Debrief

Purpose:

Positive and constructive feedback to competing providers on the reasons for their selection or non-selection at any evaluation stage of a competitive procurement project, thus allowing the provider the opportunity to improve their performance in future procurements.

Note that both successful and unsuccessful providers are entitled to a debrief.

Fitness for purpose checklist:

• Is the material provided to the debriefing team adequate for the purpose?
• Is the Provider likely to accept the statements being made as the rationale for selection / non-selection?
• Is the Provider likely to dispute the statements being made as the rationale for selection / non-selection? If so, rework to make indisputable. 

Notes:

• Debriefing can take the form of a face to face meeting with senior company representatives or a telephone call. This is recommended practice, in addition to, and following fairly swiftly on from, the statutory provision of written information.
• There are pre-set times periods, stated in UK Statutory Instruments which implement EC Procurement Directives, between a decision being made and the debriefing information being formally communicated to competing providers.
• Debriefing should be given to those who are successful as well as those who are unsuccessful at each evaluation stage. It is just as important for a provider to know why they won, as well as why they lost.
• Debriefing is based upon an amalgam of records of various activities throughout the procurement cycle. It is therefore important that clear and concise written records exist as part of the quality administration of a procurement, to form these pre-requisite documents, which can be assembled into any given set, for any given debriefing exercise. This is particularly important in the context of draft contract negotiations stage.
• The level of the provider's representatives attending a debriefing meeting is important, if the lessons learnt are to be adopted corporately, and the provider is serious about improving their performance in future procurements. Attendance by the Managing Director, as well as (or in some cases instead of) the leader of their sales/procurement team, is a good practice. Invitations to providers to attend debriefing meetings should be made accordingly.
• The providers' perspective should be borne in mind at debriefing meetings. They will have spent a considerable amount of time (perhaps a year), and money (perhaps bid costs in excess of £0.5M), in a speculative investment aimed at winning the deal. The worst thing at a debrief is that the reasons put forward for the provider's lack of success comes as a complete surprise to them. This would be indicative of poor relationship management and procurement management. 

Suggested content:

• Minimum information elements to be notified in writing to a provider participating in a competitive procurement who is unsuccessful at a certain stage are laid down in the Statutory Instruments which implement the various EC Procurement Directives. 

Source information:

• Evaluation reports, [evaluation reports usually also include an assessment of the quality of the provider's documentation deliverables e.g. proposals / tenders], conduct during contract negotiations, reference site visits, records of service / system demonstrations, and commercial information reports on the provider's company. 

Further information:

See further detail on Supplier Debriefing (PDF, 200K)

See the briefing on Procurement

See the product description for Evaluation report

Reference: CUP briefing.