27 Miss. Code. R. 100-7-114
Agencies are encouraged to exchange information with vendors in an effort to build and strengthen business relationships and improve the procurement process between vendors and the State. To further this effort, agencies shall establish vendor debriefing procedure(s) and inform vendors at the time of procurement of the right to request a debriefing. At a minimum, debriefing should occur within five (5) business days after the vendor request and prior to submission of the contract packet to the PSCRB. Agencies shall submit with the contract approval request, documentation signed by their agency head or his or her designee, reporting the number of vendor debriefings requested and conducted. This information may be included as part of the protest correspondence required in Section 7-113 (Protest Documents).
A vendor, successful or unsuccessful, may request a post-award vendor debriefing, in writing, by U.S. mail or electronic submission, to be received by the agency within three (3) business days of notification of the contract award. A vendor debriefing is a meeting and not a hearing; therefore, legal representation is not required. If a vendor prefers to have legal representation present, the vendor must notify the agency and identify its attorney. The agency shall be allowed to schedule and/or suspend and reschedule the meeting at a time when a representative of the Office of the Mississippi Attorney General can be present.
Unless good cause exists for delay, the debriefing should occur within five (5) business days after receipt of the vendor request and may be conducted during a face-to-face meeting, by telephonic or video conference, or by any other method acceptable to the agency. The Procurement Officer or designee should chair the meeting, and where practicable, include other staff with direct knowledge of the procurement.
At a minimum, the debriefing information shall include the following:
The debriefing shall not include point-by-point comparisons of the debriefed vendor's bid, proposal, or SOQ with those of other offering vendors. Any written request by a vendor for nondisclosure of trade secrets and other proprietary data is subject to the provisions of Mississippi Code Annotated §§ 25-61-9 and 79-23-1.
The agency shall include in each solicitation a statement that vendor debriefing is available and the information described in Section 7-112.03 may be disclosed during post-award debriefing.
An official summary of the debriefing shall be included in the contract file.
Nothing in these regulations requires or prohibits pre-award vendor debriefing.
27 Miss. Code. R. 100-7-114