FAR 46.103—Contracting office responsibilities.
Plain-English Summary
FAR 46.103 assigns the contracting office the core role of translating quality policy into enforceable contract terms and oversight actions. It covers five main subjects: receiving technical quality requirements from the activity responsible for technical requirements; putting the right quality-control requirements into solicitations and contracts; issuing instructions to the cognizant contract administration office and acting on its recommendations; verifying contractor compliance when contract administration is retained by the contracting office; and identifying nonconformances and judging how serious they are when deciding whether nonconforming supplies or services are acceptable. In practice, this section is about making sure quality requirements are not left vague, omitted, or handled inconsistently after award. It also ties the contracting office to both the technical community and contract administration so that inspection, testing, surveillance, and acceptance decisions are coordinated. For contractors, this means quality obligations should be clearly stated in the contract and enforced through administration and acceptance processes. For contracting officers, it means they must actively manage quality-related requirements rather than assume they will be handled elsewhere.
Key Rules
Receive technical quality requirements
The contracting office must obtain specifications for inspection, testing, and other contract quality requirements from the activity responsible for technical requirements. That technical activity is the one responsible for prescribing the actual quality requirements, including inspection and testing for supplies or a quality assurance surveillance plan for services.
Include quality controls in contracts
Solicitations and contracts must contain the appropriate requirements for the contractor’s control of quality for the supplies or services being acquired. The contracting office must ensure the contract language is specific enough to support performance monitoring, inspection, testing, and acceptance.
Direct contract administration
When a cognizant contract administration office is involved, the contracting office must issue any necessary instructions to that office and act on its recommendations. This ensures administration actions are aligned with the contract’s quality requirements and the contracting officer’s authority.
Verify compliance when retained
If contract administration is retained by the contracting office, it must verify that the contractor fulfills the contract quality requirements. The office cannot rely on another organization to perform this oversight when administration has not been delegated.
Identify and assess nonconformances
The contracting office must ensure nonconformances are identified and determine their significance when deciding whether supplies or services that do not fully meet contract requirements are acceptable. This includes evaluating whether deviations are minor, major, or otherwise acceptable under the contract and applicable procedures.
Responsibilities
Contracting Officer / Contracting Office
Obtain technical quality requirements, include appropriate quality-control clauses and provisions in the solicitation and contract, coordinate with contract administration, verify compliance when administration is retained, and evaluate nonconformances to determine acceptability of nonconforming supplies or services.
Activity Responsible for Technical Requirements
Prescribe the contract quality requirements, including inspection and testing requirements for supplies and a quality assurance surveillance plan for service contracts, and provide those requirements to the contracting office.
Cognizant Contract Administration Office
Carry out delegated contract administration functions related to quality oversight, provide recommendations to the contracting office, and follow instructions issued by the contracting office within the scope of its role.
Contractor
Establish and maintain effective quality control over the supplies or services being furnished, comply with the contract’s inspection, testing, and surveillance requirements, and address any identified nonconformances.
Practical Implications
Quality requirements must be built into the contract up front; if they are missing or vague, later enforcement becomes difficult and disputes are more likely.
The contracting office cannot treat quality as purely a technical or administrative issue — it must coordinate among the technical activity, contract administration, and acceptance authority.
Nonconformance handling is not just about finding defects; the contracting office must decide whether the deviation is significant enough to reject, require correction, or accept with appropriate rationale.
For service contracts, the quality assurance surveillance plan is a key deliverable and should be aligned with measurable performance standards and surveillance methods.
A common pitfall is assuming another office will verify quality when administration has been retained by the contracting office; responsibility follows the retained administration arrangement and must be actively managed.
Official Regulatory Text
Contracting offices are responsible for- (a) Receiving from the activity responsible for technical requirements any specifications for inspection, testing, and other contract quality requirements essential to ensure the integrity of the supplies or services (the activity responsible for technical requirements is responsible for prescribing contract quality requirements, such as inspection and testing requirements or, for service contracts, a quality assurance surveillance plan); (b) Including in solicitations and contracts the appropriate requirements for the contractor’s control of quality for the supplies or services to be acquired; (c) Issuing any necessary instructions to the cognizant contract administration office and acting on recommendations submitted by that office (see 42.301 and 46.104 (f)); (d) When contract administration is retained (see 42.201 ), verifying that the contractor fulfills the contract quality requirements; and (e) Ensuring that nonconformances are identified, and establishing the significance of a nonconformance when considering the acceptability of supplies or services which do not meet contract requirements.