The USPTO Office of Procurement continually strives to remain on the leading edge of procurement reform. It is our goal to identify and utilize new and innovative procurement techniques and partner with industry wherever possible. In 1999, as part of the USPTO Efficiency Act, the USPTO was granted the statutory authority to make purchases and enter into contracts without regard to the Federal Property & Administrative Services Act (FPAS), the Competition in Contracting Act, and the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), Parts 6 and 15, in particular. To achieve the new flexibilities provided by the USPTO Efficiency Act, a team was formed to research best practices and to draft new procurement guidelines and processes for use at the USPTO. Our new guidelines are designed for flexibility and innovation and is entitled the Patent and Trademark Office Acquisition Guidelines, commonly referred to as PTAG.
The PTAG was published in the Federal Register for comment and on March 10, 2003, was adopted for use here at the USPTO. The implementation of PTAG notwithstanding, the USPTO will continue to follow the FAR as guidance in our acquisition decisions wherever it is appropriate to do so. Conducting procurements within PTAG guidelines along with the FAR, continues to ensure procurements are made fairly and in the best interests of the government. PTAG guidance includes; informing vendors of the rules; compliance with applicable statutes and regulations; and Executive orders. However, the PTAG has replaced FAR regulations for the conduct of competitions and competition thresholds.
The PTAG procurement guidance has an alternative streamlined contracting approach. Click below to read about the PTAG.
NOTE: PDFs are Adobe Acrobat® files. If you have the PDF viewer installed for your browser, it will launch automatically and open the document in your browser window. To save a PDF file for off-line viewing, "right-click" on the link and select the "save target" or "save link" option. Be sure to note the location on your PC where you save the file so that you can retrieve it later.
If you do not have the current version of the Adobe Acrobat (PDF) viewer, please download the free PDF viewer and follow the installation instructions provided by the vendor. |
|
=online
business system 
=fees 
=forms
=help 
=laws/regulations 