(a) Policy. (1) It is Department policy that uniform numbers shall be assigned to all DOS procurement instruments, domestic and overseas. The numbering system applies to all contracts, purchase orders, and other related instruments, including solicitation documents and delivery orders. This includes instruments executed by DOS contracting officers on behalf of other federal agencies. It does not include requisitions submitted to a contracting activity, or to instruments awarded under Federal assistance arrangements, e.g., grants, cooperative agreements, and loans.
(2) Numbers shall be placed in appropriate spaces on government forms and appear on all documentation intended to support official contract files.
(b) Responsibility. Heads of contracting activities are responsible for enforcing compliance with the uniform numbering system. Heads of contracting activities shall develop and maintain a system for assigning and recording contract numbers that conforms with this section.
(c) Instrument identification numbers. A 13-character "alpha numeric" designator shall be assigned to all DOS procurement instruments. Positions (beginning at the left) one through six shall identify the purchasing office; positions seven and eight, the fiscal year in which the number is assigned; position nine, a symbol designating a type of procurement instrument; and positions ten through thirteen, a four-position serial number.
(1) The first six positions shall commence with "S" to designate a DOS-issued contract. The remaining five characters shall identify the activity preparing the instrument. Domestic and overseas contracting activities shall assign the character codes using the five- digit designator from the State/Federal Procurement Data System - Office Codes. Procurement instruments for DOS organizations not listed in the attachment shall contact A/OPE for an assignment of an office code.
(2) The seventh and eighth positions shall be the last two digits of the fiscal year in which the number is assigned.
(3) The ninth position shall be a capital letter assigned to indicate the type of instrument code, as follows:
A - Blanket Purchase Agreement
B - Invitation for Bids
C - Contract (includes letter contracts, contracts incorporating basic agreements and basic ordering agreements)
D - Indefinite Delivery Contract
F - Delivery/Task Order (includes orders placed against all U.S. Government contracts, whether issued by DOS or another agency)
G - Basic Ordering Agreement
H - Basic Agreement
I - Request for Information/Comment
M - Purchase Order
P - Personal services contract
Q - Request for Quotations
R - Request for Proposals
(4)(i) The tenth through thirteenth positions shall be the serial number for the instrument. A separate set of serial numbers may be used for any type of instrument listed in (3) above. Each series of numbers for the same activity shall begin with the number 0001 at the start of each fiscal year.
The following illustrates the numbering system for the first number assigned to a fiscal year 2003 contract awarded by the Department of State, Embassy Ottawa, using the above numbering scheme:
SCA525-03-C-0001
Use of the dashes to separate the individual series is optional; however, when reporting individual contract actions to the State/Federal Procurement Database (see DOSAR 604.602-70), dashes shall not be used.
(ii) Contracting activities are authorized to use the first digit of the serial number (position 10) to establish discrete series of numbers. For example, the "1000" series may be reserved for Bureau of Consular Affairs requirements (domestic), or the "1000" series may be reserved for Economic section requirements (overseas). Use of discrete series is appropriate generally for activities handling large numbers of transactions and can provide useful management information.
(d) Solicitation amendment and contract modification numbers. Solicitation amendments are to be numbered sequentially, beginning with the alpha designator “A”, e.g. A001. Contract modifications shall also be numbered sequentially, beginning with the alpha designator “M”, e.g. M001.
