How to Fill Out and Submit a DCMA Pre-Award Survey: PASS 2.0 Steps

The DCMA pre-award survey form is a narrative document, paired with Standard Forms 1403 through 1408, that the Defense Contract Management Agency uses to confirm a prospective contractor can actually perform a proposed federal contract. A contracting officer requests it when the information already on hand — your bid, SAM registration, past performance in CPARS, commercial credit data — leaves open questions about whether you meet the responsibility standards in FAR 9.104-1.¹ If you have been asked for one, the contract in question is almost certainly above the $350,000 simplified acquisition threshold and complex enough that a desk review was not sufficient.

When You’ll Be Asked for One

Pre-award surveys are targeted, not routine. FAR 9.106-1 says a survey should not be requested for fixed-price acquisitions at or below the simplified acquisition threshold of $350,000, or for commercial products and services, unless the circumstances justify the cost.²³ In practice, the narrative requirement applies to larger contracts with non-commercial specifications. Before the survey begins, the surveying activity also checks whether you are debarred, suspended, or otherwise ineligible; if you are, the survey stops unless the contracting officer specifically asks that it continue.

What the Survey Actually Evaluates

The survey is built around a set of Standard Forms, each covering a distinct capability area. Knowing what each form looks for tells you exactly what your narrative and supporting documents need to address.⁴

SF 1403 — General. The master form. It identifies the solicitation, contract type, offered price, and delivery schedule, lists the factors to be investigated, and records the final recommendation: complete award, partial award, or no award.⁵
SF 1404 — Technical Capability. Whether your key management and technical personnel have the knowledge and experience to produce the required product or service.
SF 1405 — Production Capability. Whether you can plan, control, and integrate people, facilities, equipment, materials, and subcontractors to meet the delivery schedule.
SF 1406 — Quality Assurance. Whether your quality system can meet the solicitation’s quality, inspection, and testing requirements.
SF 1407 — Financial Capability. Whether you have, or can obtain, the financial resources for successful performance.
SF 1408 — Accounting System. Whether your accounting system can properly accumulate costs under a government contract, which matters most for cost-reimbursement or time-and-materials work.⁶

Technical, production, quality, financial, and accounting are the major factors. Minor factors — government property control, transportation, packaging, security, environmental considerations — are investigated only when the solicitation calls for them.⁵

Preparing the Narrative

FAR 9.106-4 requires the surveying activity to produce “a narrative discussion sufficient to support both the evaluation ratings and the recommendations.”⁴ The narrative is only as strong as the evidence you supply. The goal is documentation specific enough that every claim can be verified against a piece of paper or a piece of equipment in your facility.

Technical and Production Evidence

Work from the solicitation’s statement of work and map each requirement to a concrete resource. If the contract calls for machining titanium aerospace components, name the specific CNC machines, their tolerances, and their current workload. Attach resumes or qualification summaries for the lead engineers and project managers assigned to the effort, focused on comparable contracts rather than general career history. Show production schedules that demonstrate how existing commercial and government commitments still leave capacity for the new work; the survey team will check this against your backlog.

Include an organizational chart so the team can see who owns each phase of performance and where decisions get made. If you plan to subcontract significant portions of the work, name those subcontractors and describe how you will manage them. Generic references to a “network of qualified suppliers” invite follow-up questions and slow the process.

Quality Assurance Documentation

Provide the quality management system manual and any relevant certifications, such as ISO 9001, AS9100 for aerospace, or CMMI for software. Include evidence the system is actually running: recent internal audit reports, corrective action logs, and calibration records for measurement equipment. If the solicitation references specific MIL-STD or other government quality requirements, map each of them to a procedure in your quality manual.

Financial Documentation

Recent balance sheets, income statements, and cash-flow statements are the baseline. The survey team needs to see you can fund operations during the gap between incurring costs and receiving the first government payment, which on large contracts can stretch for months. Lines of credit, bonding capacity letters, and accounts receivable aging reports help demonstrate staying power. FAR 9.104-1 requires adequate financial resources to perform, or the demonstrated ability to obtain them, so if the plan depends on new financing, put the commitment in writing.⁷

For cost-type contracts, the SF 1408 assessment looks at whether your system can segregate direct and indirect costs, comply with Cost Accounting Standards if applicable, and generate the reports the government needs to administer the contract. A recent DCAA audit report finding your accounting system adequate can streamline this portion considerably; include it if you have one.

Accessing PASS 2.0 and Submitting Your Package

The contracting officer initiates the survey through the DCMA Pre-Award Survey System, PASS 2.0, which is the agency’s digital platform for requesting, processing, and completing pre-award surveys.⁸ External users, including contractors and non-DCMA government personnel, register for DCMA eTools through the External Web Access Management (EWAM) portal.⁹ Access issues go to the DCMA IT Help Desk at 1-844-347-2457.¹⁰

Often you will not interact with PASS directly. A Pre-Award Survey Manager (PASM) assigned to the survey coordinates the process, assigns factor evaluations to specialists, and submits the completed survey back to the contracting officer.⁸ Your primary contact is the PASM or the specialists reviewing each factor. Submit documentation through whatever channel they designate, whether PASS, encrypted email, or secure file transfer; the method depends on the sensitivity of the material. Mark proprietary or competition-sensitive data clearly so it receives the protections it is entitled to under procurement integrity rules.

The Verification Visit

After the documentation lands, the survey team typically verifies your claims through an on-site visit or, in some cases, a virtual review. Specialists compare what you wrote against what they can see: the machines on the floor, the staffing in the building, the financial records in the system. Discrepancies between the narrative and reality — overstated production capacity, key personnel who have already left, equipment not yet installed — result in unfavorable factor ratings.

The survey report must also address any history of unsatisfactory performance and note what corrective action you have taken or plan to take. A persistent pattern of needing costly government assistance, such as engineering support or extra inspection not required by contract, gets flagged even when the prior failures were not entirely your fault.⁴

The Recommendation

The final report compiles every factor evaluation into a recommendation on SF 1403, Section IV: complete award, partial award (specifying a reduced quantity), or no award.⁵ The contracting officer is not bound by the recommendation, which is advisory, but a “no award” recommendation supported by detailed findings is difficult to overcome.

If You’re a Small Business and Get a No-Award

A negative outcome does not automatically end the competition for small businesses. When a contracting officer finds that an apparent successful small business offeror is not responsible, FAR 19.6 requires referral to the Small Business Administration for a possible Certificate of Competency.¹¹ The SBA Area Office has 15 business days, or a longer agreed period, to notify the small business, accept a COC application, and potentially visit the facility for its own review.¹² The SBA is not limited to the deficiencies the contracting officer cited and can independently evaluate all elements of responsibility. If the SBA issues a COC, the contracting officer must accept it and award the contract.

Don’t Overstate Anything

Inflating capabilities in a pre-award survey is not just a way to lose a contract. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1001, knowingly making a materially false statement to a federal agency carries a fine and up to five years in prison, and a survey narrative submitted to the government qualifies.¹³ On the civil side, the False Claims Act at 31 U.S.C. § 3729 imposes treble damages plus a per-claim civil penalty, with a statutory base range of $5,000 to $10,000 per false claim that inflation adjustments have pushed significantly higher.¹⁴ Debarment and suspension from all future government contracting is also on the table, and for many companies that consequence is more damaging than any fine.

If a factor area is weak, acknowledge it and lay out a credible mitigation plan. Survey teams spot inflated claims routinely, and the verification visit exists to catch them. A candid narrative that addresses shortcomings directly is far more likely to result in a favorable recommendation than one the survey team can disprove within hours of walking through your facility.

1
Acquisition.GOV. FAR 9.105-1 Obtaining Information
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Acquisition.GOV. FAR 9.106-1 Conditions for Preaward Surveys
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Federal Register. Inflation Adjustment of Acquisition-Related Thresholds
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Acquisition.GOV. FAR 9.106-4 Reports
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GSA. Standard Form 1403 Preaward Survey of Prospective Contractor General
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Acquisition.GOV. FAR 53.209-1 Responsible Prospective Contractors
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Acquisition.GOV. FAR 9.104-1 General Standards
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Defense Contract Management Agency. Pre-Award Survey System PASS 2.0
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Defense Contract Management Agency. External Web Access Management
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Defense Contract Management Agency. About eTools
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Acquisition.GOV. FAR Subpart 19.6 Certificates of Competency and Determinations of Responsibility
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Acquisition.GOV. FAR 19.602-2 Issuing or Denying a Certificate of Competency
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 1001 – Statements or Entries Generally
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 3729 False Claims