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Federal Aviation Administration, DOT 

§ 17.13 

may include proprietary, confidential, 
or source-selection-sensitive material, 
or other information the release of 
which could result in a competitive ad-
vantage to one or more firms. 

(b) The terms of the ODRA’s standard 

protective order may be altered to suit 
particular circumstances, by negotia-
tion of the parties, subject to the ap-
proval of the ODRA. The protective 
order establishes procedures for appli-
cation for access to protected informa-
tion, identification and safeguarding of 
that information, and submission of re-
dacted copies of documents omitting 
protected information. 

(c) After a protective order has been 

issued, counsel or consultants retained 
by counsel appearing on behalf of a 
party may apply for access to the ma-
terial under the order by submitting an 
application to the ODRA, with copies 
furnished simultaneously to all parties. 
The application shall establish that the 
applicant is not involved in competi-
tive decision-making for any firm that 
could gain a competitive advantage 
from access to the protected informa-
tion and that the applicant will dili-
gently protect any protected informa-
tion received from inadvertent disclo-
sure. Objections to an applicant’s ad-
mission shall be raised within two (2) 
days of the application, although the 
ODRA may consider objections raised 
after that time for good cause. 

(d) Any violation of the terms of a 

protective order may result in the im-
position of sanctions, including but not 
limited to removal of the violator from 
the protective order and reporting of 
the violator to his or her bar associa-
tion(s), and the taking of other actions 
as the ODRA deems appropriate. Addi-
tional civil or criminal penalties may 
apply. 

Subpart B—Protests 

§ 17.11

Matters not subject to protest. 

The following matters may not be 

protested before the ODRA, except for 
review of compliance with the AMS: 

(a) FAA purchases from or through, 

State, local, and tribal governments 
and public authorities; 

(b) FAA purchases from or through 

other Federal agencies; 

(c) Grants; 

(d) Cooperative agreements; 
(e) Other transactions. 

§ 17.13

Dispute resolution process for 

protests. 

(a) Protests concerning FAA SIRs, 

solicitations, or contract awards shall 
be resolved pursuant to this part. 

(b) Potential protestors should, 

where possible, attempt to resolve any 
issues concerning potential protests 
with the CO. Such attempts are not a 
prerequisite to filing a protest with the 
ODRA. 

(c) Offerors or prospective offerors 

shall file a protest with the ODRA in 
accordance with § 17.15. The protest 
time limitations set forth in § 17.15 will 
not be extended by attempts to resolve 
a potential protest with the CO. Other 
than the time limitations specified in 
§ 17.15 for the filing of protests, the 
ODRA retains the discretion to modify 
any timeframes established herein in 
connection with protests. 

(d) In accordance with § 17.17(b), the 

ODRA shall convene an initial status 
conference for the purpose of sched-
uling proceedings in the protest and to 
encourage the parties to consider using 
the ODRA’s ADR process to attempt to 
resolve the protest, pursuant to sub-
part D of this part. It is the Agency’s 
policy to use voluntary ADR to the 
maximum extent practicable. If the 
parties elect not to attempt ADR, or if 
ADR efforts do not completely resolve 
the protest, the protest will proceed 
under the ODRA Adjudicative Process 
set forth in subpart E of this part. In-
formal ADR techniques may be utilized 
simultaneously with ongoing adjudica-
tion. 

(e) The ODRA Director shall des-

ignate DROs, outside neutrals or Spe-
cial Masters as potential neutrals for 
the resolution of protests through 
ADR. The ultimate choice of an ADR 
neutral is made by the parties partici-
pating in the ADR. The ODRA Director 
also shall, at his or her sole discretion, 
designate an adjudicating DRO or Spe-
cial Master for each matter. A person 
serving as a neutral in an ADR effort 
in a matter, shall not serve as an adju-
dicating DRO or Special Master for 
that matter. 

(f) Multiple protests concerning the 

same SIR, solicitation, or contract 

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