# 501.603-3 Appointment.

(a) Certificate of appointment.

(1) HCAs approve warrants and appoint contracting officers, prior to issuance of the SF-1402.

(b) Types of appointments. Candidates are nominated for either a temporary or permanent appointment.

(1) Temporary appointments. Temporary appointments are for a specified period of time and are issued in support of an emergency or for a specific project. Candidates for a temporary warrant must satisfy all training, education, experience, certification, and continuous learning requirements to obtain and maintain the warrant.

(2) Permanent appointments. A permanent appointment may be made when a candidate meets all requirements for experience, education, and training at the time the appointment is made.

(c) Applicability of warrant authority.

(1)Warrants are valid agency-wide within GSA, with noted exceptions. Operational guidance is available on the Acquisition Career Management pages on the GSA Acquisition Portal at https://insite.gsa.gov/acquisitionportal.

(2)Contracting officers that transfer to a new contracting activity maintain their existing active warrant in the new contracting activity upon HCA approval.

(3) Exceptions. Warrants will be administratively terminated upon employee transfer if:

(i)The contracting officer transfers to a non-contracting activity;

(ii)The warrant authority is specific (e.g., Real Property Leasing, Real Property Disposal, Fleet Acquisition, Fleet Sales, Personal Property Disposal) and the receiving contracting activity does not have authority for execution of work associated with the requisite warrant;

(iii)The receiving contracting activity does not have an organizational need for the warrant; or,

(iv)The receiving contracting activity needs to increase or decrease the warrant threshold.

(d) Record maintenance and disposal.

(1) HCAs are required to keep and maintain comprehensive files containing relevant information on all appointed contracting officers until such time as all warrant data is fully maintained in the career management system of record, and as determined by the ACM.

(2) HCAs are required to submit reports, at least on a quarterly basis, to the ACM with consistent and up to date information on the contracting officer warrants issued and terminated until such time as all warrant data is fully maintained in the career management system of record, and as determined by the ACM.

(3) Acquisition professionals are responsible for maintaining a copy of their acquisition training history and source documents used for certification requests.

(4) In accordance with GSA Order CIO 1820.2, GSA Records Management Program, dispose of expired contracting officer files and warrants by placing the contracting officer records in an inactive file following reassignment, termination of employment or revocation of designation. The inactive file cutoff date is the end of the fiscal year. The files are to be destroyed two years after the cutoff.