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FAR and DFARS › FAR Part 26: Other Socioeconomic Programs › Subpart 26.2

FAR 26.202-1 Local area set-aside.

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 allows a contracting officer to set aside a solicitation so that only local firms in a specific geographic area can compete. It also requires the contracting officer to define that area and decide whether to further limit it to small businesses. This matters because it can narrow who is eligible to bid on certain contracts tied to a disaster or emergency area.

Applies to: Contracting officers and firms competing for local area set-aside solicitations

What it requires

  • Define the specific geographic area for the local set-aside in consultation with the requirements office
  • Keep the set-aside area within the declared disaster or emergency area
  • Determine whether the local area set-aside should be further restricted to small business concerns in the set-aside area

Key terms: local area set-aside · contracting officer · requirements office · major disaster or emergency area · small business concerns

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

The text

The contracting officer may set aside solicitations to allow only local firms within a specific geographic area to compete (see 6.208).

(a) The contracting officer, in consultation with the requirements office, shall define the specific geographic area for the local set-aside.

(b) A major disaster or emergency area may span counties in several contiguous States. The set-aside area need not include all the counties in the declared disaster/emergency area(s), but cannot go outside it.

(c) The contracting officer shall also determine whether a local area set-aside should be further restricted to small business concerns in the set-aside area (see Part 19).

Sections it refers to

  • 6.208 Set-asides for local firms during a major disaster or emergency.

Sections that refer to it

← 26.202 Local area preference. · 26.202-2 Evaluation preference. →

Rule changes for FAR Part 26

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

FAR 26.202-1 Local area set-aside · SpendQuery