Overview
This section defines specific types of submissions—advertising material, commercial product/service offers, and contributions—to distinguish them from formal unsolicited proposals under FAR Subpart 15.6.
Key Rules
- Advertising Material: Defined as marketing content intended to acquaint the government with a contractor's existing capabilities or to stimulate interest in purchasing their products or services.
- Commercial Product or Commercial Service Offer: Refers to a vendor's proposal to see an existing commercial item introduced as a replacement or alternative to current government supply items; it excludes innovative configurations intended for further development.
- Contribution: An idea or suggestion provided to the government where the source has no intention of performing further work or effort regarding that idea.
- Exclusionary Nature: These definitions serve primarily to identify what does not qualify as a valid unsolicited proposal, as unsolicited proposals must be innovative, unique, and independently originated.
Practical Implications
- Contractors must ensure their submissions contain unique or innovative concepts rather than mere "advertising material" or standard "commercial offers" to receive the formal evaluation protections afforded to unsolicited proposals.
- Government agencies use these definitions as screening criteria to quickly filter out and return submissions that are simply sales pitches or unsolicited suggestions that do not meet the regulatory threshold for technical evaluation.