Full and Open Acquisition, in practice

Tools

Desk reference · not legal advice

Every threshold/Task and delivery orders/Checked 2 Nov 2026

Fair opportunity exception — contracting officer approval ceiling

$900,000was $750,000 until 1 Oct 2025

Citation
FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(C)(1)
Last moved
1 October 2025, from $750,000
Checked
2 November 2026, against the codified FAR and, where it leads the FAR, the statute
Note
Moved from $750,000 on 1 October 2025. Above this, the advocate for competition approves to $20 million, then the head of the procuring activity to $90 million ($150 million for DoD, NASA and the Coast Guard), then the SPE.

You are taking an exception to fair opportunity. Up to what order value may the contracting officer's own certification serve as the approval?

$900,000 (FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(C)(1)), as of 2 November 2026. It was $750,000 until it moved on 1 October 2025.

Get told when this figure moves

Leave an address and we will email you when this figure changes, with the new amount and the citation.

One email each time it changes, and nothing else: this is not the weekly list. We send a link first to confirm the address is yours, and every alert carries a link that stops it. What we keep.

Before you rely on it: this is the codified amount in effect on 2 November 2026. Agencies on a Revolutionary FAR Overhaul class deviation use the same value under a different paragraph number, and your agency supplement can set a lower one. Check it against the current text before it goes in the file.

Two ways to use it

Have a number? Dollar check takes the value of your buy and tells you which thresholds apply, with the approvals it needs.

Open Dollar check

Want them cold? Threshold is the daily game: five figures, three guesses each.

Play today’s Threshold

Task and delivery orders

3 more

All 41 thresholds on one page →

This Week, in your inbox every Monday.

One email a week: what changed, what got decided, and what it means for the file on your desk. Written by practitioners, for the people who run the competitions.

Mondays · no vendor pitches · one-press unsubscribe

We email you a link to confirm the address is yours. It is used for the weekly issue and nothing else.