This subpart prescribes posting requirements for presolicitation and award notices for actions funded in whole or in part by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Pub. L. 111-5) (Recovery Act). The requirements of this subpart enhance transparency to the public.

This subpart applies to all actions expected to exceed $25,000 funded in whole or in part by the Recovery Act. Unlike subparts 5.2 and 5.3, this subpart includes additional requirements for orders and for actions that are not both fixed-price and competitive.

As used in this subpart-

Task or delivery order contract means a "delivery order contract," and a "task order contract," as defined in 16.501-1. For example, it includes Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), multi-agency contracts (MACs), and other indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts, whether single award or multiple award. It also includes Federal Supply Schedule contracts (including Blanket Purchase Agreements under subpart  8.4).

      (a)

(1) Follow the publication procedures at 5.201.

           (2) In addition, notices of proposed contract actions are required for orders exceeding $25,000, funded in whole or in part by the Recovery Act, which are issued under task or delivery order contracts. This does not include modifications to existing orders, but these modifications are covered postaward, see 5.705. These notices are for "informational purposes only," therefore, 5.203 does not apply. Contracting officers should concurrently use their usual solicitation practice (e.g., e-Buy).

      (b) Contracting officers shall identify proposed contract actions, funded in whole or in part by the Recovery Act, by using the following instructions which are also available in the Recovery FAQs under "Buyers/Engineers" at the Governmentwide Point of Entry (GPE) ( https://www.sam.gov ):

           (1) If submitting notices electronically via ftp or email, enter the word "Recovery" as the first word in the title field.

           (2) If using the GPE directly, select the "yes" radio button for the "Is this a Recovery and Reinvestment Act action" field on the "Notice Details" form (Step 2) located below the "NAICS Code" field. In addition, enter the word "Recovery" as the first word in the title field.

      (c) In preparing the description required by 5.207(a)(16), use clear and concise language to describe the planned procurement. Use descriptions of the goods and services (including construction), that can be understood by the general public. Avoid the use of acronyms or terminology that is not widely understood by the general public.

Follow usual publication procedures at 5.301, except that the following supersede the exceptions at 5.301(b)(2) through (7):

      (a)

(1) Publicize the award notice for any action exceeding $500,000, funded in whole or in part by the Recovery Act, including-

                (i) Contracts;

                (ii) Modifications to existing contracts;

                (iii) Orders which are issued under task or delivery order contracts; and

                (iv) Modifications to orders under task or delivery order contracts.

           (2) Contracting officers shall identify contract actions, funded in whole or in part by the Recovery Act, by using the following instructions which are also available in the Recovery FAQS under "Buyers/Engineers" at the Governmentwide Point of Entry (GPE) ( https://www.sam.gov ):

                (i) If submitting notices electronically via ftp or email, enter the word "Recovery" as the first word in the title field.

                (ii) If using the GPE directly, select the "yes" radio button for the "Is this a Recovery and Reinvestment Act action" field on the "Notice Details" form (Step 2) located below the "NAICS Code" field. In addition, enter the word "Recovery" as the first word in the title field.

           (3) In preparing the description required by 5.207(a)(16), use clear and concise language to describe the planned procurement. Use descriptions of the goods and services (including construction), that can be understood by the general public. Avoid the use of acronyms or terminology that is not widely understood by the general public.

      (b) Regardless of dollar value, if the contract action, including all modifications and orders under task or delivery order contracts, is not both fixed-price and competitively awarded, publicize the award notice and include in the description the rationale for using other than a fixed-priced and/or competitive approach. Include in the description a statement specifically noting if the contract action was not awarded competitively, or was not fixed-price, or was neither competitive nor fixed-price. These notices and the rationale will be available to the public at the GPE, so do not include any proprietary information or information that would compromise national security. The following table provides examples for when a rationale is required.

      Posting of Rationale - Examples

      (c) Contracting officers shall use the instructions available in the Recovery FAQs under "Buyers/Engineers" at the GPE ( https://www.sam.gov ) to identify actions funded in whole or in part by the Recovery Act.