Bring your responsible security official into the bid review before committing to classified work. FAR 4.403(a) directs contracting officers to review proposed solicitations for potential classified access by offerors or during performance. Compare the actual solicitation’s access, custody and location scope with your documented approvals, then route unresolved questions to the responsible officials.

Separating Offeror Access, Government-Site Performance, and Contractor-Site Custody

Treating every classified solicitation as an identical facility scope leads to avoidable bid-gate mistakes. During your initial Section L and Section M review, provide the complete solicitation package and all security attachments to your responsible security official so you can resolve three scoping questions together:

  1. Offeror access during the solicitation phase versus performance access: Does the solicitation state that prospective offerors need access to classified information just to inspect reading-room documents, attend a site visit, or prepare a proposal, or does classified access apply only during contract performance as distinguished in FAR 4.403(a)?
  2. Performance site and material custody location: Does the statement of work place all classified tasks inside a government installation where the agency maintains custody of classified materials, or do the solicitation attachments call for receiving, generating, or holding classified material at a contractor site?
  3. Comparison with current documented approvals: How do the specific access, custody, and handling terms in the solicitation attachments compare against the active written approvals maintained on file by your security official?

Recommended Solicitation Security-Scope Question Matrix

Use the question matrix below as an internal intake record for your capture lead and responsible security official. Record only public or otherwise authorized unclassified references. Keep classified material out of FedFinder and send restricted attachments or security details through the responsible official’s approved channel. Rather than attempting an informal facility readiness assessment, this worksheet organizes the exact questions your security official needs to evaluate against the solicitation attachments and your organization's documented records.

1. Pre-Award Offeror Access:** Does preparing and submitting the proposal call for viewing classified attachments or attending a classified briefing?

  • Check: Notice instructions to offerors, site-visit instructions, and list of restricted solicitation attachments.
  • Compare: Security official's current roster of approved personnel and active visit or reading-room authorization records.
  • Next action: Capture Lead & Security Official: Submit reading-room or visit requests before the notice cutoff date, or hold the pursuit if pre-award access cannot be arranged within the solicitation window.

2. Performance-Site Access:** Where does the statement of work place day-to-day performance of classified contract tasks?

  • Check: Statement of work place-of-performance clauses, task descriptions, and security specification attachments.
  • Compare: Written facility and personnel approval documentation held on file by the security official.
  • Next action: Security Official: Confirm whether existing documented approvals match the solicitation's stated performance locations and transition timeline.

3. On-Site Material Receipt or Custody:** Does the solicitation state that classified documents, hardware, or materials will be delivered to, generated at, or held at the contractor's premises?

  • Check: Security classification attachments, government-furnished property schedules, and deliverable handling instructions.
  • Compare: Written documentation of any current on-premises safeguarding or custody approvals maintained by the security official.
  • Next action: Executive Sponsor & Security Official: If the solicitation specifies contractor-site custody beyond the company's current written approvals, hold prime pursuit and evaluate teaming or formal pre-bid Q&A.

4. Information Processing & Communications:** Do solicitation tasks involve classified information processing or secure communications at a contractor location versus a government workstation?

  • Check: Technical work statement, government-furnished equipment list, and security attachment remarks.
  • Compare: Security official's inventory of current written system authorizations and solicitation GFE provisions.
  • Next action: Technical Lead & Security Official: Verify whether the solicitation provides government-site systems or asks for contractor-site capabilities, and escalate any gap before bidding.

5. Subcontractor Task Allocation:** Can classified and unclassified work packages be cleanly separated across the work breakdown structure?

  • Check: Task order breakdown, CLIN descriptions, and subcontracting instructions in the solicitation.
  • Compare: Written security verification records provided by prospective teaming partners' security officials.
  • Next action: Capture & Subcontracts Leads: Map each work package to team members whose documented approvals match the task scope.

6. Document Consistency:** Do the statement of work and the attached security specification describe the same custody and location scope?

  • Check: Side-by-side comparison of statement of work place-of-performance text and security attachment blocks.
  • Compare: Draft pre-bid clarification log prepared by the capture lead and security official.
  • Next action: Contracts Lead: Submit a targeted written question to the contracting officer before the solicitation Q&A deadline whenever solicitation documents conflict.

When the security official identifies a gap between a solicitation's contractor-site custody terms and the company's current written approvals, do not guess at workarounds in the proposal narrative. Instead, pause the prime bid commitment and evaluate whether a teaming agreement or joint venture with an appropriately approved partner fits the solicitation rules and work-share boundaries.

Routing Solicitation Security Questions Before the Q&A Cutoff

Solicitation drafts occasionally contain mismatches between the technical statement of work and the attached security specification, such as a work statement specifying that all work occurs inside a government facility while a block on the security attachment references safeguarding at the contractor's site. Have your security official and contracts lead draft a concise, unclassified question citing the exact solicitation page, paragraph, and attachment block so the contracting officer can clarify the intended scope or issue an amendment before proposals are due.

To identify upcoming federal solicitations early enough to review security attachments with your security official and plan teaming arrangements, search active contract notices on FedFinder and review subscription options on the FedFinder pricing page.

Sources

  • Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 4.403, Responsibilities of contracting officers: https://www.acquisition.gov/far/4.403 (Retrieved 2026-11-06; Acquisition.gov baseline FAC 2026-01 effective 2026-03-13; actual agency and contract applicability must be checked against the solicitation).