FAR Introduction Quick Reference  

The United States Code (USC) represents the laws of the US 

The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) represents the policies and procedures of the US 

The CFR reflects the implementation of the USC  

The CFR and USC are organized in a similar way:  Titles, Chapters, Parts, Subparts, Sections and Subsections. 

Title 48 of the CFR is the Federal Acquisition Regulation System  

The FAR is divided into Chapters: o Chapter 1 contains the federal contracting requirements which are more broadly 

applicable to federal agencies o From Chapter 2 forward are agency‐specific supplements – one chapter for each 

executive agency (for example, Dept. of Defense “2”, Dept. of Health and Human Services “3”, Dept. of Energy “9”) 

 

Each FAR Chapter is divided into Parts: o Each Part addresses a specific contracting topic, such as Procurement, Audit, Conflicts of 

Interest, Simplified Acquisition, etc. o Each Part is repeated across all Chapters.  For example, Part 45 in Chapter 1 addresses 

Property Management (52.245‐1), and Part 45 of Chapter 9 will address Property Management specific to the Dept. of Energy (952.245‐2) 

o Definitions of words and terms to be used throughout the FARS are in Part 2 of each Chapter.  For example, the definitions of words and terms used by the Dept. of Defense are extensive, and are located in 202.101.   

 

Each Part in a FAR Chapter fits into one of these categories: o Prescriptions (Parts 1 through 51) ‐ give instructions on which particular clauses to use, 

and when to use them. o Clauses (Part 52) ‐ contains the full text of all the clauses.  Clauses should be included in 

a federal contract based on specific variables.  Examples of variables are:  Purpose of the contract  Nature of the contractor  Financing method  Dollar threshold 

  

1

CONTRACTING PROCESS FLOW DIAGRAM

Pre-ProposalConference

QuestionsAccepted

Amendment for Clarification or

Correction

Receipt of Proposals

Solicitation Issued

Technical Cost Analysis

CO checks for

CompletenessSends out for

Analysis

Price / Cost Analysis

CO ReviewsComments

CO Determines Competitive Rating

and sendsNotice to Offerors

Non CompetitiveRange

CompetitiveRange

Debriefing

Revised Proposals

Evaluation of Revised Proposals

Source Selection Statement Written

Award

Debriefing

Continued

QuestionsAccepted

Past Performance Analysis

Discussion withAll OfferorsNo Discussion

Continued at Top

Page 1 of 5

CRA Study Notes:

General Procurement and the FAR.

Acquisition Life Cycle:

Determine Need; Determine Where to Buy it; Determine How to Buy it; Award the

Contract; Monitor the Contract Performance; and Close-out

Determine Need:

Products (Supplies and Equipment)

Service (R&D, Maintenance on Equipment, Janitorial, Printing)

Combination Product & Service

Other: Major systems acquisitions (Defense Airplanes, flight simulators)

Terminology: Statement of Work, CLIN, Specs,

Determine Where to Buy it:

Sole Source: Only one. Should be the exception, not the rule.

Competition: Use to the maximum extent practical.

Set Asides: Minority and small businesses: The purpose of small business set-

asides is to award certain acquisitions exclusively to small business concerns.

A “set-aside for small business” is the reserving of an acquisition exclusively

for participation by small business concerns. A small business set-aside may

be open to all small businesses. A small business set-aside of a single

acquisition or a class of acquisitions may be total or partial. Except as

authorized by law, a contract may not be awarded as a result of a small

business set-aside if the cost to the awarding agency exceeds the fair market

price. Reference FAR Part 19.5

Market Research

Auction

Determine How to Buy it:

Two types of acquisition methods:

1. Sealed Bidding: must be awarded on price, requirements clearly stated,

date & time for response strictly adhered to

2. Negotiation: may be awarded on factors other than price; requirements

may not be fully known

Sealed Bidding: Reference FAR Part 14

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Negotiation: Reference FAR Part 15

Relatively new concept is Reverse Auction

Unsolicited Proposals

Sealed Bidding may be done in a process of “ Two Steps” Two Step means that

there may be a Technical Proposal due and then if selected, Step Two is the Cost/Price

bid. Negotiation may be done in similar fashion called “Multi-Step Process”.

Terminology may see: RFQ, RFP, IFB, RFA, RFI, BAA

Contract Award

Two basic types of award: Fixed Price and Cost Reimbursement

(see handout for comparison) Reference FAR Part 16

Sealed Bidding must result in Fixed Price award.

“Selecting the contract type is generally a matter for negotiation and requires the exercise

of sound judgment. Negotiating the contract type and negotiating prices are closely

related and should be considered together. The objective is to negotiate a contract type

and price (or estimated cost and fee) that will result in reasonable contractor risk and

provide the contractor with the greatest incentive for efficient and economical

performance.”

Factors in Selecting Contract Types: FAR Part 16.104

Generally, to make an award, the Contracting Officer has to look at Source Selection,

Price/Cost Factors and Risk.

Other Award mechanisms: Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ), Blanket

Orders (GWAC), Time and Materials, Labor-Hour or Letter Contracts (Notice to

Proceed)

Monitor the Contract Performance

Invoices (monthly or at fixed intervals called “milestones”)

Progress Reports (monthly, quarterly, etc. or at milestones)

“Show Cause” usually provides contractor an opportunity to explain

circumstances and a time frame to improve performance

“Cure Notice” Before the delivery date; but the Contracting Officer suspects

something’s going wrong. Minimum of 10 days given to fix the issue.

Page 3 of 5

Close Out

Reference FAR Part 4.804

Submit Property Accounting Form

Submit Patent Form

Submit Final Invoice

Submit Final Technical Reports

Any final audits to be completed.

Contract Formation

FAR, OMB Circulars, Executive Orders, Public Laws

FAR Matrix outlines which clauses are included by Award Type, Dollar Threshold and

Receiving Entity

Terminology: Micro Threshold (currently at $2,500); Simplified Acquisition Threshold

(currently $100,000); $550,000 (small business plan ) $650,000 for cost or pricing data

Higher Ed Non-Profits For-Profits State

Government

Cost Principles A-21 A-122 FAR (Part 31) A-87

Administrative

Requirements

A-110 A-110 FAR (Part 42) A-102

Audit

Requirements

A-133 A-133 FAR (Part 42) A-133

Fair and Reasonableness? Price Analysis or Cost Analysis (FAR 15.404)

Price Analysis: Usually established by competition, market rates, established catalog

pricing, commercial products, prices set by law or regulation

Cost Analysis: All the elements that go into the price of the proposal; labor, materials,

overhead, profit, fee, trends in the marketplace

Page 4 of 5

Contract Clauses of particular importance (also see handout)

Rights in Technical Data (reference FAR Part 27)

Reports

Copyrights

“Work for Hire”

Export Controls

Allowing foreign national restrictions

Sensitive but Unclassified

Requiring Licensing from ITAR and EAR

Publication Restrictions

Confidential Information

Written approval to Disclose

Property (Reference FAR Part 45)

Who owns after the award is finished? Typically the government wants to own it

if it paid for it. Title vests in the Government, unless otherwise approved/negotiated—

must ask for it. Under PHS grants, title is passed to the institution upon completion of

the project.

Termination (Reference FAR Part 49)

For “convenience” (called T4C) Government will want to be able to terminate

“for convenience” just because it decides the procurement is no longer in “its best

interest”.

“for default” (T4D) (a) Termination for default is generally the exercise of the

Government’s contractual right to completely or partially terminate a contract because of

the contractor’s actual or anticipated failure to perform its contractual obligations.

(b) If the contractor can establish, or it is otherwise determined that the contractor was

not in default or that the failure to perform is excusable; i.e., arose out of causes beyond

the control and without the fault or negligence of the contractor, the default clauses

provide that a termination for default will be considered to have been a termination for

the convenience of the Government, and the rights and obligations of the parties

governed accordingly.

References:

FAR: http://farsite.hill.af.mil/VFFAR1.HTM

OMB: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/

Defense Logistics Agency: http://www.dtc.dla.mil/dsbusiness/Course.htm

(reference for Contract Types, Acronyms, and other useful info)

http://www.dtc.dla.mil/dsbusiness/info/ConAdmin2.htm

Page 5 of 5

Wide Area WorkFlow (WAWF)

The Wide Area WorkFlow (WAWF) Prototype supports DoD efforts to reduce unmatched disbursements in the DoD receipt, acceptance, entitlement, and payment process through sharing data and electronic documents. The goal is to enable authorized Defense contractors and DoD personnel to access the documents required for a payment action in a "paperless" environment by creating a virtual contract payment folder. https://wawftraining.eb.mil/

Vendors can submit invoices and receiving reports electronically using existing Electronic Commerce methods. Additional choices are now available: Web interactive forms and straight push from vendor automated systems (FTP). These new choices do not result in significant cost or require changes to existing processes. Additionally, the vendor will receive system-generated e-mails advising them of action taken by the Government Inspection and Acceptance Officials. If a receiving report or invoice is rejected, the Vendor will have the capability to correct the data and resubmit—thus only the individual data elements need to be corrected as opposed to retyping the entire document. Finally, the vendor will be able to view previously submitted documents and determine the current status, review actions taken by Government officials (to include access to the name, e-mail and phone numbers), and as appropriate initiate follow-on actions.

What is DoD Wide Area WorkFlow—Receipt and Acceptance (WAWF–RA)?

DoD has several tools available to help improve the receipt, management, processing, storage, retrieval, and organization into folders of documents required in the bill paying process. WAWF–RA provides the baseline technology for Government vendors and authorized DoD personnel to generate, capture, and process receipt and payment-related documentation, via interactive Web-based applications.