FAR and DFARS › FAR Part 14: Sealed Bidding › Subpart 14.4
FAR 14.408-1 General.
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 explains how a contracting officer must make an award after receiving bids under sealed bidding. It matters because it tells contractors when and how an award happens, that awards go to the responsible bidder whose conforming bid is most advantageous to the Government based only on price and price-related factors, and that the bid and award together form the contract.
Applies to: Contracting officers making awards under sealed bidding, and bidders who submitted bids.
What it requires
- Make the award by written or electronic notice.
- Make the award within the time for acceptance specified in the bid or an extension.
- Make the award to the responsible bidder whose conforming bid is most advantageous to the Government, considering only price and price-related factors included in the invitation.
- Do not make award until all required approvals have been obtained and the award otherwise conforms with 14.103-2.
Key terms: responsible bidder · conforming bid · price-related factors · invitation for bids · bid acceptance period
Written by AI from this section's text. A guide, not legal advice: the text below rules.
The text
(a) The contracting officer shall make a contract award (1) by written or electronic notice, (2) within the time for acceptance specified in the bid or an extension (see 14.404-1(d)), and (3) to that responsible bidder whose bid, conforming to the invitation, will be most advantageous to the Government, considering only price and the price-related factors (see 14.201-8) included in the invitation. Award shall not be made until all required approvals have been obtained and the award otherwise conforms with 14.103-2.
(b) If less than three bids have been received, the contracting officer shall examine the situation to ascertain the reasons for the small number of responses. Award shall be made notwithstanding the limited number of bids. However, the contracting officer shall initiate, if appropriate, corrective action to increase competition in future solicitations for the same or similar items, and include a notation of such action in the records of the invitation for bids (see 14.204).
(c)(1) Award shall be made by mailing or otherwise furnishing a properly executed award document to the successful bidder.
(2) When a notice of award is issued, it shall be followed as soon as possible by the formal award.
(3) When more than one award results from any single invitation for bids, separate award documents shall be suitably numbered and executed.
(4) When an award is made to a bidder for less than all of the items that may be awarded to that bidder and additional items are being withheld for subsequent award, the award shall state that the Government may make subsequent awards on those additional items within the bid acceptance period.
(5) All provisions of the invitation for bids, including any acceptable additions or changes made by a bidder in the bid, shall be clearly and accurately set forth (either expressly or by reference) in the award document. The award is an acceptance of the bid, and the bid and the award constitute the contract.
(d)(1) Award is generally made by using the Award portion of Standard Form (SF) 33, Solicitation, Offer, and Award, or SF 1447, Solicitation/Contract (see 53.214). If an offer on an SF 33 leads to further changes, the resulting contract shall be prepared as a bilateral document on SF 26, Award/Contract.
(2) Use of the Award portion of SF 33, SF 26, or SF 1447, does not preclude the additional use of informal documents, including electronic communications, as notices of awards.
Sections it refers to
← 14.408 Award. · 14.408-2 Responsible bidder—reasonableness of price. →
Rule changes for FAR Part 14
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation Overhaul Parts 14, 28, 36, and 52 ↗ · proposed 2026-09-18 · comments due 2026-10-19
Source: eCFR, 48 CFR chapters 1 and 2 (GPO GovInfo bulk data) ↗. Plain words for the terms: glossary.