The Contracting Officer shall insert the clause at 2452.204-70, “Preservation of, and Access to, Contract Records (Tangible and Electronically Stored Information (ESI) Formats),” in all solicitations and contracts exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold. The Contracting Officer shall use the basic clause with its Alternate I in cost-reimbursement type contracts. The Contracting Officer shall use the basic clause with its Alternate II in labor-hour and time-and-materials contracts.

(a) Unsuccessful cost and technical proposals shall be retained in the contracting activity for a period of two months following the contract award as reference material for debriefings. Upon expiration of the two month period, the contracting office shall either:

(1) Retain one copy of each such proposal with the official contract file; or,

(2) Ship one copy of each unsuccessful bid or proposal to the Federal Records Center unless a debriefing has been requested but not held, or a protest is pending concerning the procurement. In no event shall these documents be destroyed before expiration of the retention periods in FAR 4.805.

(b) By the program office. Unsuccessful proposals shall be retained on file in the program office which conducted the technical evaluation for a period of two months following the contract award. Upon expiration of the two month period, the program office shall return one copy of each unsuccessful bid or proposal not required for the conduct of debriefings to the contracting activity for proper disposition. The remaining copies will be destroyed.