FAR and DFARS › FAR Part 12: Acquisition of Commercial Products and Commercial Services › Subpart 12.1
FAR 12.101 Policy.
The codified text (eCFR, as of 2026-10-02). Under the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul ↗, agencies follow class deviations with new text for many parts while the formal rules go through the Federal Register: check the solicitation and your contract's clauses, which rule.
In plain English
FAR 12.101 requires agency heads to conduct market research to see if commercial products, services, or nondevelopmental items can meet their needs. If such items are available, the agency must acquire them. The agency must also require prime contractors and subcontractors to incorporate these commercial items as components to the maximum extent practicable.
Applies to: Agency heads and their contractors
What it requires
- Conduct market research to determine availability of commercial products, commercial services, or nondevelopmental items that could meet agency requirements
- Acquire commercial products, commercial services, or nondevelopmental items when they are available to meet agency needs
- Require prime contractors and subcontractors at all tiers to incorporate commercial products, commercial services, or nondevelopmental items as components to the maximum extent practicable
Key terms: commercial products · commercial services · nondevelopmental items · prime contractors · subcontractors
Written by AI from this section's text. A guide, not legal advice: the text below rules.
The text
The head of the agency shall—
(a) Conduct market research to determine whether commercial products, commercial services, or nondevelopmental items are available that could meet the agency's requirements;
(b) Acquire commercial products, commercial services, or nondevelopmental items when they are available to meet the needs of the agency; and
(c) Require prime contractors and subcontractors at all tiers to incorporate, to the maximum extent practicable, commercial products, commercial services, or nondevelopmental items as components of items supplied to the agency.
← 12.001 Definition. · 12.102 Applicability. →
Rule changes for FAR Part 12
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Revolutionary FAR Overhaul Parts 8, 12, 13, 15, 38, 44, and 51 ↗ · proposed 2026-09-18 · comments due 2026-10-19
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Prohibition on Certain Semiconductor Products and Services ↗ · proposed 2026-02-17 · comments due 2026-04-20
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Inflation Adjustment of Acquisition-Related Thresholds ↗ · final rule 2025-08-27 · effective 2025-10-01
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Ending Procurement and Forced Use of Paper Straws ↗ · proposed 2025-07-21 · comments due 2025-09-19
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Small Business Participation on Certain Multiple-Award Contracts ↗ · proposed 2025-06-12
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Small Business Participation on Certain Multiple-Award Contracts ↗ · proposed 2025-01-15 · comments due 2025-03-17
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition ↗ · proposed 2025-01-15 · comments due 2025-03-17
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Controlled Unclassified Information ↗ · proposed 2025-01-15 · comments due 2025-03-17
Source: eCFR, 48 CFR chapters 1 and 2 (GPO GovInfo bulk data) ↗. Plain words for the terms: glossary.