How to Fill Out the Army Request for Services Contract Approval (RSCA)

To fill out the Army Request for Services Contract Approval (RSCA) form, download the current version from the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs website, complete the one-page approval sheet with your cost and coding data, work through all six supporting worksheets with substantive narrative answers, and route the package to a General Officer or Senior Executive Service member for signature before your contracting officer releases any solicitation. The form is mandated by Army Regulation 70-13 and the Army Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement, and no service contract can move forward without it.¹

Start With the Current Version

The RSCA form lives on the ASA(M&RA) Resources page, under the Total Force Management/Manpower Mix dropdown. It is not on the Army Publishing Directorate.² The form is revised periodically, and submitting an outdated revision is one of the more common reasons packages come back. Confirm the version date before you type anything.

The form cannot be altered. Local supplements are allowed, but they attach to the official form, they don’t replace any part of it.³

Confirm You Actually Need One

An RSCA is required for any Army contract to buy a service, regardless of whether the work is enduring or temporary, funded under the base budget or Overseas Contingency Operations, and regardless of contract type or dollar value above the simplified acquisition threshold. The requirement also applies when you issue task orders, purchase orders, or delivery orders against an existing contract, and when you add new performance locations or requiring activities.²

You do not need one for manufacturing and production, utilities, subscriptions, off-the-shelf software (customized software development, maintenance, and upgrades are services and do need one), construction funded with Military Construction Army funds (repairs and maintenance using O&M funds still require the form), help desk and customer service support incidental to an equipment or software purchase, software licensing agreements and updates, Foreign Military Sales, manufacturer’s warranties (extended maintenance beyond the standard warranty is a service), and delivery services incidental to a supply purchase.

Court-martial support is a special case: complete the form, but no approval or certification is required.³

Option years are another point worth checking before you start. Exercising an option on an existing contract does not need a new RSCA, as long as the terms, conditions, scope of work, and level of effort are unchanged from the original award, and an RSCA was completed at that time. Any modification that changes those elements restarts the process. Adding funds requires the form, though routine incremental funding of an already-approved contract does not. Bridge contracts and period-of-performance extensions follow the same rule: if something changed, file a new RSCA.²

Gather This Information Before You Open the Form

Leaving fields blank or entering placeholders you plan to fix later is a reliable way to get the package returned. Have these ready:

Project name and contract number. For a modification or task order, use the existing contract or delivery/task order number. For new requirements, indicate whether the package covers the base year only or includes options.
Period of performance dates and year-by-year cost. The form breaks costs out by base year and each option year (up to five), not as a lump sum.
Total project cost across base and all options. This drives which approval threshold applies.
Unit Identification Code (UIC) for the requiring activity.
AMSCO and MDEP codes tying the requirement to the correct budget line.
Estimated Contractor Full-Time Equivalents (CFTEs).
Justification code. The form gives four options explaining why contractors should perform the work rather than government employees. Pick the one that actually fits.
Product Service Code, the four-digit code used for federal reporting.
Funding source (O&M, R&D, or another appropriation). This affects fiscal-year alignment and spending controls.

Work Through All Six Worksheets

Most of the substance sits in the worksheets, not on the front page. Each addresses a specific legal or policy test, and none can be skipped.

Worksheet A covers inherently governmental functions in 34 questions. Certain functions, including commanding military forces, directing intelligence operations, awarding contracts, and determining agency policy, cannot be contracted out under any circumstances.⁴

Worksheet B addresses work closely associated with inherently governmental functions in 26 questions. The approving official has to certify that special consideration was given to using federal employees instead.

Worksheet C, 14 questions, tests whether the contract would create a de facto employer-employee relationship. More on this below, because it is where packages most often fail.

Worksheet D, two questions, covers in-sourcing opportunities and organizational conflicts of interest.

Worksheet E, six questions, addresses outsourcing and conversion of functions and whether the contract displaces appropriated-fund civilian employees, which implicates 10 U.S.C. 2461.

Worksheet F, five questions, asks whether the work qualifies as a critical function requiring enhanced government oversight.

Each worksheet produces a yes-or-no determination, but reviewers focus on the narrative explanations. Worksheets A and C draw the closest scrutiny, and a wrong answer on either can halt the procurement.²

Handle Worksheet C Carefully

A personal services contract is one where, by its terms or in practice, contractor personnel appear to be government employees. That arrangement is prohibited unless a specific statutory authority exists. The FAR identifies six indicators that reviewers weigh together:

The work is performed on a government site.
The government provides the principal tools or equipment.
The services directly support the organization’s core mission.
Civil service employees perform comparable work elsewhere in the agency.
The need extends beyond one year.
The work requires government direction or supervision of contractor employees.

No single factor is disqualifying on its own, with one exception: the last one. If the government must supervise contractor workers to protect its interests or retain control of the function, fill the position through a hiring action instead. On the form, address each indicator directly and explain why the arrangement does not cross into personal services.

Get the Right Signature

Every RSCA form requires certification by the accountable General Officer or SES member at the requiring activity. For contracts with a total value below the simplified acquisition threshold, the GO or SES may delegate signature authority down to a GS-15 or O-6.² The simplified acquisition threshold rose to $350,000 effective October 1, 2025, and the standard micro-purchase threshold rose to $15,000 at the same time.⁵

Total estimated value across the base period and all options also determines where the package is routed for higher-level review. AFARS Appendix GG breaks acquisitions into five categories, with the highest reserved for acquisitions of $1 billion or more (or more than $300 million in any single year) and the lowest covering acquisitions from the simplified acquisition threshold up to $10 million.⁶ Contracting officers forward acquisitions that meet these thresholds through their contracting chain to the designated approval authority before any solicitation is released.¹

What the Signature Certifies

When the accountable official signs, that signature certifies six specific things:

The requirement does not include inherently governmental functions.
For work closely associated with inherently governmental functions or non-competitive contracts, special consideration was given to using federal employees.
The requirement does not include unauthorized personal services in either the work statement or contract administration.
The contract does not constitute illegal outsourcing in violation of 10 U.S.C. 2461.
The workload has been validated using an accepted analysis method and documented in the Contract Manpower Reporting Application (CMRA) Panel for Documentation of Contractors module.
Trained and experienced officials, including Contracting Officer’s Representatives, are available to manage contract administration and evaluate contractor performance.³

If the requirement has not yet been reported in CMRA, attach an explanation. If a cost-benefit analysis has been completed, enter the approval date. Missing either can delay the review.

After the Signature

The signed RSCA authorizes the contracting officer to release the solicitation and eventually award the contract. Without it, no solicitation can be issued. The RSCA is a legal prerequisite, not a courtesy copy.¹ Keep a clean copy accessible, since the approved form feeds into the separate peer review process under DFARS 201.170 and AFARS 5101.170.

If the requirement changes after approval, whether that means new scope, additional locations, or a cost increase beyond incremental funding, the process restarts. The contracting officer holds the solicitation until a new signed form is in hand.

1
Acquisition.GOV. AFARS Subpart 5137.5 – Management Oversight of Service Contracts
2
U.S. Army. Request for Services Contract Approval Form
3
U.S. Army DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory. Army Request for Services Contract Approval Form
4
Acquisition.GOV. Policy
5
Federal Register. Inflation Adjustment of Acquisition-Related Thresholds
6
Acquisition.GOV. Appendix GG