Debriefing should be tailored to the particular procurement and for each tenderer. The amount of detail covered will vary according to the nature of the procurement and the experience the particular tenderer has with the acquiring entity and in government procurement generally. For example, a tenderer that is not familiar with the entity's procurement practices may benefit from being informed about an entity's general procurement arrangements, in addition to details about the particular procurement process that is the main subject of the debriefing.
Debriefing should take place at a mutually convenient time within a reasonable period after the contract is awarded and signed.
In the case of a two-stage procurement process, debriefing can be undertaken for those tenderers not included in a short list of tenderers to be considered in the second stage of the evaluation.
Requests for debriefing will usually arise when unsuccessful tenderers are informed of their elimination from the selection process. It is generally most effective and efficient to debrief all tenderers as quickly as possible at short list or contract award stage.
Unsuccessful tenderers should be debriefed individually in a professional manner. When debriefing unsuccessful tenderers their performance against the evaluation criteria in the request documentation or the areas where their tender response was deficient or not preferred should be addressed.