Sources sought notices: what they are and what a response contains

No. FAR 15.201(e) says that responses to these notices are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract, and that there is no required format for requests for information. A response is information for the agency, not an offer.

What the agency wants is in the notice. If you cannot find it, the contracting officer named in the notice is the person to ask.

A response tells the agency that a business exists and can do the work. An agency uses what it learns as market research when it decides how to buy.

That can matter to a small business. The FAR says a contracting officer sets an acquisition over the simplified acquisition threshold aside for small business participation when there is a reasonable expectation that offers will be obtained from at least two responsible small business concerns and that award will be made at fair market prices, and it lists market research among the factors in deciding whether that expectation exists.

A response commits neither side. Whether an agency sets a contract aside is the agency's decision.

FAR 10.001(a)(3) says agencies use the results of market research to determine whether sources capable of satisfying the agency's requirements exist, whether commercial products or services are available, and whether the acquisition should use any of the small business programs under part 19.

FAR 10.002(b)(1) adds that market research should include whether the Government's needs can be met by small business concerns that will likely submit a competitive offer at fair market prices. How the agency decides to buy is the agency's decision.

A notice is one way to learn who is out there. FAR 10.002(b)(2) lists others, among them contacting knowledgeable individuals in Government and industry, reviewing the results of recent market research, and reviewing systems such as the System for Award Management, the Federal Procurement Data System and the Small Business Administration's Dynamic Small Business Search.

So what a business's public SAM.gov record says can be part of what an agency sees. Checking your status shows what yours says. It does not mean an agency will find any particular business.

FAR 10.001(b) says that when conducting market research, agencies should not request potential sources to submit more than the minimum information necessary.

So read what the notice asks for, and send that. If something is unclear, the contracting officer named in the notice is the person to ask.

The notice lists what it wants, and no format is required. A notice may ask for the business's name, address and contact person, its UEI and CAGE code, the NAICS code and the business's size under it, any small business program status, and a short description of relevant experience and past performance.

Size, ownership and program status are statements about your own business, and nobody else can make them for you. If a question turns on how big the business counts as, who owns and controls it, or whether an affiliated business has to be counted with it, take it to a free counselor or an attorney.

Some notices ask for one. Your capability statement says what goes in one and how to write it in Firmenza.

Firmenza reads SAM.gov's public list of contract opportunities about once a day and compares each new notice with your profile: your codes, keywords, states and the notice types you want. A Sources Sought notice can be one of them, and each match shows why it matched.

On a notice's page, In plain words is the AI assistant's short summary of the notice as published, with its label, and the notice itself is the source. None of it says whether to respond: that decision is yours. Contract opportunity matches in Firmenza goes through it.

On a Sources Sought notice you saved, "Draft a response" has the AI assistant draft a company overview, relevant experience, capabilities, your identifiers and answers to the notice's questions, only from your capability statement, your past performance and the facts you choose, with the source of each sentence shown. It is part of Pro and its trial. You review and edit everything, and you submit it yourself.