FAR 15.608—Prohibitions.
Plain-English Summary
FAR 15.608 sets the government’s rules for handling unsolicited proposals, focusing on two core protections: first, the government may not use any data, concept, idea, or other part of an unsolicited proposal as the basis for a solicitation or for negotiations with another firm unless the original offeror is notified and agrees; second, government personnel may not disclose information in the proposal that is restrictively marked under the applicable rules. The section also clarifies an important exception: if the same data, concept, or idea is available from another source without restriction, the government may use it. In practice, this section is designed to protect proprietary or sensitive proposal content, preserve fairness in competition, and prevent the government from improperly leveraging an unsolicited submission to benefit other vendors. It also reinforces that improper disclosure of protected commercial information can have serious legal consequences, including potential criminal penalties under 18 U.S.C. 1905. For contracting officers and program personnel, the section is a reminder to treat unsolicited proposals carefully, limit internal sharing to what is necessary, and avoid any use that could taint a later acquisition action.
Key Rules
No use without consent
Government personnel may not use any part of an unsolicited proposal as the basis, or part of the basis, for a solicitation or for negotiations with another firm unless the original offeror is notified and agrees to that intended use. This protects the submitter from having its ideas or approach reused without permission.
Publicly available ideas may be used
The prohibition does not apply to data, concepts, or ideas that are also available from another source without restriction. If the government can obtain the same information from unrestricted public or nonrestricted sources, it is not barred from using that information.
No disclosure of restricted markings
Government personnel may not disclose restrictively marked information contained in an unsolicited proposal. This includes information marked to protect trade secrets, processes, operations, style of work, apparatus, and similar proprietary matters.
Legal exposure for improper disclosure
Unauthorized disclosure of protected commercial information may trigger criminal penalties under 18 U.S.C. 1905. The rule therefore requires careful handling of marked proposal content and strict adherence to disclosure limits.
Responsibilities
Government personnel
Must not use unsolicited proposal content to build a solicitation or negotiate with another firm without notifying the original offeror and obtaining agreement. Must also protect and not disclose restrictively marked information contained in the proposal.
Contracting Officer
Must ensure unsolicited proposals are handled in a way that preserves the offeror’s rights, prevents unauthorized reuse of proposal content, and limits disclosure of protected information to authorized persons only.
Program and technical personnel
Must avoid incorporating ideas, approaches, or data from an unsolicited proposal into acquisition planning or technical requirements unless the information is independently available without restriction or the offeror has agreed to the use.
Offeror submitting the unsolicited proposal
Should clearly mark proprietary or restricted information as required and understand that those markings help trigger the government’s nondisclosure obligations.
Practical Implications
A common pitfall is using an unsolicited proposal as a shortcut for drafting requirements, statements of work, or evaluation criteria; even partial reliance can violate the rule if the offeror did not agree.
Teams should separate truly independent market research from information learned through an unsolicited proposal, because only unrestricted information from other sources may be reused freely.
Restrictively marked pages or attachments should be handled carefully and shared only with personnel who need to review them for the unsolicited proposal process.
If the government wants to use an unsolicited proposal’s concept in a later solicitation, it should obtain the offeror’s informed agreement first and document that consent.
Improper disclosure can create both procurement integrity problems and potential criminal exposure, so agencies should train staff to recognize and respect proprietary markings.
Official Regulatory Text
(a) Government personnel shall not use any data, concept, idea, or other part of an unsolicited proposal as the basis, or part of the basis, for a solicitation or in negotiations with any other firm unless the offeror is notified of and agrees to the intended use. However, this prohibition does not preclude using any data, concept, or idea in the proposal that also is available from another source without restriction. (b) Government personnel shall not disclose restrictively marked information (see 3.104 and 15.609 ) included in an unsolicited proposal. The disclosure of such information concerning trade secrets, processes, operations, style of work, apparatus, and other matters, except as authorized by law, may result in criminal penalties under 18 U.S.C. 1905 .