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FAR and DFARS › FAR Part 14: Sealed Bidding › Subpart 14.4

FAR 14.406 Receipt of an unreadable electronic bid.

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 addresses what happens when an electronic bid received by the Government is unreadable and the contracting officer cannot determine if it meets the essential requirements of the invitation for bids. The contracting officer must immediately notify the bidder that the bid will be rejected unless the bidder provides clear and convincing evidence of the bid's original content and that the unreadable condition was caused by Government software, hardware, or mishandling.

Applies to: Bidders submitting electronic bids via electronic data interchange and contracting officers receiving them

What it requires

  • The contracting officer must immediately notify the bidder that the bid will be rejected unless the bidder provides clear and convincing evidence.
  • The bidder must provide clear and convincing evidence of the content of the bid as originally submitted.
  • The bidder must provide clear and convincing evidence that the unreadable condition was caused by Government software or hardware error, malfunction, or other Government mishandling.

Key terms: electronic data interchange · unreadable · essential requirements · invitation for bids · clear and convincing evidence

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

The text

If a bid received at the Government facility by electronic data interchange is unreadable to the degree that conformance to the essential requirements of the invitation for bids cannot be ascertained, the contracting officer immediately shall notify the bidder that the bid will be rejected unless the bidder provides clear and convincing evidence—

(a) Of the content of the bid as originally submitted; and

(b) That the unreadable condition of the bid was caused by Government software or hardware error, malfunction, or other Government mishandling.

← 14.405 Minor informalities or irregularities in bids. · 14.407 Mistakes in bids. →

Rule changes for FAR Part 14

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

FAR 14.406 Receipt of an unreadable electronic bid · SpendQuery