Overview
FAR 11.201 prescribes the requirements for identifying, citing, and providing access to specifications, standards, and requirements documents in government solicitations. It ensures that offerors have precise information regarding which versions of technical documents apply to a contract and established methods for obtaining them.
Key Rules
- Specific Identification: Solicitations must identify documents by their approval date and the dates of any applicable amendments or revisions. The use of vague references, such as "the issue in effect on the date of the solicitation," is strictly prohibited.
- Furnishing Documents: Contracting offices generally do not provide copies of documents listed in the GSA Index or ASSIST unless they are necessary for a competent evaluation, would be difficult for the contractor to obtain timely, or are specifically requested by a prospective contractor.
- Non-Index Documents: Any pertinent documents not listed in the GSA Index or ASSIST must be provided with the solicitation or include specific instructions on how to obtain or examine them.
- Tiered References: When documents refer to other documents, the references must be limited to the applicable portions, state the extent of their applicability, and identify all first-tier references without conflicting with the solicitation.
- Official Sources: The regulation identifies specific repositories for obtaining documents:
- ASSIST Website: Primary source for GSA and unclassified Defense specifications.
- NIST/GPO/NTIS: Sources for Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS PUBS).
- Nongovernment Standards: May be obtained through the original Standards Developing Organization (SDO) or authorized resellers.
Practical Implications
- Precision in Bidding: Contractors must verify the exact version/date of the specification cited in the solicitation rather than assuming the most recent version applies, as different versions can significantly impact cost and performance requirements.
- Due Diligence: Because contracting officers are not required to furnish standard documents (like MIL-STDs) unless requested, offerors must be proactive in using the ASSIST database to retrieve necessary technical requirements during the proposal phase.