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Requesters who ask for contracts into which a proposal has been incorporated usually want to receive only material that will help in understanding the process that led to the award or to improve their own methods of drafting proposals. Requesters usually do not want material that submitters believe would harm them if released.

Before we release a contract into which a proposal has been incorporated, we will ask the submitter of the proposal for advice concerning any commercial information that may be contained in the proposal. We will consider that advice and, if we agree, we will redact that information before we release the documents to you.

Technical Proposals: If you request a copy of an unsuccessful Technical Proposal or a Successful Technical Proposal that has not been incorporated into a final award document, please understand that we will not be able to release it to you. Federal law prohibits all agencies, including the NIH, from releasing Technical Proposals that have not been incorporated into a final contract. That law can be found at 41 U.S.C. §253b(m).

Requests for contracts: If you request a copy of an awarded contract into which a proposal has not been incorporated, we will redact any pricing information or other information that will cause commercial harm to the contractor if released.

If we redact any information from the contract or contract records you requested, we will explain that in our final response to you. If you have any questions about the information that may have been redacted from the records you receive in response to a FOIA request, you are encouraged to contact the FOIA Coordinator who processed your request. A list of the NIH FOIA Coordinators can be found at this site.