Two kinds of protected information
Procurement integrity rules protect two categories. Contractor bid or proposal information is information submitted to an agency as part of, or in connection with, a bid or proposal, if it has not been made public 1; it includes indirect costs and direct labor rates 2.
Source selection information is information prepared for an agency to evaluate a bid or proposal, if it has not been made public 3. It includes competitive range determinations 4 and rankings of bids, proposals or competitors 5.
The rules run both ways. A present or former official, or anyone acting for or advising the government on a procurement 6, who has had access must not knowingly disclose such information before award 7, and a person must not, other than as provided by law, knowingly obtain it before award 8. Inside the government it may be disclosed only to people authorized to receive it 9. For these rules an official includes a member of the uniformed services 10, so a serving officer on a program is covered too.
Employment talks with serving officials
Employment talks start the rules running. When an agency official contacts, or is contacted by, an offeror in that procurement about possible non-Federal employment 11, the official must promptly report the contact in writing to the official's supervisor and agency ethics official 12. Unsolicited communications from offerors about possible employment count as contacts 13.
Hiring former officials
After they leave, a compensation ban can apply. A former official may not accept compensation from a contractor awarded a competitive or sole source contract, as an employee, officer, director or consultant, within one year after serving in certain roles 14. Those roles include procuring contracting officer, source selection authority, member of a source selection evaluation board and chief of a financial or technical evaluation team 15, and program manager, deputy program manager or administrative contracting officer on a contract above the dollar threshold the rule sets 16.
The DoD addition: the ethics opinion
DoD adds a step. A covered DoD official who, within two years after leaving DoD service, expects compensation from a DoD contractor must first request a written opinion from the appropriate DoD ethics counselor on post-employment restrictions 17. A DoD contractor may not knowingly provide compensation to a covered official in that period unless it first determines the official has received the opinion, or requested it at least 30 days before being paid 18.
Covered officials include people who participated personally and substantially in a large acquisition 19 while serving, for example, in a general or flag officer position at grade O-7 or above 20. A contractor that knowingly fails to comply faces administrative and contractual actions, including cancellation of a procurement, rescission of a contract, or suspension or debarment proceedings 21.
Worked example. Contractor M wants to hire a retiring flag officer as vice president for business development. Before making an offer it confirms the officer has requested the DoD ethics opinion, checks the officer's recent program roles against its contracts, and finds one program where the officer was a decision-maker. The offer letter excludes that program, and the capture team gets a written instruction not to discuss it with the new hire.
Indented paragraphs are invented worked examples. Tool links open Bids2Bank and need a free account.