Offerors Beware: Exceptions to Data Rights Requirements May Prove Fatal

In Deloitte Consulting, LLP (released Jan. 14, 2016), GAO held that, because the awardee’s proposal had taken exception to a solicitation provision that granted the government broader rights in materials (including software source code) than the rights conveyed by the FAR's standard data rights clause, it was unacceptable. This case serves as a reminder that the time for objecting to solicitation provisions, including those relating to technical data and computer software rights, is prior to proposal submission.