(a)    (1)    If a procurement officer decides to conduct a pre–bid conference to explain the requirements of a procurement that is expected to exceed $100,000, as soon as practicable after the conference concludes, the procurement officer shall have written minutes of the conference prepared.

(2)    The minutes of a pre–bid conference are public records and shall be open to public inspection during ordinary business hours.

(b)    (1)    Subject to Title 4 of the General Provisions Article:

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

(ii)    after an award, all proposals shall be open to public inspection; and

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

(2)    Except as otherwise provided in this section, Title 4 of the General Provisions Article shall govern any request for the disclosure of information related to a procurement.

(c)    A procurement officer may deny public access to the advisory or deliberative records of an evaluator of a proposal if the records would not be available by law to a private party in litigation with the unit.

(d)    (1)    Before bid opening:

(i)    bids shall remain sealed; and

(ii)    the State may not disclose the name of a bidder.

(2)    Before the closing date for proposals, a procurement officer may not disclose the name of a person who has submitted a proposal.

(3)    Before awarding a procurement contract based on competitive sealed proposals, the State may not disclose the contents of a proposal to any person other than a person responsible for evaluating or reviewing the proposal.

(e)    Subsections (b)(1), (c), and (d) of this section do not affect the authority of the Board of Contract Appeals or a court of competent jurisdiction to:

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

(2)    compel disclosure.