When to use FAR 16 vs FAR 8?

[Breanne Walters]

Hello All,

I am new to government contracting and I am trying to understand the difference between FAR Part 8 and FAR Part 16. I am specifically wondering when each is to be used and how to determine when each is applicable. Can someone provide an explanation please?

Thank you,

Newbie to Contracing.

[FrankJon]

Parts 8 and 16 cover a lot of different topics. Are you referring specifically to subpart 8.4 (GSA FSS) and section 16.505 (IDIQ ordering) procedures?

[Sam101]

Use FAR 8.4 for commercial products and services, if market research shows you that you have a very good chance of obtaining at least 3 quotes from GSA Schedule contract holders AND that the product or service is within scope of their GSA Schedule. I would suggest to get on conference calls with 4 or 5 vendors and make sure that they can point you to where it says in their Schedule pricelist that they have the product or labor categories to perform the scope of work, and that they are interested in submitting a quote if an RFQ is issued.

FAR 16.5 is for IDIQs, an agency can award its own IDIQ and then after it's awarded then follow the procedures in FAR 16.5 for issuing task orders.

Another way to do FAR 16.5 is by using government-wide IDIQs like OASIS and STARS, but you need a Delegation of Procurement Authority (DPA) for those, I don't have one but it looks like you have to take some class to get a DPA. Some government-wide IDIQs may allow for non-commercial scopes of work, unlike GSA Schedules (FAR 8.4) which only allow commercial products and services.