Sec. 21.06.01.02. Disclosure of Information

A. State Government Article, Title 10, Subtitle 6, shall govern any request for the disclosure of information related to a procurement.

B. Confidential, proprietary information, and trade secrets furnished by a bidder or offeror under this chapter may be disclosed to another State agency only if there is a demonstrated need for the information and may not be disclosed outside of State government except as provided by State Government Article, Title 10, Subtitle 6, or as provided by this chapter.

C. Duty Not to Disclose Information.

(1) After a solicitation for bids under COMAR 21.05.02 or for proposals under COMAR 21.05.03 or 21.12.02 - 21.12.05 is issued and until a procurement officer makes a recommendation for award of the contract, the procurement officer may disclose information only as set forth in COMAR 21.05.01.05.

(2) Before bid opening:

(a) Bids shall remain sealed; and

(b) The procurement officer may not disclose the name of any person who has submitted a bid.

(3) Before a procurement officer makes a recommendation for award of the contract, a procurement officer may not disclose the name of any person who has submitted a proposal.

(4) Before awarding a procurement contract based on competitive sealed proposals, a procurement officer may not disclose the contents of a proposal to any person other than a person responsible for evaluating or reviewing the proposal, or approving the contract award, except as permitted by State Finance and Procurement Article, §13-105, Annotated Code of Maryland.

D. Duty to Disclose Information. Subject to the provisions of State Government Article, Title 10, Subtitle 6:

(1) A summary of the final evaluation of a proposal shall be open to public inspection;

(2) After an award, all proposals shall be open to public inspection; and

(3) At and after bid opening, the contents of a bid and any document submitted with the bid shall be open to public inspection.

E. Records of Evaluators. A procurement officer may deny public access to the advisory or deliberative records of any evaluator of a proposal if the records would not be available by law to a party in litigation.

F. Discoverability During Proceedings. The provisions of this chapter do not affect the authority of the Board of Contract Appeals or a court of competent jurisdiction:

(1) To decide that information is discoverable in an administrative or judicial proceeding; and

(2) To compel disclosure of that information.