classified contracts.

FAR 14.409-2 addresses how contracting officers must handle the award of a sealed bid contract when classified information was furnished or created during the solicitation process. It builds on FAR 14.409-1 and focuses on three specific topics: notifying unsuccessful bidders, including firms that did not submit a bid, about disposition of classified material; limiting disclosure of the successful bidder’s name and contract price to requests from unsuccessful bidders; and prohibiting disclosure of classified award information by telephone. The purpose is to protect national security information while still giving bidders the minimum award information they are entitled to receive. In practice, this section requires contracting officers to coordinate closely with agency security procedures, control post-award communications carefully, and avoid informal or oral disclosures that could compromise classified information. For contractors, it means they must be prepared to follow agency instructions for returning, destroying, or otherwise disposing of classified solicitation materials even if they chose not to bid. The rule also reinforces that award transparency is narrower in classified procurements than in ordinary procurements, because security protection takes priority over routine bid-result disclosure.