110 STAT. 644 PUBLIC LAW 104-106—FEB. 10, 1996 that will permit an efficient competition among the offerors rated most highly in accordance with such criteria.". (b) CIVILIAN AGENCY ACQUISITIONS. — Section 303B(d) of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (41 U.S.C. 253b(d)) is amended— (1) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3); and (2) by inserting before paragraph (3) (as so redesignated) the following new paragraph (2): "(2) If the contracting officer determines that the number of offerors that would otherwise be included in the competitive range under paragraph (1)(A) exceeds the number at which an efficient competition can be conducted, the contracting officer may limit the number of proposals in the competitive range, in accordance with the criteria specified in the solicitation, to the greatest number that will permit an efficient competition among the offerors rated most highly in accordance with such criteria.". SEC. 4104. PREAWARD DEBREEFINGS. (a) ARMED SERVICES ACQUISITIONS.—Section 2305(b) of title 10, United States Code, is amended— (1) by striking out subparagraph (F) of paragraph (5); (2) by redesignating paragraph (6) as paragraph (9); and (3) by inserting after paragraph (5) the following new paragraphs: "(6)(A) When the contracting officer excludes an offeror submitting a competitive proposal from the competitive range (or otherwise excludes such an offeror from further consideration prior to the final source selection decision), the excluded offeror may request in writing, within three days after the date on which the excluded offeror receives notice of its exclusion, a debriefing prior to award. The contracting officer shall make every effort to debrief the unsuccessful offeror as soon as practicable but may refuse the request for a debriefing if it is not in the best interests of the Government to conduct a debriefing at that time. "(B) The contracting officer is required to debrief an excluded offeror in accordance with paragraph (5) of this section only if that offeror requested and was refused a preaward debriefing under subparagraph (A) of this paragraph. "(C) The debriefing conducted under this subsection shall include— "(i) the executive agency's evaluation of the significant elements in the offeror's offer; "(ii) a summary of the rationale for the offeror's exclusion; and "(iii) reasonable responses to relevant questions posed by the debriefed offeror as to whether source selection procedures set forth in the solicitation, applicable regulations, and other applicable authorities were followed by the executive agency. "(D) The debriefing conducted pursuant to this subsection may not disclose the number or identity of other offerors and shall not disclose information about the content, ranking, or evaluation of other offerors' proposals. "(7) The contracting officer shall include a summary of any debriefing conducted under paragraph (5) or (6) in the contract file. "(8) The Federal Acquisition Regulation shall include a provision encouraging the use of alternative dispute resolution tech-
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