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                            General Services Acquisition Manual (GSAM)
                            Subpart 511.1            - Selecting and Developing Requirements Documents
        
                  GSAM
GSAM
Change Number: Change 178 GSAR Case 2020-G511 Effective Date: 03/25/2024
PartPart 501Part 502Part 503Part 504Part 505Part 506Part 507Part 508Part 509Part 510Part 511Part 512Part 513Part 514Part 515Part 516Part 517Part 518Part 519Part 520Part 521Part 522Part 523Part 524Part 525Part 526Part 527Part 528Part 529Part 530Part 531Part 532Part 533Part 534Part 535Part 536Part 537Part 538Part 539Part 540Part 541Part 542Part 543Part 544Part 545Part 546Part 547Part 548Part 549Part 550Part 552Part 553Part 570Part 571
Subpart511.0511.1511.2511.4511.5511.6
Section511.104511.170511.171
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Subpart 511.1 - Selecting and Developing Requirements DocumentsSubpart 511.1 - Selecting and Developing Requirements Documents   **Parent topic:**  Part 511 - Describing Agency Needs511.104 Use of brand name or equal purchase descriptions.       (a)  A brand name or equal purchase description must avoid specifying characteristics that do not materially affect the intended end use and which unnecessarily restrict competition.                                          (b)  When the contracting officer uses a brand name or equal purchase description, best practice is to cite the known acceptable brand name products in current manufacture, rather than only a single brand name product. For example, cite the acceptable brand name products identified during market research.                                          (c)  The contracting officer may require samples for “or equal” offers, but not for “brand name” offers.                                          (d)  The contracting officer shall provide for full consideration and evaluation of “or equal” offers against the salient characteristics specified in the purchase description and shall not reject offers for minor differences in design, construction, or features that do not affect the suitability of the product for its intended use.511.170 Information Technology Coordination and Standards.       (a) Information Systems Requirements. See  511.171 for guidance for any procurements that may involve GSA Information Systems.                                          (b)  Standard Configurations. The contracting officer shall use standard configurations for GSA information technology procurements when feasible. A list of standard configurations for applicable information technology procurements can be found on the Acquisition Gateway Information Technology Hallway (login required) at   https://hallways.cap.gsa.gov/app/#/gateway/information-technology.                                          (c)  CIO Coordination. Requirements for GSA information technology must be coordinated with the GSA Chief Information Officer (CIO) in accordance with the Federal Information and Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) (Pub L. No. 113-291). Guidance for identifying the applicable GSA CIO point of contact can be found on GSA's Acquisition Portal at   https://insite.gsa.gov/acquisitionportal. For interagency acquisitions involving information technology, see  subpart  517.5.                                          (d) GSA IT Standards Profile. GSA information technology must also be approved for use pursuant to the GSA Order CIO 2160.1 GSA Information Technology (IT) Standards Profile. More details about the formal GSA IT Standards Profile approval process can be found on the GSA IT Standards webpage at the following link:   https://insite.gsa.gov/portal/content/500499.                                          (e)  Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6).                                                         (1)  *Developing Requirements*.                                                                           (i) In accordance with FAR 11.002(g), contracting officers must include IPv6 requirements in all contracts and orders for information technology (IT) that will have the capability to access the Internet or any network utilizing Internet Protocol (IPv4 or IPv6).                                                                              (ii)  Sample statement of work language to require IPv6 compliance can be found on GSA's Acquisition Portal at   https://insite.gsa.gov/acquisitionportal.                                                                              (iii)  See  539.101 for guidance on verifying contractor compliance with IPv6 requirements.                                                                                                           (2)  *Waivers*                                                                           (i) The GSA Chief Information Officer (CIO) must approve any waiver from IPv6 requirements.                                                                              (ii)  The waiver request must provide the following information–                                                                                             (A)  The product or service description;                                                                                                (B)  The purpose of the procurement;                                                                                                (C)  The requested duration of waiver; and                                                                                                (D)  Sufficient justification for why IPv6 should be waived.                                                                                                                                         (iii)  A sample waiver request can be found on GSA's Acquisition Portal at   https://insite.gsa.gov/acquisitionportal.                                                                              (iv)  Waivers must be documented in the contract file.                                                                                                                            (f)  Software Code Development. An alternatives analysis must be completed to leverage existing Federal or commercial software prior to buying custom-developed software code. To comply with this process, software requirements must be developed using the following order of preference—                                                         (1)  Software that the Government already owns. For software that will be used by GSA, this requires review of the GSA IT Standards List within the GSA Enterprise Architecture Analytics & Reporting Database that can be found on GSA's Acquisition Portal at   https://insite.gsa.gov/acquisitionportal. The GSA IT Standards List shows software that has been approved for use within GSA by the Chief Technology Officer.                                                            (2)  Existing commercially-available software.                                                            (3)  Custom-developed software code in conjunction with existing Government or commercial software. See  511.170 for requirements with procuring custom-developed code.                                                            (4)  Custom-developed software code only. See  511.170 for requirements with procuring custom-developed code.                                                                             (g)  Custom-Developed Software Code.                                                         (1)  Developing Requirements. Requirements for custom development of software code must include the establishment of enforceable rights sufficient to enable GSA to directly publish and publicly host all custom-developed code in accordance with GSA CIO IL-16-03, GSA Open Source Software Policy. To acquire open source software, the contracting officer must include the following–                                                                           (i)  Any applicable FAR data rights clause; and                                                                              (ii)  Sufficient data rights language in the statement of work. GSA Standard Open Source Code Statement of Work language can be found on GSA's Acquisition Portal at   https://insite.gsa.gov/acquisitionportal.                                                                                                           (2)  *Waivers*.                                                                           (i)  The GSA Chief Information Officer (CIO) must approve any waiver from the open source code requirements mandated in  511.170. If a waiver is approved, GSA must still acquire and enforce rights sufficient to enable GSA or Government-wide reuse of custom-developed code. FAR clause 52.227-17 - Rights in Data - Special Works may be used to acquire Government-wide reuse of custom-developed code.                                                                              (ii)  The waiver request must provide the following information–                                                                                             (A)  The product or service description;                                                                                                (B)  The purpose of the procurement; and                                                                                                (C)  Sufficient justification for why open source code requirements should be waived.                                                                                                                                         (iii)  A sample waiver form can be found on GSA's Acquisition Portal at   https://insite.gsa.gov/acquisitionportal.                                                                              (iv)  Waivers must be documented in the contract file.                                                                                                                            (h)                    *Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Services.* The contracting officer must coordinate pre-award solicitations with IS-Contracts-Review@gsa.gov for GSA IT review and approval of the applicable sections, requirements, and best practices for any procurement with ancillary UAS services (commonly referred to as “drones”). See  subpart  537.70 for additional guidance related to UAS services.511.171 Requirements for GSA Information Systems.       (a)  CIO Coordination. The contracting officer shall ensure the requirements office has coordinated and identified possible CIO policy inclusions with the GSA IT prior to publication of a Statement of Work, or equivalent as well as the Security Considerations section of the acquisition plan to determine if the CIO policies apply. The CIO policies and GSA IT points of contact are available on the Acquisition Portal at   https://insite.gsa.gov/itprocurement.                                          (b)GSA Requirements. For GSA procurements (contracts, actions, or orders) that may involve GSA Information Systems, excluding GSA’s government-wide contracts e.g. Federal Supply Schedules and Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts, the contracting officer shall incorporate the coordinated Statement of Work or equivalent including the applicable sections of the following policies into solicitations and contracts:                                                         (1)CIO 09-48, IT Security Procedural Guide: Security and Privacy IT Acquisition Requirements; and                                                            (2)CIO 12-2018, IT Policy Requirements Guide.                                                                             (c)Waivers.                                                         (1)In cases where it is not effective in terms of cost or time or where it is unreasonably burdensome to include CIO 09-48, IT Security Procedural Guide: Security and Privacy IT Acquisition Requirements or CIO 12-2018, IT Policy Requirements Guide in a contract or order, a waiver may be granted by the Acquisition Approving Official in accordance with the thresholds listed at  507.103(b), the Information System Authorizing Official, and the GSA IT Approving Official.                                                            (2)The waiver request must provide the following information-                                                                                                                                            (A)The description of the procurement and GSA Information Systems;                                                                                                (B)Identification of requirement requested for waiver;                                                                                                (C)Sufficient justification for why the requirements should be waived; and                                                                                                (D)Any residual risks that will be encountered by waiving the requirements.                                                                                                                                                                      (3)Waivers must be documented in the contract file.                                                                             (d)Classified Information. For any procurements that may involve access to classified information or a classified information system, see subpart  504.4 for additional requirements.
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