S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  8498--A
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 6, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Procurement and  Contracts
   -- reported favorably from said committee and committed to the Commit-
   tee   on  Finance  --  committee  discharged,  bill  amended,  ordered
   reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee

 AN ACT to amend the state finance law, in relation to the debriefing  of
   certain contracts
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Paragraph c of subdivision 9 of section 163  of  the  state
 finance  law,  as  amended by section 2-b of part F of chapter 57 of the
 laws of 2016, is amended to read as follows:
   c. Where provided in the  solicitation,  state  agencies  may  require
 clarification  from offerers for purposes of assuring a full understand-
 ing of responsiveness to the solicitation requirements.  Where  provided
 for  in  the  solicitation, revisions may be permitted from all offerers
 determined to be susceptible of being selected for contract award, prior
 to award. Offerers shall be  accorded  fair  and  equal  treatment  with
 respect  to  their  opportunity for discussion and revision of offers. A
 state agency shall, upon request, provide a debriefing to any unsuccess-
 ful offerer that responded to a request for proposal  or  an  invitation
 for  bids,  regarding  the reasons that the proposal or bid submitted by
 the unsuccessful offerer was not selected for an award. The  opportunity
 for  an  unsuccessful offerer to seek a debriefing, AND THE AVAILABILITY
 OF A WRITTEN EXPLANATION, shall be stated in the solicitation.
   (i) A debriefing shall be requested by the unsuccessful offerer within
 [fifteen] THIRTY calendar days of release  by  the  state  agency  of  a
 notice  in  writing or electronically that the offerer's offer is unsuc-
 cessful.
   (ii) Such notice shall be provided to all unsuccessful offerers by the
 state agency for the specific procurement.
   (iii) The state agency, upon a request made  within  [fifteen]  THIRTY
 days  of release of the written or electronic notice from the unsuccess-
 ful offerer for a debriefing, shall schedule  the  debriefing  to  occur
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD14018-02-4
 S. 8498--A                          2
 
 within a reasonable time of such request. Debriefings shall be conducted
 by  the  state agency with the unsuccessful offerer in-person, provided,
 however, the parties may mutually agree to utilize other means such  as,
 but  not  limited to, by telephone, video-conferencing or other types of
 electronic communications. State agency personnel participating  in  the
 debriefing  discussion  shall  have been involved with and knowledgeable
 about the procurement and the evaluation and selection of the successful
 offerer or offerers.
   (iv) Such debriefing shall include, but need not be  limited  to:  (A)
 the  reasons that the proposal, bid or offer submitted by the unsuccess-
 ful offerer was not selected for award; (B) the qualitative and  quanti-
 tative  analysis employed by the agency in assessing the relative merits
 of the proposals, bids or offers; (C) the application of  the  selection
 criteria  to  the  unsuccessful  offerer's  proposal;  and  (D) when the
 debriefing is held after the final award, the reasons for the  selection
 of  the  winning  proposal,  bid  or  offer.  The  debriefing shall also
 provide, to the extent practicable, general advice and guidance  to  the
 unsuccessful   offerer  concerning  potential  ways  that  their  future
 proposals, bids or offers could be more responsive.  PROVIDED,  HOWEVER,
 THAT AN UNSUCCESSFUL OFFERER MAY ADDITIONALLY REQUEST A WRITTEN EXPLANA-
 TION  COMPARABLE TO SUCH DEBRIEFING TO BE PROVIDED BY MAIL OR ELECTRONIC
 MAIL, WHICH THE STATE AGENCY SHALL PROVIDE  WITHIN  SIXTY  DAYS  OF  THE
 OFFERER'S REQUEST FOR A WRITTEN EXPLANATION.
   §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
 have become a law; provided, however, that the amendments to subdivision
 9 of section 163 of the state finance law made by section  one  of  this
 act  shall  not  affect  the  repeal of such section and shall be deemed
 repealed therewith.