Government contractors are always hunting for the next contract opportunity. Upon finding a promising solicitation, a contractor might first examine the performance requirements to answer the initial questions of “is this something we can do,” and “is this something we can win?” Reviewing the solicitation to address these questions is an important endeavor. However, before the contractor moves on to the often chaotic and frenetic stage of preparing a solicitation response, it would be wise to first take a beat and carefully read the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clauses incorporated into the solicitation.

The FAR clauses incorporated into a solicitation often contain administrative requirements, such as compliance and certification, that must be met by the contractor. These FAR requirements may come to bear in either the contractor’s response to the solicitation, the ultimate performance of the contract, or both. Either way, it is important that a contractor thoroughly review and fully understand the incorporated FAR clauses before beginning its response to the solicitation. Failure to do so can present all manner of problems down the road.Continue Reading Learning from Bid Protests: The Importance of Understanding Incorporated FAR Clauses