DEAR Part 904 covers administrative matters. Connect Contract Records, Information, and Authority.
A well organized folder does not authorize access to sensitive information. A strong password does not grant a security clearance. And an email from a helpful contact does not rewrite your contract. Administrative discipline means connecting records, information, and the authority governing each action.
Watch the DEAR Part 904 lesson
Start with DEAR Part 904 and the contract
DEAR is the Department of Energy Acquisition Regulation. Part 904 includes subjects such as records retention, government contract files, classified information safeguards, facility clearance, public affairs, and DOE directives. These subjects interact, but they do not create identical obligations for every contractor.
Start with current codified text and your agreement. Acquisition.gov’s July 2025 baseline is incomplete for currency. Check applicable DOE and NNSA deviations, scope, and later replacements.
Distinguish federal rule adoption from changes to department rules. Older deviations may have been incorporated into regulation. Check clean final text and supersession status rather than relying on historical markup.
Separate agency recordkeeping procedures from your company’s duties. A government file requirement explains what agency personnel maintain; it does not automatically prescribe your entire filing system. Contractor obligations come from applicable law and contract requirements, including relevant clauses, attachments, directives, and authorized changes.
Control records and information
Keep awards, modifications, incorporated requirements, authorized directions, and correspondence accessible. Link instructions to their issuers and context. A reviewer should distinguish approved action from an unresolved request.
Records retention is not one universal period. Identify the applicable requirement for each category, including relevant contract provisions and any preservation obligations. Do not delete material simply because an internal calendar expires when another governing requirement or valid preservation instruction requires continued retention.
Determine what information the work actually involves. Public information, controlled information, classified information, and nuclear related categories do not become interchangeable because they appear in the same project folder. Ask authorized security personnel to resolve classification and handling questions through the appropriate established process.
Ordinary cybersecurity controls support information protection, but they do not grant classified access, facility eligibility, personnel authorization, or permission to handle nuclear material. An information technology certification cannot replace the applicable DOE security determination, contract authorization, approved safeguards, or need to know for the work.
Connect security and directives to actual terms
Check security clause prescriptions, including Security Requirements, Classification and Declassification, and Facility Clearance. Read the actual applicable text. Do not assume every security provision automatically governs your particular award.
The Security Requirements clause is nine fifty two point two zero four dash two. Its subject is not simply routine password hygiene. Where applicable, read its information, authorization, safeguarding, and subcontract requirements together with the contract’s other security terms and authorized security direction.
The Facility Clearance provision is nine fifty two point two zero four dash seventy three. It addresses facility eligibility and foreign ownership, control, or influence information. Eligibility, an award decision, and permission for particular access are separate matters; one does not automatically establish the others.
Do not promise that submitting a form produces a clearance or guarantees an award. Applicable procedures may distinguish preaward determinations from later clearance actions. Only the authorized officials can make those decisions under the governing requirements; a contractor’s schedule cannot supply missing security authority.
DOE directives require similar care. Determine which directives and versions are actually incorporated or otherwise made applicable to the work. An agency directive found online is not, by that fact alone, a new contractor obligation. Seek authorized clarification when the contractual connection is unclear.
Confirm contract terms and coordination before releasing project information. Deliverable approval does not automatically authorize marketing. Internal confidentiality labels do not justify withholding information from authorized government channels.
A fictional drawing transfer
Consider a clearly fictional example. Basin Engineering receives a DOE related design task and a request to upload drawings to an ordinary collaboration site. Its coordinator sees a security reference in the contract and pauses that transfer while seeking handling guidance from authorized personnel.
Basin checks the contract, obtains the proper handling determination, and confirms approved recipients and systems. Its coordinator does not make an unauthorized classification decision. The proposed transfer remains on hold until the required conditions are satisfied.
Preparation checklist
Use these eight fields to organize the review. Assign an owner and retain the supporting evidence.
- Contract and Record
- Requirement and Version
- Information Category
- Access and Authority
- Retention and Preservation
- Transfer and Release
- Subcontract Applicability
- Owner and Evidence
Three operating questions
Ask three operating questions. What actual requirement governs this record or information? Who has authority to approve the proposed access, transfer, or release? What evidence shows we followed that requirement? Use these questions at kickoff, during personnel changes, and before closeout or external communications.
Official sources and applicability
Sources reviewed November 7, 2026. The Acquisition.gov index has a July 2025 baseline. Check current codified text, applicable DOE/NNSA deviations, and the solicitation or contract. Agency procedures and contractor duties serve different purposes.
Build your readiness baseline
Explore GovAssessment to organize your business preparation and improvement priorities. Read our FAR summaries for the broader acquisition framework.
General education, not legal advice or official DOE guidance. GovAssessment does not certify compliance, confer approvals, or guarantee an award.
