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48 CFR · Federal Acquisition Regulation and Defense supplement

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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.

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329 sections with “contracting activity”: the first 40

  • DFARS 218.270 Head of contracting activity determinations.
    The term “head of the agency” is replaced with “head of the contracting activity,” as defined in FAR 2.101, in the following locations: (a) FAR 2.101: definition of “simplified acquisition threshold.” (b) FAR 12.102(f). (c) FAR 13.201(g)…
  • FAR 9.504 Contracting officer responsibilities.
    (a) Using the general rules, procedures, and examples in this subpart, contracting officers shall analyze planned acquisitions in order to— (1) Identify and evaluate potential organizational conflicts of interest as early in the acquisitio…
  • FAR 19.704 Subcontracting plan requirements.
    (a) Each subcontracting plan required under 19.301-2(e) and 19.702(a)(1)(i), (ii), and (iii) shall include— (1) Separate percentage goals for using small business (including ANCs and Indian tribes), veteran-owned small business, service-di…
  • FAR 52.219-9 Small Business Subcontracting Plan.
    As prescribed in 19.708(b), insert the following clause: Small Business Subcontracting Plan (JAN 2025) (a) This clause does not apply to small business concerns. (b) Definitions. As used in this clause— Alaska Native Corporation (ANC) m…
  • DFARS 225.870-4 Contracting procedures.
    … or pricing data, as defined in FAR 2.101. In accordance with FAR 15.403-3(a)(1)(ii), the contracting officer shall require submission of data other than certified cost or pricing data from the offeror, to the extent necessary to determine …
  • FAR 52.203-10 Price or Fee Adjustment for Illegal or Improper Activity.
    … profit or fee determined as set forth in paragraph (b) of this clause if the head of the contracting activity or designee determines that there was a violation of 41 U.S.C. 2102 or 2103, as implemented in section 3.104 of the Federal Acqui…
  • DFARS 252.219-7003 Small Business Subcontracting Plan (DoD Contracts).
    …cribed in 219.708(b)(1)(A) and (b)(1)(A)(1), use the following clause: Small Business Subcontracting Plan (DoD Contracts)—BASIC (DEC 2019) This clause supplements the Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.219-9, Small Business Subcontracting …
  • FAR 1.601 General.
    …orized supplies and services are vested in the agency head. The agency head may establish contracting activities and delegate broad authority to manage the agency's contracting functions to heads of such contracting activities. Contracts ma…
  • FAR 1.602-3 Ratification of unauthorized commitments.
    …nel. (2) Subject to the limitations in paragraph (c) of this subsection, the head of the contracting activity, unless a higher level official is designated by the agency, may ratify an unauthorized commitment. (3) The ratification authori…
  • FAR 2.101 Definitions.
    …rights and obligations of the parties. Change order means a written order, signed by the contracting officer, directing the contractor to make a change that the Changes clause authorizes the contracting officer to order without the contrac…
  • FAR 4.604 Responsibilities.
    (a) The Senior Procurement Executive in coordination with the head of the contracting activity is responsible for developing and monitoring a process to ensure timely and accurate reporting of contractual actions to FPDS. (b)(1) The respon…
  • FAR 5.205 Special situations.
    (a) Research and development (R&D) advance notices. Contracting officers may transmit to the GPE advance notices of their interest in potential R&D programs whenever market research does not produce a sufficient number of concerns to obtain…
  • FAR 5.405 Exchange of acquisition information.
    …ame item or class of items is being acquired by more than one agency, or by more than one contracting activity within an agency, the exchange and coordination of pertinent information, particularly cost and pricing data, between these agenc…
  • FAR 8.404 Use of Federal Supply Schedules.
    …chedules or synopsize the requirement; but see paragraph (g) of this section. (b)(1) The contracting officer, when placing an order or establishing a BPA, is responsible for applying the regulatory and statutory requirements applicable to …
  • FAR 8.405-6 Limiting sources.
    …(A) of this section, the justification shall be posted within 30 days after award. (iii) Contracting officers shall carefully screen all justifications for contractor proprietary data and remove all such data, and such references and citat…
  • FAR 8.712 Specification changes.
    (a) The contracting activity shall notify the AbilityOne participating nonprofit agency and appropriate central nonprofit agency of any change in specifications or descriptions. In the absence of such written notification, the AbilityOnepar…
  • FAR 9.506 Procedures.
    …valuate potential organizational conflicts of interest or to develop recommended actions, contracting officers should first seek the information from within the Government or from other readily available sources. Government sources include …
  • FAR 14.201-7 Contract clauses.
    (a) When contracting by sealed bidding, the contracting officer shall insert the clause at 52.214-26, Audit and Records-Sealed Bidding, in solicitations and contracts as follows: (1) Use the basic clause if— (i) The acquisition will not u…
  • FAR 14.202-5 Descriptive literature.
    (a) Policy. Contracting officers must not require bidders to furnish descriptive literature unless it is needed before award to determine whether the products offered meet the specification and to establish exactly what the bidder proposes …
  • FAR 15.403-1 Prohibition on obtaining certified cost or pricing data (10 U.S.C. chapter 271 and 41 U.S.C. chapter 35).
    …cquisition threshold. (b) Exceptions to certified cost or pricing data requirements. The contracting officer shall not require certified cost or pricing data to support any action (contracts, subcontracts, or modifications) (but may requir…
  • FAR 15.403-4 Requiring certified cost or pricing data (10 U.S.C. chapter 271 and 41 U.S.C. chapter 35).
    (a)(1) The contracting officer shall obtain certified cost or pricing data only if the contracting officer concludes that none of the exceptions in 15.403-1(b) applies. However, if the contracting officer has reason to believe exceptional c…
  • FAR 16.505 Ordering.
    (a) General. (1) In general, the contracting officer does not synopsize orders under indefinite-delivery contracts; except see 16.505(a)(4) and (11), and 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D). (2) Individual orders shall clearly describe all services to be …
  • FAR 16.601 Time-and-materials contracts.
    … division, subsidiary or affiliate of the contractor under a common control; and (B) The contracting officer has not determined the price to be unreasonable. (3) Material handling costs. When included as part of material costs, material h…
  • FAR 16.603-2 Application.
    …r the circumstances. (b) When a letter contract award is based on price competition, the contracting officer shall include an overall price ceiling in the letter contract. (c) Each letter contract shall, as required by the clause at 52.21…
  • FAR 16.703 Basic ordering agreements.
    …rdering agreement is a written instrument of understanding, negotiated between an agency, contracting activity, or contracting office and a contractor, that contains (1) terms and clauses applying to future contracts (orders) between the pa…
  • FAR 19.201 General policy.
    …ll Business Administration (SBA) counsels and assists small business concerns and assists contracting personnel to ensure that a fair proportion of contracts for supplies and services is placed with small business. (b) Heads of contracting…
  • FAR 19.402 Small Business Administration procurement center representatives.
    (a)(1) The SBA may assign one or more procurement center representatives (PCRs) to any contracting activity or contract administration office to carry out SBA policies and programs. Assigned SBA PCRs are required to comply with the contract…
  • FAR 19.502-8 Rejecting Small Business Administration recommendations.
    (a) If the contracting officer rejects a recommendation of the SBA, written notice shall be furnished to the appropriate SBA representative within 5 working days of the contracting officer's receipt of the recommendation. (b) The SBA PCR (…
  • FAR 19.803 Selecting acquisitions for the 8(a) program.
    … under the program. Selection is initiated in one of three ways: (a) The SBA advises the contracting activity of an 8(a) participant's capabilities through a search letter and requests the contracting activity to identify acquisitions to s…
  • FAR 19.806 Pricing the 8(a) contract.
    (a) The contracting officer shall price the 8(a) contract in accordance with subpart 15.4. If required by subpart 15.4, the SBA shall obtain certified cost or pricing data from the 8(a) contractor. If the SBA requests audit assistance to de…
  • FAR 19.812 Contract administration.
    (a) The contracting officer shall assign contract administration functions, as required, based on the location of the 8(a) contractor (see Federal Directory of Contract Administration Services Components (available via the Internet athttps:…
  • FAR 19.815 Release and notification requirements for non-8(a) procurement.
    …w-on, non-8(a) procurement, (other than a mandatory source listed at 8.002 or 8.003), the contracting officer shall make a written request to, and receive concurrence from, the SBA Associate Administrator for Business Development. (c)(1) T…
  • FAR 19.1305 HUBZone set-aside procedures.
    (a) The contracting officer— (1) Shall comply with 19.203 before deciding to set aside an acquisition under the HUBZone Program; (2) May set aside acquisitions exceeding the micro-purchase threshold for competition restricted to HUBZone s…
  • FAR 19.1405 Set-aside procedures.
    (a) The contracting officer— (1) Shall comply with 19.203 before deciding to set aside an acquisition under the SDVOSB Program; (2) May set-aside acquisitions exceeding the micro-purchase threshold for competition restricted to SDVOSB con…
  • FAR 19.1505 Set-aside procedures.
    (a) The contracting officer— (1) Shall comply with 19.203 before deciding to set aside an acquisition under the WOSB Program; and (2)(i) May set aside acquisitions exceeding the micro-purchase threshold for competition restricted to EDWOS…
  • FAR 22.804-2 Construction.
    …n concerning, and additions to, this listing will be provided to the principally affected contracting officers in accordance with agency procedures. Any contracting officer contemplating a construction project in excess of $10,000 within a …
  • FAR 22.805 Procedures.
    …ction, if the estimated amount of the contract or subcontract is $10 million or more, the contracting officer shall request clearance from the appropriate OFCCP regional office before— (i) Award of any contract, including any indefinite de…
  • FAR 25.103 Exceptions.
    When one of the following exceptions applies, the contracting officer may acquire a foreign end product without regard to the restrictions of the Buy American statute: (a) Public interest. The head of the agency may make a determination th…
  • FAR 27.202-1 Reporting of royalties.
    …rovision at 52.227-6 requires prospective contractors to furnish royalty information. The contracting officer shall take appropriate action to reduce or eliminate excessive or improper royalties. (b) If the response to a solicitation inclu…
  • FAR 27.202-3 Adjustment of royalties.
    (a) If at any time the contracting officer believes that any royalties paid, or to be paid, under a contract or subcontract are inconsistent with Government rights, excessive, or otherwise improper, the contracting officer shall promptly re…

FAR (chapter 1)

DFARS (chapter 2, Defense)

Source: eCFR, 48 CFR chapters 1 and 2 (GPO GovInfo bulk data) ↗. Rule changes in progress: FAR, DFARS. Terms: glossary.