FAR and DFARS › FAR Part 12: Acquisition of Commercial Products and Commercial Services › Subpart 12.2
FAR 12.205 Offers.
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 handle offers for commercial products and services. It encourages using existing industry literature instead of unique technical proposals, allows multiple offers to be evaluated separately, and permits shorter response times in some cases. It matters because it can simplify what a contractor must submit and affect how much time they have to respond.
Applies to: Contracting officers and offerors for commercial products or commercial services
What it requires
- Contracting officers shall request existing product or service literature from offerors if adequate literature exists, instead of unique technical proposals.
- The contracting officer shall evaluate each offer separately when multiple offers are allowed.
Key terms: commercial products · commercial services · technical information · market research · solicitations
Written by AI from this section's text. A guide, not legal advice: the text below rules.
The text
(a) Where technical information is necessary for evaluation of offers, agencies should, as part of market research, review existing literature generally available in the industry to determine its adequacy for purposes of evaluation. If adequate, contracting officers shall request existing product or service literature from offerors of commercial products or commercial services in lieu of unique technical proposals.
(b) Contracting officers should allow offerors to propose multiple offers that will meet a Government need in response to solicitations for commercial products or commercial services. The contracting officer shall evaluate each offer separately
(c) Consistent with the requirements at 5.203(b), the contracting officer may allow fewer than 30 days response time for receipt of offers for commercial products or commercial services, unless the acquisition is covered by the World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement or a Free Trade Agreement (see 5.203(h)).
Sections it refers to
- 5.203 Publicizing and response time.
← 12.204 Solicitation/contract form. · 12.206 Use of past performance. →
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.