(a)(1) The approval authority to issue a letter contract is -
(i) The Assistant Administrator for Procurement when the estimated value of the definitized contract is equal to or greater than the Master Buy Plan (MBP) submission threshold of
1807.7101;
(ii) The procurement officer when the estimated value of the definitized contract is below the MBP submission threshold; and
(iii) The Assistant Administrator for Procurement for any modification of an undefinitized letter contract approved by the procurement officer that increases the estimated value of the definitized contract to an amount equal to or above the MBP submission threshold. This approval must be obtained prior to issuing the modification.
(2) The procurement officer must sign all requests for approval by the Assistant Administrator for Procurement and submit them to Code HS.
(b) All requests for authority to issue a letter contract must include the following:
(1) Contractor name and address.
(2) Place of performance.
(3) Contract number, including modification number, if applicable.
(4) Brief description of the work or services to be performed.
(5) Performance period or delivery schedule for both the letter contract and definitized contract.
(6) Estimated value of the work authorized by the letter contract.
(7) Estimated value of the definitized contract.
(8) Contract type of the definitized contract.
(9) A statement that the definitized contract will contain all required clauses or identification of approved specific clause deviations.
(10) Complete justification of the necessity for the letter contract, including the advantages to the Government and a description of the efforts to avoid its issuance or to minimize its scope.
(11) The definitization schedule described in
FAR 16.603-2(c) expected to be negotiated with the contractor.
