FAR 1.102—Statement of guiding principles for the Federal Acquisition System.
Plain-English Summary
FAR 1.102 states the guiding principles for the Federal Acquisition System and explains the system’s overall vision, operating values, and decision-making approach. It covers the goal of delivering the best value product or service on time, while maintaining the public’s trust and meeting public policy objectives. It also identifies the core system priorities: satisfying the customer in terms of cost, quality, and timeliness; maximizing the use of commercial products and commercial services; relying on contractors with strong past performance or demonstrated current capability; promoting competition; minimizing administrative operating costs; conducting business with integrity, fairness, and openness; and fulfilling public policy objectives. The section defines the Acquisition Team broadly to include government technical, supply, and procurement personnel, the customer, and contractors, and it emphasizes teamwork and empowerment. In practice, this section is the policy foundation for acquisition decisions: it tells contracting personnel to use sound business judgment, act in the Government’s best interest, and, when the FAR is silent, treat a strategy or practice as permissible if it is not prohibited by law, executive order, or other regulation.
Key Rules
Best value and public trust
The acquisition system is designed to deliver the best value product or service in a timely way while preserving the public’s trust and meeting public policy goals. This means acquisition decisions are not just about price or speed; they must also support lawful, responsible stewardship of public funds.
Customer satisfaction priorities
The system must satisfy the customer in cost, quality, and timeliness. FAR highlights examples of how to do that, including maximizing commercial products and services, using contractors with strong past performance or proven current capability, and promoting competition.
Lower administrative burden
The system should minimize administrative operating costs. Acquisition methods should avoid unnecessary process, paperwork, and overhead where those burdens do not improve outcomes or compliance.
Integrity, fairness, and openness
Government business must be conducted with integrity, fairness, and openness. These principles support transparent competition, ethical conduct, and consistent treatment of offerors and contractors.
Public policy objectives matter
Acquisition decisions must also fulfill public policy objectives. This means the system is not limited to obtaining supplies and services efficiently; it must also support statutory and regulatory policy goals that apply to the procurement.
Broad acquisition team
The Acquisition Team includes all participants in Government acquisition, including technical, supply, and procurement personnel, the customer, and contractors. The rule is meant to encourage collaboration across functional lines rather than isolated decision-making.
Personal initiative and judgment
Each Acquisition Team member should exercise personal initiative and sound business judgment to provide the best value product or service. Government personnel may use a strategy, practice, policy, or procedure not addressed in the FAR if it is in the Government’s best interest and is not prohibited by law, executive order, or other regulation.
Responsibilities
Contracting Officers
Use sound business judgment, support best value outcomes, promote competition, and apply FAR flexibilities when lawful. They must ensure acquisition decisions remain consistent with integrity, fairness, openness, and applicable public policy objectives.
Program and Technical Personnel
Work as part of the Acquisition Team to define needs, evaluate solutions, and support timely delivery of the right product or service. They should collaborate with procurement staff and use initiative to improve outcomes within their authority.
Customers / Requiring Activities
Participate as members of the Acquisition Team by clearly identifying needs, priorities, and performance expectations. They should work with acquisition personnel to ensure the requirement reflects cost, quality, timeliness, and mission needs.
Contractors
Provide products and services as part of the broader Acquisition Team and support the Government’s best-value objectives through performance, responsiveness, and cooperation. They are expected to compete fairly and perform in a way that supports trust and mission success.
Agencies
Structure acquisition policies and practices to support best value, commercial solutions, competition, reduced administrative burden, and public policy goals. Agencies should empower personnel to make decisions within their areas of responsibility when lawful and appropriate.
Practical Implications
This section is the policy lens for many acquisition decisions, so it often supports judgment calls where the FAR gives discretion. If a practice is not addressed in the FAR, officials may use it only if it is not prohibited by statute, case law, executive order, or other regulation.
Contracting teams should not treat compliance as the only goal; they must also think about value, timeliness, competition, and mission outcomes. A technically compliant approach can still be poor acquisition practice if it adds unnecessary cost or delay.
The broad definition of the Acquisition Team means successful acquisitions depend on early and ongoing collaboration among contracting, technical, and customer personnel. Siloed decision-making is inconsistent with the section’s intent.
Past performance and commercial solutions are strongly favored as practical tools for achieving best value, so teams should consider them early rather than as afterthoughts.
A common pitfall is assuming that “best value” means lowest price. FAR 1.102 ties best value to cost, quality, timeliness, public trust, and policy objectives, so the right answer may be a higher-priced but better-performing solution.
Official Regulatory Text
(a) The vision for the Federal Acquisition System is to deliver on a timely basis the best value product or service to the customer, while maintaining the public’s trust and fulfilling public policy objectives. Participants in the acquisition process should work together as a team and should be empowered to make decisions within their area of responsibility. (b) The Federal Acquisition System will- (1) Satisfy the customer in terms of cost, quality, and timeliness of the delivered product or service by, for example- (i) Maximizing the use of commercial products and commercial services; (ii) Using contractors who have a track record of successful past performance or who demonstrate a current superior ability to perform; and (iii) Promoting competition; (2) Minimize administrative operating costs; (3) Conduct business with integrity, fairness, and openness; and (4) Fulfill public policy objectives. (c) The Acquisition Team consists of all participants in Government acquisition including not only representatives of the technical, supply, and procurement communities but also the customers they serve, and the contractors who provide the products and services. (d) The role of each member of the Acquisition Team is to exercise personal initiative and sound business judgment in providing the best value product or service to meet the customer’s needs. In exercising initiative, Government members of the Acquisition Team may assume if a specific strategy, practice, policy or procedure is in the best interests of the Government and is not addressed in the FAR, nor prohibited by law (statute or case law), Executive order or other regulation, that the strategy, practice, policy or procedure is a permissible exercise of authority.