Part 518 - Emergency Acquisitions

FAR subpart 18.1 and the GSAM include many acquisition flexibilities that are available to contracting officers and other acquisition personnel when certain conditions are met. These acquisition flexibilities do not require an emergency declaration or designation of contingency operation.

(a) Waiver of contracting officer certification. The Senior Procurement Executive (SPE) may waive the requirement for obtaining contracting officer certification (see 501.603-1(b)(2)).

(b) Deviations, waivers, and exemptions from Contracting Officer Warrant Program (COWP) requirements. The SPE may approve deviations, waivers, and exemptions from any of the COWP requirements (see 501.603-1(d)(3)(i)(B)).

(c) Changes in warrant level thresholds. The SPE may authorize changes in warrant level thresholds (see 501.603-1(d)(3)(i)(D)).

(d) Waiver of Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) certification. The SPE may waive the requirements for FAC-COR certifications (see 501.604(d)).

(e) Waiver of Program and Project Managers (P/PM) certification. The SPE may waive the requirements for FAC-P/PM and FAC-P/PM-IT certification (see 501.671(d)).

(f) Procurement authority delegation waivers. The SPE may waive the requirement for a delegation of procurement authority to be able to place orders under a GSA multi-agency contract or GSA Governmentwide acquisition contract.

(g) Temporary appointments. HCAs may request temporary appointments in accordance with 501.603-3(b)(1). For additional information about temporary appointments refer to the Acquisition Career Management page on the GSA Acquisition Portal at https://insite.gsa.gov/acquisitionportal.

In addition to the contracts identified in FAR 18.105, the following sources should also be considered:

(a) GSA’s Disaster Relief & Pandemic Products Program aisle available on GSA Advantage at https://www.gsaadvantage.gov.

(b) GSA’s Emergency Acquisition Basic Ordering Agreements available at https://www.gsa.gov/governmentwide-initiatives/emergency-response.

The SPE is delegated the authority to make the head of the agency determinations described in FAR subpart 18.2 (see 502.101), including increasing procurement thresholds.

(a) Request. Requests to use any of the emergency flexibilities described in FAR subpart 18.2 shall be submitted to the SPE at spe.request@gsa.gov. Requests shall include, at a minimum—

(1) A description of the support to be provided (e.g., there has been an emergency declaration in the HCA’s area and they need to provide acquisition support); and

(2) Any other important information.

(b) Notification. The SPE will notify the acquisition workforce when use of any of the emergency flexibilities provided in FAR subpart 18.2 is authorized. Notification may be done through the issuance of a SPE memorandum or other method deemed appropriate by the SPE.

(a) Duration of emergency acquisition flexibilities. Unless otherwise stated in the SPE notification or revoked earlier, emergency acquisition flexibilities authorized by the SPE are automatically rescinded once the effective period of the emergency has ended.

(b) Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) reporting. When reporting an emergency acquisition contract action within FPDS, contracting officers must choose the appropriate data entry selection available under the Emergency Acquisitions FPDS data field (e.g., selection “C” is used when supporting a presidential issued emergency declaration or a major disaster declaration). Contracting officers also must also include the name of the emergency (e.g., Hurricane Milton) as the first words in the Description of Requirement FPDS data field. The text to be used for the name of the emergency will be included in the SPE notification.

As used in this subpart—

"Emergency Coordinators (EC)" means individuals within GSA who are designated to be responsible for preparedness, response, and recovery phases of incident management. The Office of Mission Assurance (OMA) Associate Administrator is the primary EC for GSA. Additionally, each Head of Service and Staff Office (HSSO) must appoint an EC to handle emergency documents, update their HSSO, and liaise with OMA (see GSA Orders ADM 2430.1A, The U.S. General Services Administration Continuity Program and ADM 2430.3: The U.S. General Services Administration Emergency Management Program or successor orders).

"Requesting Head of the Contracting Activity (HCA)" means the HCA requesting emergency acquisition support.

"Servicing HCA" means the HCA providing emergency acquisition support.

HCAs, in conjunction with ECs, may obtain emergency acquisition support (e.g., contract award, contract administration) from across GSA.

he requesting HCA is responsible for the following:

(a) Determining, in conjunction with ECs, the need for emergency acquisition support. Requesting HCAs should look within their own Service-line (e.g., FAS, PBS, OAS) before reaching outside their respective Service-line.

(b) Requesting needed acquisition support from the servicing HCA. The request shall include, at a minimum, the following:

(1) Time commitment and duration needed.

(2) Description of the acquisition support needed;

(3) Number and type of acquisition personnel (e.g., contracting officer); and

(4) Other key details (e.g., rotation, location requirements).

(c) Overseeing the acquisition personnel provided by the servicing HCA. Requesting HCAs retain contracting oversight over any contracting officer who is supplied by a Servicing HCA.

(d) Ensuring there is documented oversight and internal control processes of contract activities to support emergency acquisitions.

The Servicing HCA is responsible for the following:

(a) Providing acquisition support for the agreed upon period of time to the Requesting HCA and ensuring volunteers understand that they will report to the Requesting HCA.

(b) Ensuring the acquisition personnel have the necessary certifications and expertise to support the Requesting HCA.

(c) Ensuring the acquisition personnel have knowledge and understanding of emergency acquisition policies under FAR part 18, FAR subpart 26.2, Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) Emergency Acquisitions Guide, and OMA 2400.2, Events Requiring Notification to the GSA Emergency Operations Center.