(d) Warranty by offeror. To ensure against contacts between HHS personnel and prospective offerors that would exceed the limits of advance guidance set forth in FAR 15.604 and potentially result in an unfair advantage to an offeror, the prospective offeror of an unsolicited proposal must include the following warranty in any unsolicited proposal. Contracting officers receiving an unsolicited proposal without this warranty shall not process the proposal until the offeror is notified of the missing language and given an opportunity to submit a proper warranty. If no warranty is provided in a reasonable time, the contracting officer shall reject the unsolicited proposal, notify the offeror of the rejection, and document the actions in the file.

This is to warrant that—

(a) This proposal has not been prepared under Government supervision;

(b) The methods and approaches stated in the proposal were developed by this offeror;

(c) Any contact with HHS personnel has been within the limits of appropriate advance guidance set forth in FAR 15.604; and,

(d) No prior commitments were received from HHS personnel regarding acceptance of this proposal.

(This warranty shall be signed by a responsible management official of the proposing organization who is a person authorized to contractually obligate the organization.)

(a) The HCA is responsible for establishing procedures to comply with FAR 15.606(a).

(b) The HCA or designee shall be the point of contact for coordinating the receipt and processing of unsolicited proposals.

(d) OPDIVs may consider an unsolicited proposal even though an organization initially submitted it as a grant application. However, OPDIVs shall not award contracts based on unsolicited proposals that have been rejected for grant awards due to lack of scientific merit.