FAR 7.403—General Services Administration assistance and OMB guidance.
Plain-English Summary
FAR 7.403 is a short cross-reference provision that tells agencies where to get help when deciding whether to rent, lease, or buy equipment or other property. It covers two main sources of support: General Services Administration (GSA) assistance and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance. Under the GSA portion, the rule explains that GSA can provide information on pending price adjustments to Federal Supply Schedule contracts, recent or imminent technological developments, new techniques, and industry or market trends that may affect a rent/lease/purchase decision. It also points agencies to the GSA Federal Acquisition Service National Customer Service Center and a specific GSA website for additional assistance. Under the OMB portion, it directs agencies to OMB Circular A-94 and OMB Circular A-11 for lease-purchase analysis and budgetary treatment of leases and lease-purchases. In practice, this section matters because it helps agencies make better-informed acquisition and budgeting decisions, especially where the choice among renting, leasing, and buying has cost, technology, and budget implications.
Key Rules
GSA provides decision support
When an agency asks, GSA will assist with rent, lease, or purchase decisions. The assistance is informational, not a substitute for the agency’s own acquisition analysis and approval process.
Use GSA market information
GSA may provide information on pending price adjustments to Federal Supply Schedule contracts, recent or imminent technological developments, new techniques, and industry or market trends. Agencies should use this information to improve the quality of their source selection and lifecycle cost analysis.
Contact GSA for additional help
Agencies may request information from the GSA Federal Acquisition Service National Customer Service Center by phone or email. The section also points agencies to a GSA website for rental-related equipment information.
Follow OMB lease-purchase guidance
For lease-purchase analysis, agencies should consult OMB Circular A-94, including Section 13 and paragraph 8.c.(2). These references govern how agencies evaluate whether leasing or purchasing is economically preferable.
Apply budget rules in A-11
Agencies must also consult Appendix B of OMB Circular A-11 for the budgetary treatment of lease-purchases and leases of capital assets. This guidance affects how the transaction is scored and budgeted, which can be as important as the economic analysis.
Responsibilities
Agency
Request GSA assistance when needed, use the information provided to support rent/lease/purchase decisions, and consult the cited OMB guidance when performing lease-purchase analysis and budgeting.
General Services Administration (GSA)
Provide requested assistance to agencies by sharing relevant market, technology, and pricing information, and make additional support available through the National Customer Service Center and referenced website.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
Issue the governmentwide analytical and budgetary guidance agencies must use for lease-purchase decisions, including Circular A-94 and Circular A-11 references.
Contracting Officer / Acquisition Staff
Use GSA and OMB guidance to inform acquisition strategy, document the basis for rent/lease/purchase decisions, and ensure the chosen approach aligns with both economic analysis and budget treatment requirements.
Practical Implications
This section is mainly a roadmap: it does not itself tell you whether to rent, lease, or buy, but it tells you where to get the authoritative information needed to make that call.
A common pitfall is treating GSA assistance as optional background only; in practice, the information can materially affect pricing, technology obsolescence risk, and the best acquisition method.
Another pitfall is doing the economic comparison without checking the budget rules in OMB Circular A-11; a deal that looks attractive economically may be budgetarily improper or difficult to execute.
Contracting officers should document that they considered current market conditions, schedule price changes, and technology trends before finalizing a rent/lease/purchase recommendation.
Agencies should use the cited GSA and OMB sources early in planning, not after the acquisition strategy is already fixed, because these references are meant to shape the decision rather than justify it after the fact.
Official Regulatory Text
(a) When requested by an agency, the General Services Administration (GSA) will assist in rent, lease, or purchase decisions by providing information such as- (1) Pending price adjustments to Federal Supply Schedule contracts; (2) Recent or imminent technological developments; (3) New techniques; and (4) Industry or market trends. (b) For additional GSA assistance and guidance, agencies may— (1) Request information from the GSA FAS National Customer Service Center by phone at 1-800-488-3111 or by email at ncsccustomer.service@gsa.gov ; and (2) See GSA website, Schedule 51 V Hardware Superstore-Equipment Rental, ( https://www.gsa.gov/buying-selling/products-services/industrial-products-services/rental-of-industrial-equipment ). (c) For additional OMB guidance, see— (1) Section 13, Special Guidance for Lease-Purchase Analysis, and paragraph 8.c.(2), Lease-Purchase Analysis, of OMB Circular A-94, Guidelines and Discount Rates for Benefit-Cost Analysis of Federal Programs, ( ); and (2) Appendix B, Budgetary Treatment of Lease-Purchases and Leases of Capital Assets, of OMB Circular A-11, Preparation, Submission, and Execution of the Budget, ( https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/app_b.pdf ).