FAR 15.507—Protests against award.
Plain-English Summary
FAR 15.507 addresses how protests against award are handled in negotiated acquisitions and what information must be shared if a protest leads the agency to redo the competition within one year after award. It ties award protests to the procedures in FAR part 33 and encourages agencies to use agency protest procedures that include the alternative dispute resolution provisions of Executive Order 12979 for both preaward and postaward protests. The section also covers two specific corrective-action scenarios after a protest: issuing a new solicitation on the protested award, or issuing a new request for revised proposals. In those cases, it requires the contracting officer to provide certain information to the appropriate parties, including debriefing information about the successful offeror’s proposal and other nonproprietary information that would have been given to the original offerors. In practice, this section is about fairness, transparency, and maintaining competition integrity when an award is challenged and the agency decides to reopen the acquisition.
Key Rules
Award protests follow Part 33
Protests against award in negotiated acquisitions are handled under FAR part 33. This means the protest process, timelines, and remedies are governed by the general protest rules rather than by a separate negotiated-acquisition-specific procedure.
ADR is encouraged
Agencies are encouraged to use agency protest procedures that incorporate the alternative dispute resolution provisions of Executive Order 12979. This encouragement applies to both preaward and postaward protests and reflects a preference for faster, less adversarial resolution where appropriate.
New solicitation triggers disclosure
If a protest causes the agency, within one year of contract award, to issue a new solicitation on the protested contract award, the contracting officer must provide specified information to all prospective offerors for that new solicitation. The purpose is to ensure the reopened competition is informed by the same nonproprietary information that should have been available originally.
Revised proposals trigger limited disclosure
If the agency instead issues a new request for revised proposals within one year of award, the contracting officer must provide the required information only to offerors in the competitive range who are asked to submit revised proposals. The disclosure obligation is narrower because the competition is limited to those offerors.
Debriefing information must be shared
The information to be provided includes information given to unsuccessful offerors in debriefings about the successful offeror’s proposal from the original award. This ensures that offerors in the reopened competition receive the same relevant, nonproprietary insight that was already disclosed in the original procurement.
Other nonproprietary information must be included
The contracting officer must also provide other nonproprietary information that would have been given to the original offerors. Proprietary, source-selection-sensitive, or otherwise protected information is not authorized for release under this section.
Responsibilities
Contracting Officer
Handle award protests in accordance with FAR part 33; consider and support agency protest procedures that use ADR where applicable; and, if a protest leads within one year of award to a new solicitation or revised proposal request, provide the required information to the correct group of offerors.
Agency
Maintain protest procedures consistent with FAR part 33 and consider using ADR provisions of Executive Order 12979 for both preaward and postaward protests. If corrective action after a protest reopens the competition, ensure the contracting officer makes the required disclosures.
Prospective Offerors
When a new solicitation is issued after a protest, review the provided information as part of the reopened competition. They are entitled to receive the specified nonproprietary information if they are part of the new competition.
Competitive Range Offerors
If the agency requests revised proposals after a protest, submit revised proposals using the information provided by the contracting officer. They are the only offerors entitled to the required disclosures in this scenario.
Unsuccessful Offerors in Original Award
Receive debriefing information in the original award process, and that debriefing information may later be shared with appropriate parties if the protest results in a reopened competition.
Practical Implications
This section matters most when a protest results in corrective action that reopens the competition, because the agency must decide who gets what information and ensure the disclosure is limited to nonproprietary material.
A common pitfall is over-disclosing protected information from the successful offeror’s proposal; the rule allows debriefing-related and other nonproprietary information, not proprietary or source-selection-sensitive data.
Another practical issue is timing: the disclosure obligation applies only if the agency action occurs within one year of contract award, so contracting officers should track the award date carefully.
Contracting officers should align protest handling, debriefing content, and corrective-action communications so that all offerors receive consistent information and the agency avoids unequal treatment.
For contractors, the key takeaway is that a protest-driven recompetition may change the information landscape, but it does not create a right to confidential proposal details from competitors.
Official Regulatory Text
(a) Protests against award in negotiated acquisitions shall be handled in accordance with part 33 . Use of agency protest procedures that incorporate the alternative dispute resolution provisions of Executive Order 12979 is encouraged for both preaward and postaward protests. (b) If a protest causes the agency, within 1 year of contract award, to- (1) Issue a new solicitation on the protested contract award, the contracting officer shall provide the information in paragraph (c) of this section to all prospective offerors for the new solicitation; or (2) Issue a new request for revised proposals on the protested contract award, the contracting officer shall provide the information in paragraph (c) of this section to offerors that were in the competitive range and are requested to submit revised proposals. (c) The following information will be provided to appropriate parties: (1) Information provided to unsuccessful offerors in any debriefings conducted on the original award regarding the successful offeror’s proposal; and (2) Other nonproprietary information that would have been provided to the original offerors.