Small-business programs
What is a teaming agreement?
A contractor team arrangement is either two or more companies forming a partnership or joint venture to act as a potential prime contractor, or a potential prime agreeing with other companies to have them act as its subcontractors under a specified contract or acquisition program.
Also written as: contractor team arrangement, CTA, prime subcontractor agreement.
FAR 9.601 gives exactly those two forms, and the distinction is not cosmetic. In the joint-venture form the team is the offeror. In the prime-subcontractor form one company is the offeror and the others are its subcontractors, with no privity of contract with the government.
FAR 9.603 states that the government will recognise the integrity and validity of contractor team arrangements, provided the arrangements are identified and company relationships are fully disclosed in an offer or, for an arrangement entered into after submission, before the arrangement becomes effective. Disclosure is the price of recognition.
For a small firm the teaming agreement is usually the practical route onto work too large to prime — but note that a prime on a set-aside is bound by the limitations on subcontracting, so how much of the work your team members may perform is constrained by regulation, not just by the agreement.
What this means when you bid
Sign the teaming agreement before the proposal, not after the win. Post-award negotiations from a position of having already won are where teaming relationships go bad.
Where this definition comes from
Federal contracting is one of the few fields where the authoritative answer is free, public and one click away. These are the sources this page is built from — go and read them.
- FAR 9.601→
Contractor team arrangement — definitions.
- FAR 9.603→
Policy.
This page explains a term in plain English and cites the authority it comes from. It is not legal advice, and the regulation governs where this page and the regulation differ.
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Teaming agreement— common questions
- What is a teaming agreement?
- A contractor team arrangement is either two or more companies forming a partnership or joint venture to act as a potential prime contractor, or a potential prime agreeing with other companies to have them act as its subcontractors under a specified contract or acquisition program.
- Why does a teaming agreement matter when you are bidding?
- Sign the teaming agreement before the proposal, not after the win. Post-award negotiations from a position of having already won are where teaming relationships go bad.