A familiar label is not evidence that your company or supplier fits a regulatory definition. Check the words before making the claim.
This guide explains DFARS Part 202: Definitions of Words and Terms. Read the relevant definition alongside the operative solicitation, contract, clause, and applicable regulatory coverage.
Watch the DFARS Part 202 lesson
Separate supplier categories
DFARS 202.101 distinguishes an authorized aftermarket manufacturer from a contractor-approved supplier. The former involves manufacturing under the original component manufacturer’s contract or express written authority using its designs or specifications. A contractor-approved supplier is identified as trustworthy without a contractual agreement with the original component manufacturer for the transaction. Those descriptions are not interchangeable.
Verify the nontraditional claim
The nontraditional defense contractor definition turns on specified DoD contract or subcontract performance subject to full Cost Accounting Standards coverage during the preceding one-year period. It is not simply a claim that a company is new, small, innovative, or unfamiliar to the buyer. Connect the definition to actual performance history.
Separate a definition from the operating requirement
The cyber incident definition includes compromise or actual or potentially adverse effects on systems or information. Definitions help interpret an obligation; they do not independently answer every reporting, safeguarding, procurement, or flowdown question. Locate the operative clause or procedure before deciding what action is required.
A hypothetical example
A fictional electronics supplier is preparing a defense quotation. Its buyer describes a distributor as authorized because the distributor passed the company’s internal supplier review. Sales repeats that description in a draft customer response.
The reviewer asks what authority is being claimed and what evidence supports it. The team retrieves the applicable definition and separates a contractor’s trust assessment from an original manufacturer’s contractual or written authority. It asks purchasing to obtain the relevant records.
The team then checks the actual sourcing requirement in the acquisition documents. It corrects unsupported wording and records what remains unresolved. A supplier’s classification and whether a particular purchase is permitted are separate questions; a definition alone does not settle both.
Avoid the shortcut
Do not let a convenient label travel from a supplier database into a proposal without review. An internal approved-vendor flag may serve a useful business purpose while answering a different question from the regulation. Preserve the evidence behind the specific claim, not merely the name of the system that contains it.
Try this exercise
Select one term used in a current quotation or supplier record. Compare your team’s explanation with the dated definition. Identify the factual statements that need evidence and check whether more specific coverage supplies another definition. Use this GovSuccess preparation worksheet; it is not a prescribed Government form.
- Term and exact citation
- Dated definition
- Decision or representation
- Relevant facts
- Supporting records
- Scope and exceptions
- Reviewer and unresolved questions
- Operative clause or procedure
Official source and applicability
DFARS Part 202 and 202.101. The official source page displays DFARS Change 5/7/2026, effective May 7, 2026. Check later changes, applicable supplements and deviations, and the actual acquisition documents before relying on a requirement.
Build your readiness baseline
Explore GovAssessment for a structured business-readiness baseline based on your answers. It does not certify compliance, approve a contract action, or guarantee an award.
General education, not legal advice. Browse the DFARS series.
