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To Contents	Are e-mailed unsolicited proposals considered spam?
By Anonymous on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 10:38 am: My marketing department has asked me to look into the impact of anti-spam laws on our ability to use e-mail to send unsolicited proposals or marketing information to government agencies. Please note that we are a legitimate government contractor in the IT field and any information we send would be tailored to the recepient. I would appreciate opinions and referrals to information governing unsolicited proposal processes and etiquette. Thank you By Eric Ottinger on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 12:15 pm: Anon, I don't know about spam. I would suggest that unless your proposal is very exactly tailored it will probably be directed to the trash. Given the concern about viruses etc. I don't even open that sort of message. Eric By anon2 on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 12:17 pm: Here is a purely personal opinion from one who dislikes unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE), commonly called spam, and has spent considerable time trying to bring regulatory and legal wrath upon spammers. The soundest legal objection to this plague is based on its "postage due" aspect. The closest thing to UCE was the now outlawed practice of unsolicited commercial FAX where there is a direct cost imposed on the recipient beyond the use of the receiving instrument itself, i.e., fax paper and toner. The rule there centers on previous relationship. You cannot utilize the law against my commercial FAX if we have an existing relationship in that general area of commerce. That probably extends, as a practical matter, to any commercial relationship between us. The law on FAX is the model most of us hope to see on UCE and is based on similar arguments. Your issue appears to boil down to a case of whether or not you have a FAX law like business relationship with the agency. I'll presume you take precautions to see that your outgoing e-mail is free of hostile applets and recommend straight text. Could you legally send them an unsolicited business FAX? Would it infuriate the agency staff because you used taxpayer paper and toner to offer them your services? Again my opinion, based largely on how I would have reacted to such a FAX or e-mail, is that because we are not a private firm and operating in the public domain you have an "existing business relationship" with any agency. If your communication is related directly to the public business of the agency that is your right and no offense taken. If your communication is poorly related to the public business of the agency you are probably still safe legally, but at high risk of offending. Personally I'd strongly advise against using e-mail as your people seem to be considering. When I last had official e-mail some years ago it was already a chore. The internal junk mail alone was horrible. Official notice of this, announcement of that, meeting minutes of meetings of no interest whatever, personal profiles of new appointees and other such "stuff" took all too much time to review before trashing. After being gone a few days I might have close to a hundred of these alone. More than once I block trashed and lost that one really critical one with a cryptic subject line. The problem, by all accounts I've had, has gotten worse. The odds against your UCE having any impact at all are pretty high. The odds that someone will be offended, justly or not, are higher. In my opinion you can do it. In my firm opinion you should not even consider sending e-mail unless you are responding to a particular published request for information to a specific e-mail address. E-mail may be cheap, but so is a click to the trash. That is the most likely, almost certain even, destination for an unsolicited mailing from an unknown sender. Tell your marketing department to be less "with it" here. Spend a few cents on a well written cover letter to a specific agency contact and increase your odds. By Anon2U on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 02:17 pm: I agree with Anon2, I am a contracting officer and I trash UCE without opening it. I recommend anyone trying to do business with my agency to cultivate a relationship with the program office that uses the business' products or service. I award orders and contracts but rarely do I make the decision on who gets the business. That is done either on convincing the program office that you are the "best value" or by the price. So please stop sending the stuff and wasting my time. By anon2 on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 11:35 pm: An afterthought directed at any who may have fallen for a marketing department's brilliant idea and has already decided to use junk e-mail. Anon2U describes an action that I'd guess is almost certain. You may not be so fortunate. At best it makes a business look clueless and inept. At worst, if someone remembers your company in connection with the practice, you could actually close doors. You would probably have to run faster and jump higher just to keep even once connected to this technique that is pretty soundly associated in most minds with merchants of scams, porn, certain organ enlargements, questionable "cures" and generally unsound business. It is kind of like inviting the CO and PM to meet you in a topless dive to discuss business opportunities at their agency. Once in a very long while a "reputable" business spams me at home. I always wonder if they manage to find the keys to open up in the morning if they are that clueless. Every executive presented with a marketing proposal like this should very seriously ask if the company really needs to join the likes of: Good Day, with warm hearts I offer my friendship, and my greetings, and I hope this letter meets you in good time. It will be surprising to you toreceive this proposal from me since you do not know me personally. However, I am sincerely seeking your confidence in this transaction, which I propose with my free mind and as a person of integrity. My name is FRAZER OTTO, the son of TIMOTHY WEWE OTTO, a marketing person with (YOUR COMPANY NAME HERE) [Introduction to an actual 4-1-9 scam e-mail up to "a marketing person with" point. I send them on to the authorities. People have been injured and even killed in falling for and following up these things. See U.S. Secret Service] By Vern Edwards on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 06:18 am: Anonymous: Let's begin with the rules. FAR subpart 15.6 prescribes procedures for the content, submission, receipt and processing of unsolicited proposals. Many agencies have supplemented that subpart in their own regulations. See, for example, Air Force Materiel Command AFMC) FAR Supplement 5315.606-90, which refers to AFMC Pamphlet 64-101, Unsolicited Proposal Guide. FAR Subpart 4.5 encourages the use of electronic commerce in contracting, including the use of email. However, as should be apparent from the comments posted above, it would probably be a waste of time to submit an unsolicited proposal to an agency by email without having first made contact with cognizant agency personnel. "Unsolicited" does not mean without prior communication. See FAR § 15.604(a). Before developing any policy or procedure regarding the submission of unsolicited proposals by email, the marketing department should thoroughly research the government's rules, including the specific target agencies' rules about the receipt and processing of unsolicited proposals. By Anonymous on Monday, June 02, 2003 - 01:20 pm: I would heartily endorse Vern Edward's advise that you try to make preliminary contact with the agency to determine any likelihood of interest before submitting any unsolicited proposal (whether paper or email). Please also note the FAR definition of unsolicited proposal. It does not include advertising material or commercial item offerings. Anything with so many potential targets that your email would look like spam is probably not exactly "innovative or unique." [Please also note that the CICA exception for unsolicited proposals (FAR 6.301-1) only applies to research & development proposals.] If you are sending an email unsolicited proposal to one person in one agency addressing a particular interest or problem of theirs, I don't think you could be running afoul of any anti-spam laws or even etiquette. You should, however, make sure you are sending it to the office the agency has designated for receipt of unsolicited proposals. By Anonymous on Monday, June 02, 2003 - 02:19 pm: Thank you for your candid and useful comments. I will be sure to pass them along to my marketing department and to do further research. By Charlie Dan on Tuesday, June 03, 2003 - 12:03 pm: Just a quick reaction to the parenthetical in the message from Anonymous, 6/2/03, 1:20pm: A reading of the CICA exception at FAR 6.302-1 could lead to an interpretation that it applies only to R&D proposals, but it doesn't exactly say that. The words are: "1) In the opinion and to the knowledge of the Government evaluator, the meritorious proposal-- (i) Is the product of original thinking submitted confidentially by one source; (ii) Contains new, novel, or changed concepts, approaches, or methods; (iii) Was not submitted previously by another; and (iv) Is not otherwise available within the Federal Government." There are situations where these standards can be met in non-R&D settings.

Are e-mailed unsolicited proposals considered spam?

By Anonymous on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 10:38 am:

My marketing department has asked me to look into the impact of anti-spam laws on our ability to use e-mail to send unsolicited proposals or marketing information to government agencies. Please note that we are a legitimate government contractor in the IT field and any information we send would be tailored to the recepient. I would appreciate opinions and referrals to information governing unsolicited proposal processes and etiquette. Thank you

By Eric Ottinger on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 12:15 pm:

Anon,

I don't know about spam. I would suggest that unless your proposal is very exactly tailored it will probably be directed to the trash.

Given the concern about viruses etc. I don't even open that sort of message.

Eric

By anon2 on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 12:17 pm:

Here is a purely personal opinion from one who dislikes unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE), commonly called spam, and has spent considerable time trying to bring regulatory and legal wrath upon spammers.

The soundest legal objection to this plague is based on its "postage due" aspect. The closest thing to UCE was the now outlawed practice of unsolicited commercial FAX where there is a direct cost imposed on the recipient beyond the use of the receiving instrument itself, i.e., fax paper and toner. The rule there centers on previous relationship. You cannot utilize the law against my commercial FAX if we have an existing relationship in that general area of commerce. That probably extends, as a practical matter, to any commercial relationship between us.

The law on FAX is the model most of us hope to see on UCE and is based on similar arguments. Your issue appears to boil down to a case of whether or not you have a FAX law like business relationship with the agency. I'll presume you take precautions to see that your outgoing e-mail is free of hostile applets and recommend straight text. Could you legally send them an unsolicited business FAX? Would it infuriate the agency staff because you used taxpayer paper and toner to offer them your services?

Again my opinion, based largely on how I would have reacted to such a FAX or e-mail, is that because we are not a private firm and operating in the public domain you have an "existing business relationship" with any agency. If your communication is related directly to the public business of the agency that is your right and no offense taken. If your communication is poorly related to the public business of the agency you are probably still safe legally, but at high risk of offending.

Personally I'd strongly advise against using e-mail as your people seem to be considering. When I last had official e-mail some years ago it was already a chore. The internal junk mail alone was horrible. Official notice of this, announcement of that, meeting minutes of meetings of no interest whatever, personal profiles of new appointees and other such "stuff" took all too much time to review before trashing. After being gone a few days I might have close to a hundred of these alone. More than once I block trashed and lost that one really critical one with a cryptic subject line. The problem, by all accounts I've had, has gotten worse.

The odds against your UCE having any impact at all are pretty high. The odds that someone will be offended, justly or not, are higher. In my opinion you can do it. In my firm opinion you should not even consider sending e-mail unless you are responding to a particular published request for information to a specific e-mail address.

E-mail may be cheap, but so is a click to the trash. That is the most likely, almost certain even, destination for an unsolicited mailing from an unknown sender. Tell your marketing department to be less "with it" here. Spend a few cents on a well written cover letter to a specific agency contact and increase your odds.

By Anon2U on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 02:17 pm:

I agree with Anon2, I am a contracting officer and I trash UCE without opening it. I recommend anyone trying to do business with my agency to cultivate a relationship with the program office that uses the business' products or service. I award orders and contracts but rarely do I make the decision on who gets the business. That is done either on convincing the program office that you are the "best value" or by the price. So please stop sending the stuff and wasting my time.

By anon2 on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 11:35 pm:

An afterthought directed at any who may have fallen for a marketing department's brilliant idea and has already decided to use junk e-mail. Anon2U describes an action that I'd guess is almost certain. You may not be so fortunate.

At best it makes a business look clueless and inept. At worst, if someone remembers your company in connection with the practice, you could actually close doors. You would probably have to run faster and jump higher just to keep even once connected to this technique that is pretty soundly associated in most minds with merchants of scams, porn, certain organ enlargements, questionable "cures" and generally unsound business. It is kind of like inviting the CO and PM to meet you in a topless dive to discuss business opportunities at their agency.

Once in a very long while a "reputable" business spams me at home. I always wonder if they manage to find the keys to open up in the morning if they are that clueless. Every executive presented with a marketing proposal like this should very seriously ask if the company really needs to join the likes of:

Good Day,

with warm hearts I offer my friendship, and my greetings, and I hope this letter meets you in good time. It will be surprising to you toreceive this proposal from me since you do not know me personally. However, I am sincerely seeking your confidence in this transaction, which I propose with my free mind and as a person of integrity.

My name is FRAZER OTTO, the son of TIMOTHY WEWE OTTO, a marketing person with (YOUR COMPANY NAME HERE)

[Introduction to an actual 4-1-9 scam e-mail up to "a marketing person with" point. I send them on to the authorities. People have been injured and even killed in falling for and following up these things. See U.S. Secret Service]

By Vern Edwards on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 06:18 am:

Anonymous:

Let's begin with the rules.

FAR subpart 15.6 prescribes procedures for the content, submission, receipt and processing of unsolicited proposals. Many agencies have supplemented that subpart in their own regulations. See, for example, Air Force Materiel Command AFMC) FAR Supplement 5315.606-90, which refers to AFMC Pamphlet 64-101, Unsolicited Proposal Guide.

FAR Subpart 4.5 encourages the use of electronic commerce in contracting, including the use of email. However, as should be apparent from the comments posted above, it would probably be a waste of time to submit an unsolicited proposal to an agency by email without having first made contact with cognizant agency personnel. "Unsolicited" does not mean without prior communication. See FAR § 15.604(a).

Before developing any policy or procedure regarding the submission of unsolicited proposals by email, the marketing department should thoroughly research the government's rules, including the specific target agencies' rules about the receipt and processing of unsolicited proposals.

By Anonymous on Monday, June 02, 2003 - 01:20 pm:

I would heartily endorse Vern Edward's advise that you try to make preliminary contact with the agency to determine any likelihood of interest before submitting any unsolicited proposal (whether paper or email).

Please also note the FAR definition of unsolicited proposal. It does not include advertising material or commercial item offerings. Anything with so many potential targets that your email would look like spam is probably not exactly "innovative or unique." [Please also note that the CICA exception for unsolicited proposals (FAR 6.301-1) only applies to research & development proposals.]

If you are sending an email unsolicited proposal to one person in one agency addressing a particular interest or problem of theirs, I don't think you could be running afoul of any anti-spam laws or even etiquette. You should, however, make sure you are sending it to the office the agency has designated for receipt of unsolicited proposals.

By Anonymous on Monday, June 02, 2003 - 02:19 pm:

Thank you for your candid and useful comments. I will be sure to pass them along to my marketing department and to do further research.

By Charlie Dan on Tuesday, June 03, 2003 - 12:03 pm:

Just a quick reaction to the parenthetical in the message from Anonymous, 6/2/03, 1:20pm: A reading of the CICA exception at FAR 6.302-1 could lead to an interpretation that it applies only to R&D proposals, but it doesn't exactly say that. The words are:

"1) In the opinion and to the knowledge of the Government evaluator, the meritorious proposal--

(i) Is the product of original thinking submitted confidentially by one source;

(ii) Contains new, novel, or changed concepts, approaches, or methods;

(iii) Was not submitted previously by another; and

(iv) Is not otherwise available within the Federal Government."

There are situations where these standards can be met in non-R&D settings.