Protected procurement information, former officials, and unsolicited proposals
Terms for protected procurement information, former-official restrictions, and the unsolicited-proposal instrument.
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Protected procurement information
41 U.S.C. § 2102(b) and FAR 3.104-3 prohibit knowingly obtaining protected bid, proposal, or information before award. Accidental receipt and a brief unintentional opening differ from knowingly continuing to review, copy, or disseminate after recognition. On recognition: stop review and distribution, preserve the message and access list, isolate recipients, and immediately notify company legal or ethics for coordinated disclosure to the . FAR 3.104-7 requires the agency to assess possible impact and act.
Watch for
Reading the file fully “to see if it is useful” before reporting is knowing continued review. Deleting files and logs to avoid possession accusations destroys evidence. Forwarding to pricing with the name stripped is still misuse.
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Former official compensation restriction
FAR 3.104-3(d) imposes a one-year compensation restriction for certain former officials based on specified procurement roles and decisions. FAR 3.104-2 also flags separate 18 U.S.C. 207 post-employment representational restrictions. Applicability is fact-specific: obtain a documented legal and ethics review of roles, decisions, dates, contracts, and proposed duties, then impose any compensation or representational limits before committing. Gate every former-official hire touching pursuit work through counsel before titles, comps, and call plans are set.
Watch for
Restrictions do not all end the day Federal service ends. A hiring manager’s gut check about “what they remember” is not a screen. Parking the same work in a staffing affiliate does not avoid review.
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Unsolicited proposal
FAR 15.603 requires a valid unsolicited proposal to be innovative and unique, independently originated, prepared without Government direction, sufficiently detailed, and not an advance proposal for a known competitively acquirable or previously published requirement. Advertising and routine commercial offers are excluded. Use the agency’s channel when the requirement is already on the street. Reserve true unsolicited proposals for unique, independently originated ideas.
Watch for
“The Government did not request this exact PDF” is not enough. Binding firm-fixed pricing alone does not qualify a routine offer. Calling a brochure innovative does not make it so.
Shape work succeeds when stays lawful, evidence stays usable, ownership stays with the Government, and integrity incidents get stopped cold.