If an outreach attachment may be procurement-sensitive, stop reading and keep its contents out of capture notes. Record receipt metadata in a restricted log and route the question to your designated reviewer. FAR 3.104-4(c) advises consulting agency officials when unsure whether information is source selection information; the intake method below is recommended contractor practice.

Assign the handling decision to a reviewer

Choose a responsible contracts, compliance or legal reviewer who can assess handling and consult the appropriate agency officials as needed. The capture team's immediate job is to contain the contents, preserve the facts of receipt and route the record for that decision.

Restricted intake and escalation log

Keep the log in a location only the reviewer and the intake owner can open. Every field describes the file, never what it says.

RESTRICTED INTAKE RECORD
Intake ID:                     [e.g., INT-2026-014]
Logged by / logged at:         [name, date, time, time zone]

RECEIPT
Received at:                   [date, time, time zone]
Channel:                       [email / file-share link / portal download / handed over / other]
Sender as displayed:           [name and address or account, exactly as shown]
Company recipients:            [everyone who received the message or link]
Linked pursuit:                [notice number or internal pursuit name]

FILE IDENTIFIER (no description of contents)
File name and type:            [exactly as shown]
Size / message ID / link:      [whatever uniquely identifies it]
Why flagged:                   [one line, no quotation or paraphrase, e.g., "unfamiliar marking on first page"]

EXPOSURE SO FAR
Who has opened it, how far:    [e.g., "J. Analyst, page 1, closed"]
Known copies already made:     [auto-sync, downloads, forwards that already happened]

ROUTING
Reviewer assigned:             [name, role]
Reviewer notified at:          [date, time]

REVIEWER SECTION (reviewer completes)
Handling decision for file:    [reviewer's decision]
Agency consultation:           [whether, who, when, per reviewer]
Instructions to capture team:  [what the team may and may not use]
Closed at:                     [date]

The "Exposure so far" block is easy to skip and worth filling. Recording who opened the file and which copies already exist gives the reviewer facts to work from instead of reconstructed memories a week later.

Running the intake

  1. Stop at the point of doubt. Close the file. Keep it out of FedFinder and other AI tools while handling permission is unresolved. Do not summarize it in chat, meeting notes, a pursuit tracker or an email to a colleague, because every summary is another copy of the contents.
  2. Open the record within the hour if you can. Fill the receipt, file identifier and exposure blocks from what you can see in your mail client or download history, without reopening the file.
  3. Notify the reviewer with the intake ID only. A message such as "Intake INT-2026-014 opened, file identifier logged, contents not shared" is enough. The reviewer decides how, or whether, to look at the file itself.
  4. Pause casual handling while the record is open. Avoid making new copies, forwarding it internally or lifting anything from it into capture documents. What ultimately happens to the file is the reviewer's decision, not the capture team's.
  5. Flag the pursuit, not the content. Add a note such as "intake open, see reviewer" to the opportunity record so proposal writers know a question is pending without learning what it concerns.
  6. Close the loop in writing. When the reviewer completes their section, the capture lead confirms the team received the instructions and records that confirmation in the log.

Illustration (hypothetical)

A capture analyst follows a link in a program office reply and downloads a file titled "background." The first page carries a marking she does not recognize. She closes it, opens INT-2026-014 with the file name, size, sender, time and "opened to page 1, closed," notes that her laptop synced the download folder, and messages the reviewer with the intake ID. The pursuit record now reads "intake open, see reviewer." Nothing about the contents appears anywhere outside the file itself.

For planning the surrounding outreach, see pre-RFP intelligence and capture management 101 for small government contractors.

Next step

Explore public federal contracting opportunities on FedFinder. Review current terms on the pricing page.

Sources

  • Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 3, Improper Business Practices and Personal Conflicts of Interest, section 3.104-4(c). Acquisition.gov. https://www.acquisition.gov/far/part-3. Retrieved 2026-11-06. FAC 2026-01, effective 2026-03-13; confirm applicability to the specific acquisition.