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FAR and DFARS › FAR Part 12: Acquisition of Commercial Products and Commercial Services › Subpart 12.2

FAR 12.203 Procedures for solicitation, evaluation, and award.

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

This section tells contracting officers how to combine the commercial-item rules in Part 12 with the standard solicitation, evaluation, and award procedures in Parts 13, 14, or 15. It also allows streamlined solicitation and simplified procedures for certain commercial acquisitions, and requires that lowest price technically acceptable selections meet specific criteria. It matters because it shapes how your commercial product or service offer will be solicited and evaluated.

Applies to: Contracting officers acquiring commercial products or commercial services

What it requires

  • Use the Part 12 commercial policies together with the appropriate solicitation, evaluation, and award procedures from Part 13, 14, or 15.
  • Ensure the criteria at 15.101-2(c) are met when using the lowest price technically acceptable source selection process.

Key terms: commercial products · commercial services · simplified acquisition threshold · lowest price technically acceptable source selection process · simplified procedures

Written by AI from this section's text. A guide, not legal advice: the text below rules.

The text

(a) Contracting officers shall use the policies unique to the acquisition of commercial products and commercial services prescribed in this part in conjunction with the policies and procedures for solicitation, evaluation and award prescribed in part 13, Simplified Acquisition Procedures; part 14, Sealed Bidding; or part 15, Contracting by Negotiation, as appropriate for the particular acquisition. The contracting officer may use the streamlined procedure for soliciting offers for commercial products or commercial services prescribed in 12.603. For acquisitions of commercial products or commercial services exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold but not exceeding $9 million ($15 million for acquisitions as described in 13.500(c)), including options, contracting activities may use any of the simplified procedures authorized by subpart 13.5.

(b) Contracting officers shall ensure the criteria at 15.101-2(c) are met when using the lowest price technically acceptable source selection process.

Sections it refers to

  • 12.603 Streamlined solicitation for commercial products or commercial services.
  • 13.500 General.
  • 15.101-2 Lowest price technically acceptable source selection process.

← 12.202 Market research and description of agency need. · 12.204 Solicitation/contract form. →

Rule changes for FAR Part 12

Source: eCFR, 48 CFR chapters 1 and 2 (GPO GovInfo bulk data) ↗. Plain words for the terms: glossary.

FAR 12.203 Procedures for solicitation, evaluation, and award · SpendQuery