WHAT IS A STATEMENT OF WORK?

Although commonly used throughout the government, the term statement of work is not defined in the FAR. The FAR uses the term work statement when discussing research and development (R&D) contracting and the term statements of work in the coverage of performance-based contracting, but no specific definition is provided. For our purposes, statement of work is used to refer to the document that completely describes the contractual work requirement. Unless otherwise noted, the term also encompasses the term performance work statement (PWS) used in performance-based service contracting (PBSC).

To put the term statement of work in the context of the FAR language, the following are some of the terms the FAR uses when discussing the description of a work requirement:

•    Specification. A specification is a description of the technical requirements for a material, product, or service that includes the criteria for determining whether these requirements are met. Specifications state the government’s minimum needs and are designed to promote full and open competition, with due regard to the nature of the supplies or services to be acquired. The two sources of formal government-approved specifications are (1) the General Services Administration Index of Federal Specifications, Standards, and Commercial Item Descriptions, which lists federal specifications and standards that have been implemented for use by all federal agencies, and (2) the Department of Defense Index of Specifications and Standards, which contains unclassified federal and military specifications and standards, related standardization documents, and voluntary standards approved for use by DoD.

•    Standards. Standards are documents that establish engineering and technical limitations and applications of items, materials, processes, methods, designs, and engineering practices. Standards include any related criteria deemed essential to achieve the highest practical degree of uniformity in materials or products, or interchangeability of parts used in these products.
The FAR states that agencies shall select existing requirements documents or develop new requirements documents that meet the needs of the agency in accordance with the guidance contained in the Federal Standardization Manual, FSPM-0001; for DoD components, Defense Standardization Program Policies and Procedures, DoD 4120.24-??; and for IT standards and guidance, the Federal Information Processing Standards Publications.

•    Voluntary consensus standards. Voluntary consensus standards are standards established by a private-sector body (other than a private standard of an individual firm) that are available for public use. The FAR states that in accordance with OM? Circular A-119, Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards and in Conformity Assessment Activities, and Section 12 (d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995, Pub L. 104-113 (15 U.S.C 272 note), agencies must use voluntary consensus standards in lieu of government-unique standards, except where inconsistent with law or otherwise impractical.

•    Purchase description. A purchase description is a description of the essential physical characteristics and functions required to meet the government’s minimum needs. A purchase description is used when there is no applicable specification that adequately describes the requirement. This term is usually associated with acquisitions using simplified acquisition procedures.

•    Product description. Product description is a generic term for documents such as specifications, standards, and purchase descriptions.

Each of these terms addresses only part of a complete description of a contractual requirement, generally just the technical requirement. A complete description would include what the agency wants to buy; why the agency wants to buy it; where the work is to be performed; when the work is to be performed; what the work is to accomplish; what, how much, and when it is to be delivered; and how the government will determine that the work has been performed satisfactorily. The SOW encompasses all these elements and may, as appropriate, include other documents such as specifications, standards, voluntary consensus standards, and purchase descriptions.