14 FAM 200
acquisitions
14 FAM 210
aCQUISITION OF SUPPLIES AND SERVICES
(CT:LOG-260; 04-11-2019)
(Office of Origin: A/LM)
14 FAM 211 DEPARTMENT OF STATE
ACQUISITION SYSTEM
(CT:LOG-1; 05-27-2005)
The Department of State Acquisition System ensures that the
Department obtains the required supplies and services in support of its needs
in an effective and efficient manner, with timely delivery and required
quality, at reasonable prices, in accordance with the laws and regulations
governing Federal acquisition.
14 FAM 212 ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT
(CT:LOG-260; 04-11-2019)
a. The Office of the Procurement Executive (A/OPE)
establishes acquisition policy for the Department of State. (A/OPE) provides
overall policy and Department management procedures for the acquisition system
and is responsible for the appointment of contracting officers, acquisition career
management, competition advocacy, and review and/or approval of solicitations
and contracts.
b. The head of the contracting activity (HCA) manages
the contracting activity, pursuant to Department of State Acquisition
Regulation (DOSAR) 601.601-70. The HCA is responsible for many decisions in
the acquisition process, as prescribed in the Federal Acquisition Regulation
(FAR) and the Department of State Acquisition Regulation (DOSAR).
c. The HCA is
additionally designated as the Senior Accountable Official for Value
Engineering (VE) at the Department. As such, the HCA ensures consistent
Department-wide implementation of VE policies and procedures in accordance with
OMB Circular A-131 requirements.
d. The Procurement
Executive (A/OPE) has designated HCAs in the following contracting activities
for the purposes and within the limitations of the authority stated at DOSAR
601.601-70(a):
(1) Overseas posts;
(2) Office of Logistics Management, Office of
Acquisitions Management (A/OPE/AQM);
(3) Foreign Service Institute (FSI);
(4) Office of Foreign Missions, Under Secretary for
Management (M/OFM); and
(5) U.S. Mission to the United Nations (USUN).
e. In addition,
the following offices have been delegated limited acquisition authority as
stated in DOSAR 601.601-70(b), although they have not been designated as HCAs:
(1) Office of Language Services (A/OPR/LS);
(2) Office of Overseas Schools (A/OPR/OS);
(3) Ralph J. Bunche Library (A/GIS/IPS/LIBR);
(4) Office of International Conferences (IO/C);
(5) Bureau of International Narcotics and Law
Enforcement Affairs (INL);
(6) Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business
Utilization (OSDBU);
(7) Bureau of Administration, Office of Operations
(A/OPR); and
(8) Regional procurement support offices.
f. Execution of
delegated authority as stated in DOSAR 601.601-70(c):
(1) Whenever the
contracting officer makes use of the various statutory authorities available to
the Department to waive the application of the Federal Acquisition Regulation
or laws governing acquisition, such as those provided in the Foreign Assistance
Act (22 U.S.C. 2291) or the Foreign Service Buildings Act (22 U.S.C. 294), a
written determination of the basis for using the authority must be prepared and
included in the file;
(2) If the
statute or current practice of the requiring office does not specify a
particular format, use the format given in DOSAR 601.601-70(c); and
(3) The
determination may be made for an individual acquisition or on a class basis, as
appropriate. The contracting officer must ensure that the proper official
makes the determination in question. There may already be a Department of
State delegation of authority to a specific individual to make the
determination.
14 FAM 213 ACQUISITION REGULATIONS AND
DIRECTIVES
(CT:LOG-104; 07-29-2011)
a. The following regulations pertain to Department of
State acquisitions:
(1) The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Code of
Federal Regulations Title 48, Chapter 1 (48 CFR 1), is the primary regulation
for use by all Federal agencies for the acquisition of supplies and services;
(2) The Department of State Acquisition Regulation
(DOSAR), Code of Federal Regulations, Title 48, Chapter 6 (48 CFR 6),
implements and supplements the FAR;
(3) The Federal Property Management Regulations, 41
CFR 101, and the Federal Management Regulation, 41 CFR 102, regulate many
aspects of property management, including public buildings and space,
transportation and motor vehicles, and property utilization and disposal; and
(4) When contracting abroad, other U.S. Government
agencies may prescribe their own acquisition regulations, e.g., the U.S. Agency
for International Development Acquisition Regulation (AIDAR), the Department of
Agriculture Acquisition Regulation (AGAR), and the Department of Commerce
Acquisition Regulation (CAR).
b. The Departments acquisition directives system
consists of the following components:
(1) The FAR;
(2) The DOSAR;
(3) Procurement Information Bulletins (PIBs) issued by
A/OPE, which provide general information on topics of interest to contracting
personnel;
(4) The Overseas Contracting and Simplified
Acquisition Guidebook (also known as the Cookbook);
(5) 14 FAH-3, Acquisition Career Management Program
Handbook;
(6) The Worldwide Purchase Card Program Manual; and
(7) 14 FAH-2, Contracting Officers Representative
(COR) Handbook.
c. The referenced documents in subparagraphs b(1)
through b(7) of this section are available on the Departments Intranet
system. Other agencies acquisition regulations may be accessed on the
Internet by clicking on Acquisition.Gov on the A/OPE Intranet Home Page.
14 FAM 214 CONTRACTING OFFICER
APPOINTMENT
(CT:LOG-260; 04-11-2019)
a. The contracting officer is appointed in writing by
the Procurement Executive pursuant to DOSAR 601.603. The contracting officer
is the U.S. Governments authorized agent for soliciting offers and negotiating, awarding, modifying, and terminating
contracts.
b. Only qualified U.S. Government employees may be
appointed as contracting officers. This includes locally employed staff (LE
staff―i.e., Foreign Service nationals, third-country nationals, and
certain hired U.S. citizens) who may be appointed as contracting officers for
acquisitions at $25,000 and below only (see 14 FAH-3
H-342.1). Appointments are by name only, not position-based, and specify
the individuals limits of authority (time, location of office or post, and
dollar threshold). Form SF-1402, Certificate of Appointment, is commonly
referred to as a warrant. As specified in DOSAR 601.603-3(c), personal
services contractors are not eligible for appointment as Department of State
contracting officers.
c. Procedure for overseas posts for Foreign Service
officer contracting officer appointments exceeding $25,000:
(1) Posts must use the Contract Warrant Application
System to request new or revised contracting officer warrants. All information
requested by the system must be updated before A/OPE may issue a new or revised
warrant. The Contract Warrant Application System and a Warrant System Users
Guide may be accessed from A/OPEs Intranet Home Page;
(2) Employees who have successfully completed the
4-week GSO Acquisition Module are normally eligible for warrants limited to
$250,000 (standard warrants). Effective June 1, 2005, obtaining a new warrant
at the $250,000 level requires completion of a minimum of 16 hours or 2 days of
refresher training within the past 3 years. This means that employees
requesting a $250,000 warrant on or after June 1, 2008, must show completion of
refresher training if they graduated from the 4-week GSO Acquisition Module
more than 3 years before;
(3) Employees who wish to qualify for a provisional
warrant (up to $100,000) must complete a simplified acquisition course. The
preferred course is FSIs PA-229, Simplified Acquisition Procedures. This is a
distance-learning course (see 14 FAH-3 H-341).
Applicants will need to scan in their certificates of completion and send them
to the Director, Evaluation and Assistance Division, A/OPE;
(4) Each post must ensure that at least two U.S.
citizens are appointed as contracting officers. This will avoid gaps where no
one at post has contracting authority; and
(5) Posts must notify their A/OPE desk officer via
email when a contracting officer resigns, transfers to another post, retires,
is no longer serving as a contracting officer, or is terminated. Contracting
officer warrants are only valid for the location(s) specified on Form SF-1402, Certificate of Appointment, so departure of an
employee from a post will automatically render the warrant invalid. A/OPE will
update the information in the Contract Warrant Application System. To ensure
continuity of procurement operations, post should ensure, to the maximum extent
practicable, that there is a warranted contracting officer in place before the
primary contracting officer resigns, transfers, retires, or is no longer
serving as the primary contracting officer.
d. Procedure for overseas posts for locally employed
staff (LE staff) contracting officer appointments at $25,000 and below only:
(1) The basic eligibility criteria and enhanced
management controls specified in 14 FAH-3
H-342.1 must be followed;
(2) Posts must request contracting officer warrants
for LE staff through the LE staffs immediate supervisor; and
(3) Posts must use the Contract Warrant Application
System to request LE staff warrants (the Contract Warrant Application System
and a Warrant System Users Guide may be accessed from A/OPEs Intranet Home
Page).
e. Appointment procedure for domestic contracting
activities:
(1) Domestic contracting activities must use the
Contract Warrant Application System to request new or revised contracting officer
warrants; and
(2) Domestic contracting officers are eligible for a
Level I, Level II, or Level III warrant. The limitations and required
qualifications for each are discussed in detail in 14 FAH-3, Acquisition Career
Management Program Handbook.
f. All contracting officers must retain and display
the original of Form SF-1402, Certificate of
Appointment, signed by the Procurement Executive.
g. A contracting officer appointment does not include
the authority to sign Federal assistance agreements, i.e., grants and
cooperative agreements. A separate grants officer warrant must be obtained to
sign Federal assistance agreements (see Grants Policy Directive No. 1).
14 FAM 215 UNAUTHORIZED COMMITMENTS
(CT:LOG-260; 04-11-2019)
a. An unauthorized commitment occurs when a contractual
agreement is made that is not binding on the U.S. Government solely because the
U.S. Government representative who made the agreement lacked the requisite
authority to do so. Acquisition agreements generally may be made only by
warranted contracting officers acting within the limits of their warrants or
acting upon specific Office of the Procurement Executive (A/OPE) authorization.
b. Unauthorized commitments may result in personal
liability for the individual who made the commitment. Department personnel
responsible for unauthorized commitments must provide detailed written
explanations of their actions and may be subject to disciplinary action,
especially if violations are flagrant and/or continuous.
c. Contractors who act on unauthorized commitments do
so at their own risk. They are not entitled to consideration (money) unless
and until the unauthorized commitment is ratified. Payment is therefore
substantially delayed or may not be forthcoming at all if the action is not
ratified.
d. Upon learning of an unauthorized commitment, the
contracting officer should take immediate action to stop the contractors work,
whenever possible. The contractor should be informed that an unauthorized
commitment has been made and that no additional work should occur until
ratification is approved.
e. Ratification is the process whereby designated
individuals convert an unauthorized commitment to a legal contract. At the
Department, only the HCAs may ratify actions up to $1,000; actions exceeding
$1,000 must be ratified by the Procurement Executive. The authority to ratify
an unauthorized commitment, however, has certain limitations. Ratification may
occur only when all of the following conditions are met:
(1) The supplies or services have been provided to and
accepted by the U.S. Government, or the U.S. Government otherwise has obtained
or will obtain a benefit;
(2) The resulting contract would otherwise have been
proper if made by a warranted contracting officer;
(3) The price is determined to be fair and reasonable;
(4) The contracting officer recommends payment and may request concurrence from the Office of the
Legal Adviser (L/BA) if there is a question of propriety or a legal issue;
(5) Funds are available and were available at the time
the unauthorized commitment was made. If appropriations were not available to
fund those commitments, a potential violation of 31 U.S.C. 1342(a), the
Anti-Deficiency Statute, would have occurred. Such a violation would require
reporting to the Office of Management and Budget and to Congress and subject
those responsible to possible administrative and criminal penalties; and
(6) All requirements of Department of State
Acquisition Regulation (DOSAR) 601.602-3-70 for documentation and explanation
of unauthorized commitments have been met.
f. Unauthorized commitments by other Federal agencies
must be ratified by the procurement executives of these agencies. The
Departments Procurement Executive will not ratify an unauthorized commitment
for another Federal agency.
g. Financial management officers should assure that
unauthorized commitments are ratified before certifying any unauthorized
commitments for payment.
h. See DOSAR 601.602-3 for a complete discussion on
unauthorized commitments. Sample documents may be found on the A/OPE Intranet
Home Page.
14 FAM 216 through 219 unassigned