AF Form 9 Request for Purchase: Approvals, Blocks, and Routing

To fill out AF Form 9, Request for Purchase, you write a clear description of what your unit needs, attach a valid line of accounting supplied by your resource advisor, secure any special approvals the item requires, and route the signed form through your commander and the comptroller before it reaches the base contracting office. The form itself is short. The preparation around it is what determines whether a contracting officer acts on your request or sends it back.

Download a blank copy from the Air Force e-Publishing site at e-publishing.af.mil and search for “AF Form 9.” Block layout has changed slightly across revisions, but the required information has not.

Is AF Form 9 the Right Form for This Buy?

Not every purchase needs one. For most buys at or below the micro-purchase threshold of $15,000 for supplies as of October 2025, the Government Purchase Card is the faster route.¹ Lower thresholds apply to construction ($2,000) and services covered by the Service Contract Labor Standards ($2,500).

Use AF Form 9 when the purchase exceeds the micro-purchase threshold, when the item isn’t available through the GPC program, or when a new contract action is required. The 82d Contracting Squadron’s customer guide states the rule directly: “A purchase request constitutes the requirement for effecting local purchase. It is required for an obligation of funds on a new contract or a change to an existing contract.”²

One boundary to keep in mind: you cannot split a requirement into smaller pieces to stay under a threshold. Repeatedly buying the same item from the same vendor to dodge the micro-purchase or Simplified Acquisition Threshold limits is a prohibited practice that can trigger disciplinary action.² The Simplified Acquisition Threshold sits at $350,000, and any procurement above it requires an Independent Government Estimate; your contracting officer may request one for smaller buys as well.³

Gather This Before You Open the Form

Missing any one of the items below is the most common reason forms come back. Collect all of it first.

Purchase request (PR) number. Built from your service identification number, stock record account number (SRAN), Julian date, and cost center manager’s code. Your resource advisor or unit supply point can help you construct it.
Detailed item description. Commercial descriptions for commercial items. Include part numbers, national stock numbers, specifications, or drawings where they apply. Vague descriptions are the single fastest way to get the form returned.
Quantity and unit of issue. “Each,” “lot,” “case,” or whatever fits. Each separately priced item gets its own contracting line item number (CLIN).
Estimated unit price and total cost. Base these on vendor quotes or market research. Obtain at least three quotes when possible to establish a fair and reasonable price.⁴
Suggested source. Name, address, and phone number of the vendor identified through market research.
Line of Accounting (LOA). The fund citation. An Air Force LOA fed into the Defense Enterprise Accounting and Management System (DEAMS) includes elements such as department code, appropriation, operating agency code, allotment serial number, responsibility center/cost center code, and Element of Expense Investment Code (EEIC). Your resource advisor provides this.⁵
Priority rating and delivery date. Priority 03 (emergency, requires commander or division chief justification), 08 (urgent), or 09 (routine), plus the required delivery date in Julian format.²
Federal Supply Class / Product Service Code (FSC/PSC). The classification code for whatever you’re buying.

Special Approvals to Secure First

Certain categories need clearances before AF Form 9 will even be accepted. Skip these and the form comes back before contracting reviews the description.

IT and Communications Equipment

Any purchase involving information technology or communications infrastructure must be routed through your base communications squadron for a technical solution before contracting will accept it. The Cyberspace Infrastructure Planning System (CIPS) is the mandatory portal for submitting IT-related infrastructure requirements.⁶ Your AF Form 9 should arrive at contracting already annotated with the communications squadron’s approval. Software and electronic purchases also carry Section 508 accessibility obligations, and procurement documentation should address that requirement.⁷

Brand-Name or Sole-Source

If you need a specific brand and no substitute will work, you need a separate written justification. Brand-name descriptions are prohibited without one.² The FAR requires a Justification and Approval (J&A) when only one responsible source can satisfy the requirement, and this applies whenever a brand-name description effectively limits competition to a single manufacturer.⁸ Approval level rises with dollar value: the contracting officer can approve sole-source buys above the SAT up to $900,000; above that, the competition advocate must approve, and thresholds climb from there.⁹

Classified Work

When the work or material involves classified information, attach a DD Form 254 (Department of Defense Contract Security Classification Specification). It tells the contractor which classification levels apply and which security requirements they must meet.¹⁰

Ozone-Depleting Chemicals Certification

Every AF Form 9 must include a certification that the requirement does not call for the contractor to use Class I ozone-depleting chemicals in performance or delivery. This is a standard statement inserted in the body of the form. Your contracting office will provide the exact language.²

Filling the Form Out, Block by Block

Header and Identification

Enter your PR/requisition number in the first block. This alphanumeric string encodes your organization, the Julian date of preparation, and a serial number. Enter the installation name and address, the date the form is prepared, and the contracting office it’s going to (typically your base’s contracting squadron, with the appropriate office symbol).²

Include the FSC/PSC code. In the “From” block, enter your squadron, office symbol, building and room number, your grade, name, and phone number. The “Purchased For” block takes the unit and office symbol of whoever will actually use the item.

Delivery Information

Enter the delivery address: squadron, office symbol, street address, and suite number. Shipping errors originate here, so check it against the actual physical location where the item needs to arrive. Enter the priority designator (03, 08, or 09) and the required delivery date in Julian format. A priority 03 (emergency) requires a justification statement in the body of the form signed by the squadron commander or division chief.

Item Description, Quantity, and Cost

This is where most rejections happen. Describe each item or service so that someone who has never spoken with you knows exactly what to procure. Use commercial descriptions for commercial items. If a specification or drawing exists, attach it.² Assign each separately priced item a CLIN, numbered consecutively (0001, 0002, 0003). Enter the quantity and unit of issue for each line, then the estimated unit price and total cost.

Below each item description, enter the suggested source: the vendor’s name, address, and phone number. If you gathered multiple quotes, include them or reference attached market research. Descriptions must be specific enough to yield the right product but not so restrictive that they eliminate competition. Contracting officers return forms with overly restrictive specifications just as quickly as forms with vague ones.

Funding and Signatures

Enter the Line of Accounting in the designated fund citation area. The resource advisor signs the form, certifying that funds are available and properly cited. The requesting official and an approving official also sign. Every required signature must be on the form before it moves forward. An unsigned PR is an automatic return.

One detail people miss: if the purchase depends on next fiscal year or next quarter funds, annotate that on the form. Contracting cannot process a request against funds that haven’t been made available yet.

Routing the Form for Approval

After you finish the form, it moves through a defined chain before reaching contracting. The first stop is an internal unit review, where your commander or authorized representative signs to confirm the requirement supports the mission and complies with local policy.

The form then goes to the Financial Management or Comptroller office for fund certification. A certifying officer checks the LOA against available balances to confirm the obligation is legal and the fund cite is current. After certification, the transaction is recorded in DEAMS or an equivalent accounting system.

The certified AF Form 9, with all attachments, then goes to the base contracting office. Most units transmit digitally through automated systems, though some emergency scenarios still allow manual submission. At that point your administrative work is done, and the contracting officer takes over. Stay in contact with the assigned contract specialist for status updates; timelines vary by dollar value and complexity.

Why Forms Get Returned

Based on the checklist contracting squadrons use during intake review, these are the failures that show up most often:²

Vague or inadequate descriptions. If the contracting officer cannot tell exactly what you need from reading the form, it comes back. Attach specs or drawings when they exist.
Overly restrictive specifications. Describing requirements so narrowly that only one vendor qualifies, without a brand-name justification, limits competition and forces a rejection.
Missing signatures. Requesting official, approving official, and resource advisor all need to sign. One missing signature returns the whole package.
Wrong or missing budget code. If the LOA is incomplete, uses the wrong fiscal year, or doesn’t match the type of expenditure, the comptroller won’t certify it.
Multiple sources on one form. All items on a single AF Form 9 should come from one source. If you need items from different vendors, submit separate forms.
Missing IT approval. Communications or IT purchases that arrive without the base communications squadron’s technical solution annotation get returned before contracting even reviews the description.
No ozone-depletion certification. The required environmental statement must appear on every AF Form 9, regardless of what you’re buying.

Walk through this list before routing the form. Catching one missing signature or one blank block at your desk saves a round trip through the approval chain, and on a request with a tight delivery deadline, that round trip is often the difference between getting the item on time and explaining why you didn’t.

1
Federal Register. Inflation Adjustment of Acquisition-Related Thresholds
2
82d Contracting Squadron. Customer Education Guide
3
Acquisition.GOV. Subpart 5107.90 – Independent Government Estimates
4
Dover Air Force Base. AF Form 9 Request for Purchase
5
Defense Travel Management Office. DTA Manual Appendix R – LOA Format Maps
6
Air Force Materiel Command. CIPS Implementation for Gunter Business and Enterprise Systems
7
Air Force Compliance Division. Air Force Section 508
8
Acquisition.GOV. 48 CFR 6.302-1 – Only One Responsible Source
9
Acquisition.GOV. Special Documentation Requirements
10
Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy. Instructions for Completing DD Form 254