Overview
FAR 7.103 mandates that agency heads (or their designees) establish internal procedures to ensure effective acquisition planning and oversight across the organization. This section serves as the regulatory foundation for how agencies must manage competition, risk, sustainability, and statutory compliance during the pre-solicitation phase.
Key Rules
- Competition Mandate: Agencies must prescribe procedures that promote full and open competition or maximize competition to the extent practicable for all acquisitions.
- Commercial Prioritization: Planners are required to prioritize the acquisition of commercial products, commercial services, and nondevelopmental items.
- Written Acquisition Plans: Written plans are mandatory for cost-reimbursement and other "high-risk" contracts (e.g., those other than firm-fixed-price). For these high-risk contracts, plans must be approved at least one level above the Contracting Officer.
- Small Business and Bundling: Planners must structure requirements to facilitate small business participation and avoid "unnecessary and unjustified" bundling that would preclude small business competition.
- Inherently Governmental Functions: Agencies must ensure that no contract is entered into for the performance of inherently governmental functions and that official control is maintained over contract performance.
- Specialized Compliance: Procedures must address specific federal priorities, including ICT accessibility (Section 508), the metric system, sustainable products/services, and IT security requirements (FISMA).
- Disaster Response: For emergency relief activities, agencies must ensure Contracting Officers consult the Disaster Response Registry during the planning phase.
Practical Implications
- Accountability and Risk Mitigation: This section shifts the burden of acquisition quality from the individual Contracting Officer to the agency leadership, requiring formalized "check-and-balance" systems for high-dollar or complex procurements.
- Standardization of Process: By requiring established criteria for "formality" and "detail," it ensures that as a project becomes more expensive or technically risky, the administrative rigor and documentation requirements increase proportionally.