Contracting Cone

After selecting the primary strategy from the contracting cone, another element of the contracting strategy is selecting the appropriate contract type. While some in Congress and DoD have advocated for mandating one contract type or another, the contract type should be based on the specific conditions for each contract. The contracting officer, in partnership with the program manager when applicable, should explore all the available contract types and assess the pros/cons of each for what they’re trying to acquire.

This table maps the contract types that are allowed for each of the major strategies outlined in the contracting cone. As you can see most contract types are allowed for most FAR based strategies. As the Non-FAR based strategies are agreements, vice contracts, the contract type is not applicable.