Contracting authority and responsibilities (SF 1402).
FAR 53.201-1 is a very short but important prescription that tells agencies which Standard Form to use when appointing contracting officers. It covers SF 1402, Certificate of Appointment, and ties that form to the appointment authority in FAR 1.603-3. In practice, this section exists to ensure that contracting officers are formally designated in writing before they exercise contracting authority, so there is a clear record of who is authorized to bind the Government. The section does not itself describe the appointment process in detail, but it points users to the rule that governs how contracting officers are appointed, what authority they receive, and how that authority is documented. For contracting personnel, the practical significance is that a valid SF 1402 is the foundational evidence of a contracting officer’s authority; without it, actions taken may be unauthorized or vulnerable to challenge. For contractors, it is one of the documents that helps confirm the Government representative they are dealing with actually has authority to act for the Government.