FAR and DFARS › FAR Part 46: Quality Assurance › Subpart 46.1
FAR 46.103 Contracting office responsibilities.
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 lists the responsibilities of contracting offices for contract quality. It matters to contractors because it explains that the government will include quality requirements in solicitations and contracts and will verify that the contractor meets them. It also covers how the government handles supplies or services that do not meet contract requirements.
Applies to: Contracting offices
Key terms: contract quality requirements · inspection · testing · quality assurance surveillance plan · nonconformance
Written by AI from this section's text. A guide, not legal advice: the text below rules.
The text
Contracting offices are responsible for—
(a) Receiving from the activity responsible for technical requirements any specifications for inspection, testing, and other contract quality requirements essential to ensure the integrity of the supplies or services (the activity responsible for technical requirements is responsible for prescribing contract quality requirements, such as inspection and testing requirements or, for service contracts, a quality assurance surveillance plan);
(b) Including in solicitations and contracts the appropriate requirements for the contractor's control of quality for the supplies or services to be acquired;
(c) Issuing any necessary instructions to the cognizant contract administration office and acting on recommendations submitted by that office (see 42.301 and 46.104(f);
(d) When contract administration is retained (see 42.201), verifying that the contractor fulfills the contract quality requirements; and
(e) Ensuring that nonconformances are identified, and establishing the significance of a nonconformance when considering the acceptability of supplies or services which do not meet contract requirements.
Sections it refers to
Sections that refer to it
- 46.104 Contract administration office responsibilities.
← 46.102 Policy. · 46.104 Contract administration office responsibilities. →
Source: eCFR, 48 CFR chapters 1 and 2 (GPO GovInfo bulk data) ↗. Plain words for the terms: glossary.