March 07, 2024

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Basic Ordering Agreements

A Basic Ordering Agreement is a written instrument of understanding, negotiated between an agency, contracting activity, or contracting office and a contractor, that contains (1) terms and clauses applying to future contracts (orders) between the parties during its term, (2)a description, as specific as practicable, of supplies or services to be provided, and (3) methods for pricing, issuing, and delivering future orders under the basic ordering agreement. A basic ordering agreement is not a contract.

A BOA may be used to expedite contracting for uncertain requirements for supplies or services when specific items, quantities, and prices are not known at the time the agreement is executed, but a substantial number of requirements for the type of supplies or services covered by the agreement are anticipated to be purchased from the contractor. Under proper circumstances, the use of these procedures can result in economies in ordering parts for equipment support by reducing administrative lead-time, inventory investment, and inventory obsolescence due to design changes.

Blanket Purchase Agreements

A Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) is a simplified method of filling anticipated repetitive needs for supplies or services by establishing "charge accounts" with qualified sources of supply (see subpart 16.7 for additional coverage of agreements).

BPAs should be established for use by an organization responsible for providing supplies for its own operations or for other offices, installations, projects, or functions. Such organizations, for example, may be organized supply points, separate independent or detached field parties, or one-person posts or activities. The use of BPAs does not exempt an agency from the responsibility for keeping obligations and expenditures within available funds.

Indefinite Delivery Contracts

Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. An IDIQ can only be established via a request for proposal (RFP) since it is not a simplified acquisition method. Anyone who tells you otherwise is just making sh*t up. This is because, when an IDIQ is awarded, the items and prices listed in the schedule represent offers, not quotations. The government has the unilateral right to issue an order against that offer, and the contractor is obligated to deliver.

BOAs and BPAs are not contracts.

A BPA is basically a list of quoted prices against which the offeror may accept the government’s order. It is simply a quoted price for a good or service; a mere invitation to enter into a formal agreement. Whereas the BOA describes how a buyer and seller will make arrangements for entering into a contract. The regulatory guidance for a BOA states that each must contain, among other things, the method for determining prices and the point at which each order will become a binding contract.

Important Differences:

BOA	BPA
BOAs contain terms and conditions and a description of the supplies or services to be purchased. They include items that are not currently priced by the supplier.	BPAs are simplified acquisition methods that contain terms, conditions and price quotations.
BOAs do not have a price list, rather they include a description of how a buver and seller will make future arrangements for entering into a contract.	Includes quotations. Quotations are NOT offers. They represent advertised prices like you may see in a catalog, but there is no guaranteed delivery. Note that the government may seek to order against a quoted price.
This method governs how prices will be determined and the point at which each future order against the BOA will become a binding contract.	The government must issue an order, and the supplier must accept that order, to form a binding contract. BPAs, like catalogs, offer no guarantees of item or price availability.