(Editor’s Note.  What bidding information can and cannot be released is often confusing and the following case helps.)

Flamman was awarded a base year with four one-year options for maintenance services where during the first year the government decided to re-solicit the first year option period.  When one of the offerors submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for a copy of the current contract including the cost schedule, Flamman objected but the Army chose to release Flamman’s unit prices for the base and option years.

Flamman appealed to prevent release of the information arguing the pricing data was confidential under the Trade Secrets Exemption of FOIA.  The Court rejected Flamman’s position stating unit prices are not protected because (1) sealed bids become publicly available upon bid opening and (2) unit prices do not divulge such confidential information as overhead, profit margin and cost multipliers.  Nonetheless, the Court ruled disclosure to one bidder rather than all was improper because it provided a competitive advantage to one bidder in the re-solicitation.  Flamman’s unit prices should be disseminated to all bidders and Flamman should receive comparable prices of the other bidders (R&W Flamman GmbH vs. U.S. Fed. Cl. NO 02-800C).

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