"Written contract." For the purpose of this section, the term "written contract" means a contract made in writing and signed by both of the parties thereto. Such a contract may be a single document bearing the signatures of both parties or a group of documents properly signed. For example, when competitive bids are obtained, the written contract will normally consist of an invitation to bid issued by a contracting officer, an offer signed by the supplier and an acceptance of offer signed by a contracting officer.

§ 6-1.352-2 Distribution.

(a) Post series. Written contracts numbered in the post series under § 6-1.351-3 (a) shall be distributed as follows:

(1) The signed original together with the original of the SF-1036 (see §§ 6-2.407-7 and 6-3.250) shall be forwarded to the Department under cover of an operations memorandum, Subject: Finance.

(2) One signed copy shall be furnished to the contractor whenever feasible.

(3) One signed copy shall be retained in the contract file.

(b) FBO series. Written contracts numbered in the FBO series under § 6-1.351-3(b) shall be distributed as follows:

(1) The signed original and one signed copy together with the original and one copy of the SF-1036 (see §§ 6-2.407-7 and 6-3.250) shall be forwarded to the Department by operations memorandum, Subject: Buildings. The transmittal shall specify the appropriation against which the contract will be paid and shall refer to the Departmental authority, if any, by which the contract was entered into.

(2) One signed copy shall be furnished to the contractor.

(3) One signed copy shall be retained in the contract file.

(c) Department's Washington series. Written contracts numbered in the Department's Washington series under § 6-1.351-3 (c) shall be distributed as follows:

(1) The signed original together with the original of the SF-1036, if required shall be forwarded to the Department's Office of Finance.

(2) One signed copy shall be furnished to the contractor.

(3) One signed copy shall be retained in the contract file.

(d) Where the law of a foreign country requires that the original of a written contract be retained in the country, a signed copy shall be forwarded to the Department in lieu of the original. [29 F.R. 12070, Aug. 25, 1964]

United States are prescribed in Subpart 6-16.1.

(a) The place selected for the opening of bids shall be, if possible, large enough to permit the attendance of any bidder who desires to be present at the opening.

[29 F.R. 12071, Aug. 25, 1964, as amended at 31 F.R. 10193, July 28, 1966]

§ 6-2.202 Miscellaneous rules for solicitation of bids.

§ 6-2.202-1 Bidding time.

Any request for a procurement which does not provide for the minimum bidding time required under FPR 12.202-1(c) must be justified in writing and approved by the Contracting Officer. § 6-2.202-50 Grouping of items in a single invitation for bids.

(a) It is basic Government policy that procurement shall be effected by formal advertising, except as provided in Subpart 1-3.2. Consequently, requirements aggregating more than $2,500 shall not be broken down into several purchases or contracts of less than $2,500 merely for the purpose of utilizing negotiation. See § 1-3.602. In order to minimize the administrative costs to the Government adherent in procurement by formal advertising, and still gain the benefits of formal advertising to the greatest extent possible, each invitation for bids shall include all items suitable for procurement by the procuring activity at the time the invitation is being prepared which are customarily provided by the prospective bidders.

(b) For example, hardware products, spare parts for vehicles, and office supplies would not be listed on a single invitation, unless in a particular circumstance the prospective bidders customarily handled items from all three of these categories. But a wide variety of items in any one of these categories could normally be listed on a single invitation because prospective bidders would normally carry a full line of the products within their specialized field.

§ 6-2.202-51 Grouping of items to facilitate award.

Invitations may provide that awards will be made by items, or by groups of items. Grouping inexpensive items has the following advantages:

a

(b) Paid advertisements. Procurement by formal advertising does not require the use of paid advertisements in newspapers and trade journals. It is the policy of the Department that paid advertisements shall not be used as method of soliciting bids unless particular circumstances make the use of this method clearly in the best interest of the Government. The fact that no free publicity is available as described in paragraph (a) of § 1-2.203-3 does not mean that paid advertisements are appropriate. If paid advertisements are deemed to be clearly in the best interest of the Government, they shall be contracted for in accordance with the following procedures:

(1) Posts shall issue Form FS-455 in advance of publication to purchase advertising space. The following special information and conditions shall be included on the face of Form FS-455, Form FS-455a or the specification sheets attached thereto:

(i) The advertisement to be published. (ii) A complete description of the advertisement, including type, size, arrangement, space, and publication dates.

(iii) A stipulation that the price charge shall not be higher than the commercial rate charged to private individuals, with the usual discounts.

NOTE: This does not preclude the responsibility of contracting officers to secure lower terms at special rates whenever obtainable.

(iv) A stipulation that (2) marked copies of each issue of the publication containing the advertising shall be submitted with the vendor's invoice. (If not obtainable gratis, the cost of furnishing copies of the publication, as distinct from the cost of the advertisement space, shall be included as a separate item on Form FS-455). On receipt of the vendor's invoice and the two copies of the publication for each date published, there shall be clipped from each copy the name of the publication, the date of publication and the advertisement. Each complete set of the clippings shall be permanently attached to plain sheets of bond paper. One set of clippings for each date of publication shall be attached to the original copy of Form FS455, and the other set shall be attached to the paying office copy.

Subpart 6–2.4—Opening of Bids and Award of Contract

§ 6-2.402 Opening of bids.

After the bids have been opened, and read aloud to the bidders present, an announcement shall be made that the opening of bids has been completed, and that, where feasible, all bidders will be notified as soon as conveniently possible regarding the award.

§ 6-2.404 Rejection of bids.

If all of the bids for any item have been rejected, the contracting officer may readvertise for that item using the same specifications or modified specifications, or may negotiate under the circumstances discussed in §§ 1-3.210 and 1-3.214.

§ 6-2.406 Mistakes in bids.

(a) The Deputy Under Secretary for Administration is authorized to make the determinations under FPR 1-2.406-3 and 1-2.406-4 which shall be approved by the Legal Advisor's Office.

(b) In doubtful cases under FPR 1-2.406-3(e) or where an administrative determination is precluded by the limitations of FPR 1-2.406-4, a request for the decision of the Comptroller General will be submitted by the Supply and Transportation Services Division through the Legal Advisor's Office.

[31 F.R. 6623, May 4, 1966]

§ 6-2.406-2 Apparent clerical mistakes.

In addition to the example set forth in § 1-2.406-2, an obvious mistake in extension of unit prices shall be considered an apparent clerical mistake.

§ 6-2.407-5 Other factors to be considered.

See § 6-11.301.

(a) Standard Form 1036 (Statement and Certificate of Award) shall be used in connection with each contract made by formal advertising to evidence compliance with § 1-2.103. An original and at least one copy of Standard Form 1036 shall be prepared. The original Standard Form 1036 shall accompany and be distributed with the original of the contract. One confirmed copy of the Standard Form 1036 shall be retained in the contract file. Item 2(a) of Standard Form 1036 shall be filled in by inserting the number of prospective bidders to whom invitations for bids were distributed. In other respects, Standard Form 1036 shall be prepared as prescribed thereon, and in such details as to contain the information required by § 1-2.407-7(b).

§ 6-2.407-8 Protests against award.

(a) While a case involving a protest before award is pending in the office of the Comptroller General, no award may be made under FPR 1-2.407-8(b) (3) without the prior approval of the Chief, Supply and Transportation Services Division, or, in the case of overseas posts, the Principal Officer of the post. The request for approval will include complete documentation of the determination to make the award.

(b) The Chief, Supply and Transportation Services Division (or the Principal Officer), shall notify the Comptroller General of the intent to make the award and request advice as to the status of the case. A copy of such notice shall be given to the Contracting Officer. The Chief, Supply and Transportation Services (or the Principal Officer), shall notify the Contracting Officer of his approval or disapproval of the determination to make award.

(c) When a written protest is lodged with the Contracting Officer after award, the Contracting Officer will furnish the protestor a written explanation of the basis for the award.

[31 F.R. 6623, May 4, 1966]