Making Debriefings Work: Timelines, Questions, and Protest Traps Every Federal Contractor Should Master

Debriefings are most valuable when two disciplines converge: rigorous attention to deadlines and disciplined questioning. The legal framework provides precise clocks that control whether you obtain a “required” debriefing, preserve protest options, and—if necessary—trigger a stay of performance; the craft of questioning determines what you learn about your proposal’s strengths, weaknesses, and discriminators. Practitioner guidance underscores that preparation, targeted questions, and careful documentation turn debriefings from post-mortems into forward-looking performance reviews, while also preserving procedural rights.

Timelines start the moment you are notified of exclusion or award. In negotiated procurements under FAR Part 15, an offeror excluded before award must request a pre-award debriefing within three days of its exclusion notice; an unsuccessful offeror must request a post-award debriefing within three days of award notification. These are written-request deadlines that open the door to the debriefing; they are not protest windows. Observing them ensures you receive the debriefing to which you are entitled and, in turn, preserves certain protest-timeliness rules tied to debriefings.

For Department of Defense procurements, the “enhanced debriefing” regime adds two critical steps. After a traditional oral or written debriefing, unsuccessful offerors have two business days to submit written follow-up questions; the agency must answer within five business days, and the debriefing remains open until those written answers are provided. When used correctly, this written Q&A both improves the informational record and affects the clock for any potential protest.

Two distinct sets of clocks matter. First, the general GAO timeliness rule requires filing within ten calendar days of when a basis of protest is known or should have been known. There is a “debriefing exception” for procurements conducted on the basis of competitive proposals under which a debriefing is requested and, when requested, is required; in that circumstance, a protest may not be filed before the debriefing date offered and must be filed no later than ten days after the debriefing is held. Understanding whether your procurement fits this clause is foundational.

Second, the statutory stay of performance under CICA has its own, shorter filing triggers. To obtain an automatic stay, GAO must notify the agency that a protest has been filed either within ten calendar days after award or within five calendar days after the debriefing date offered (whichever is later). Under DoD’s enhanced procedures, if you timely submit written questions within two business days, the five-day “stay clock” runs from the agency’s written answers; if you do not submit questions, it runs from the date of the initial debriefing. Counsel often treats these as calendar days and plans conservatively to account for GAO’s one-day notification to the agency.

Several traps recur. Contractors sometimes assume the debriefing exception applies universally; it does not. Under the schedules ordering procedures in FAR 8.4, unsuccessful vendors are entitled to a “brief explanation” when award was based on factors other than price alone, not a Part 15 debriefing; the debriefing exception typically does not extend GAO deadlines in that setting. Conversely, for orders under multiple-award IDIQs exceeding $6 million, the regulations cross-reference Part 15 debriefing procedures, which can restore the debriefing-based timelines. Misclassifying the procurement authority is a frequent reason deadlines are missed.

Another trap is filing too early or too late. Filing before a required debriefing is held can prompt GAO to close the file without prejudice once an agency offers a debriefing date, wasting momentum and legal fees; filing after the ten-day GAO window may still be “timely” in rare scenarios but will usually forfeit the automatic stay. Weekend endings create their own peril: a protest filed on Monday may be timely for GAO purposes but too late for the stay if the five- or ten-day CICA window expired on Sunday, because GAO must still notify the agency within the window.

What you ask—and when—shapes both learning and leverage. The strongest practice is to arrive with open-ended, evaluation-focused questions tied to concrete sections of your proposal: how evaluators weighed specific technical features against risk; whether key past performance examples were deemed recent, relevant, and of sufficient magnitude; how price reasonableness or realism concerns affected comparative rankings; and where discriminators actually moved the needle. This is exactly the kind of inquiry that tends to elicit narrative answers, rather than conclusory statements, and provides raw material for internal process improvements.

Under DoD’s enhanced procedures, use the two-business-day window to submit written follow-ups that clarify ambiguities and, where eligible, to request a redacted source selection decision document. The agency’s written responses will become part of the debriefing record, help test whether similar risks were treated consistently across offerors, and, as noted, can reset the stay clock from the date of the agency’s answers. Pair this with disciplined note-taking and a prompt internal memorandum so that lessons survive beyond the immediate team.

The overarching theme is sobriety and structure. Debriefings are not advocacy sessions; they are fact-gathering exercises bounded by regulation. Treat them as structured interviews, reserve arguments for counsel, and translate the discussion into tangible adjustments to capture and proposal workflows. Above all, put the clocks on the calendar the day notice arrives: three days to request the debriefing; for DoD, two business days for questions and five business days for agency answers; and the ten- and five-day GAO/CICA bars depending on posture. Those simple disciplines tend to separate contractors who merely “take a debrief” from those who build enduring competitive advantage from each one.

Accuracy & No-Legal-Advice Disclaimer: This article is for general information only and reflects rules and practices current as of publication. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney–client relationship. Deadlines and procedures are highly fact-specific; consult qualified counsel about your particular procurement.