(a) General. Names of entities submitting proposals, as well as proposal contents and evaluations, except to those involved in the review process, will be kept confidential to the extent permissible by law.

(b) Identifying confidential and proprietary information in a proposal. If a proposal contains proprietary information that constitutes a trade secret, proprietary commercial or financial information, confidential personal information, or data affecting the national security, it will be treated in confidence to the extent permitted by law, provided that the information is clearly marked by the applicant with the term “confidential and proprietary information.” In addition, the following statement must be included at the bottom of the project narrative or any other attachment included in the proposal that contains such information: “The following pages (specify) contain proprietary information which (name of proposing organization) requests not to be released to persons outside the Government, except for purposes of evaluation.”

(c) Disposition of proposals. By law, OAO is required to make the final decisions as to whether the information is required to be kept in confidence. Information contained in unsuccessful proposals will remain the property of the applicant. However, the Department will retain for three years one file copy of each proposal received; extra copies will be destroyed. Public release of information from any proposal submitted will be subject to existing legal requirements. Any proposal that is funded will be considered an integral part of the award and normally will be made available to the public upon request, except for information designated proprietary by OAO.

(d) Submission of proprietary information. The inclusion of proprietary information is discouraged unless it is necessary for the proper evaluation of the proposal. If proprietary information is to be included, it should be limited, set apart from other text on a separate page, and keyed to the text by numbers. It should be confined to a few critical technical items that, if disclosed, could jeopardize the obtaining of foreign or domestic patents. Trade secrets, salaries, or other information that could jeopardize commercial competitiveness should be similarly keyed and presented on a separate page. Proposals or reports that attempt to restrict dissemination of large amounts of information may be found unacceptable by OAO and constitute grounds for return of the proposal without further consideration. Without assuming any liability for inadvertent disclosure, OAO will limit dissemination of such information to its employees and, where necessary for the evaluation of the proposal, to outside reviewers on a confidential basis.