Selling to DLA

Before you submit a DIBBS quote: a pre-submission checklist

What this is and who it is for

A quote on DIBBS (the DLA Internet Bid Board System) is an offer to sell. This checklist is for shop owners and small resellers who are about to send one. It covers the clauses in DLA's acquisition rules (DLAD) that most often decide what you must say on the quote and what you must be ready to show. It does not replace reading your solicitation. The solicitation is the request for quotes on one specific part, and its clauses are the ones that apply to you.

MachineShop.Directory is not affiliated with DLA. The solicitation always governs.

This page is a reading aid, not legal advice. Where a clause governs, read the clause in your solicitation. Every item below shows the source it comes from, and the sources are listed at the bottom with the date we read them (2026-11-09).

Related reading: the AMC and AMSC codes guide for approved-source limits, and the reseller traceability checklist if you are not the manufacturer.

1. Quote the part the solicitation describes

Many parts are described only by an approved source's name (shown as a CAGE code), a part number and a short description. For those, DLAD says solicitations include notes L04 and M06.

  • Note L04 asks you to say, for each line item (CLIN), which kind of offer you are making: exact product, alternate product, superseding part number, previously approved product, or correction to the CAGE code or part number. For each one you give a CAGE code and part number.(source 1)
  • Exact product means the product described by the approved source's name and its part number from the item description, made by or under the direction of that approved source.(source 1)
  • You must say you are offering an alternate product if your product does not meet the exact, superseding or previously approved descriptions. One example the note gives is a reverse-engineered product that is not cited in the item description.(source 1)
  • You must say you are offering a superseding part number if the item otherwise qualifies as exact product but the part number in the item description was superseded by an administrative change with no change in configuration.(source 1)
  • You must say you are offering a previously approved product if the product was already delivered to the Government or evaluated and approved before.(source 1)
  • If you think the CAGE code or part number in the item description is wrong, note L04 has a correction option. It lists these reasons: same corporation but different division, sold to a different corporation, part number not recognized, obsolete part number, or other.(source 1)

2. Check whether an alternate offer will be evaluated

  • Under note M06, offers of alternate product are not evaluated if the solicitation is automated.(source 1)
  • Note M06 also says alternate offers are not evaluated if the savings do not meet its dollar threshold, or if the time proposed for award does not allow evaluation and delay would hurt the Government.(source 1)
  • DLAD says all items are candidates for automated solicitation, except services, non-NSN items, and requirements bought with delivery orders against indefinite-delivery contracts.(source 5)
  • If the solicitation does not provide for evaluating alternate offers, you may ask for the alternate product to be evaluated for future buys. The request cites the NSN of the exact product and includes the applicable level of technical data.(source 1)
  • The contracting officer may ask for drawings, specifications or other data on an alternate offer. It must be submitted within 10 days, or as otherwise specified, or the offer will not be considered.(source 1)

3. Check drawing access for you and your source

Read the AMC and AMSC codes for the part first. Our guide to AMC and AMSC codes explains them. Then check access.

  • If the solicitation says the item needs DLA approval to access export-controlled technical data, DLAD tells contracting officers to check that you and any source of supply you will use have that approval, unless an exception applies.(source 11)
  • In DLA's automated buys, the offeror and any source of supply it will use must have an active JCP certification and the DLA approval to be eligible for award.(source 11)

4. Make your CAGE codes consistent

  • Before award above the micro-purchase threshold, you give the contracting officer the CAGE code assigned to your location, when the solicitation requires SAM registration or a UEI.(source 3)
  • A manufacturer's CAGE code in your offer that differs from the approved manufacturing source's CAGE code in the solicitation is on DLAD's list of reasons for a contracting officer to request unredacted traceability documents.(source 2)
  • If supplies or packaging will be inspected or accepted somewhere other than your production location, note E06 asks for that location's CAGE code and address.(source 6)

5. Have your traceability papers ready

If you are not the manufacturer, see our reseller traceability checklist.

  • The contracting officer may ask for evidence that the product you offered is technically acceptable. It must be submitted within 2 days, or as otherwise specified, or the offer will not be considered.(source 1)

6. Delivery days and inspection

  • In DLA's automated small-purchase evaluation, exclusions and rejections consider delivery. Quote only a delivery time you can meet.(source 4)
  • Under note E07, if the solicitation contemplates destination inspection and you propose inspection at origin, the Government adds an evaluation factor of $2,500 to your price for each origin inspection. Each phased delivery counts as one inspection.(source 6)
  • Under note E06, when inspection and acceptance are at source, the place of acceptance is where the Government does its last inspection before shipment, unless you indicate a different location.(source 6)

7. First article clauses

When first article testing (FAT) applies, DLAD says the contracting officer includes note E08 in the solicitation and the award. Read E08 before you price.

  • No separate FAT line item: include all FAT costs and risk in the production line item price.(source 7)
  • Separate FAT line item: put all FAT costs and risk there. One FAT line unit equals one first article test. To be paid for FAT costs you must propose them on the separate line, and the production price excludes them.(source 7)
  • Do not propose a FAT price that is materially unbalanced against the production price. To be eligible, the FAT and production prices must be fair and reasonable.(source 7)
  • The contracting officer uses the total award price to pick the best value offer.(source 7)
  • You can ask for a FAT waiver. The note lists the criteria: you made and delivered the item or a similar one within the last five years (three years for critical safety items); no changes to processes, tooling or place of performance; no changes to manufacturing data; and the same design, method and facilities.(source 7)
  • The contracting officer may order another first article sample after a major change to the technical data, a lapse in production of more than 90 days, or a change in place of performance, process, material, drawing, specification or source of supply. You pay when you cause the change.(source 7)
  • FAT is not applied to reverse engineering projects, or to parts with AMSC T, Z, D, H or P.(source 8)
  • For FAT line items in awards, DLAD tells the contracting officer to set inspection at source and acceptance at destination.(source 7)

8. Packaging and marking clauses

Read the packaging and marking instructions in your solicitation and award.

  • When FAT applies, DLAD tells the contracting officer to include shipping and packaging instructions in the award.(source 7)
  • Under note C14, the Government may fix nonconforming packaging or marking on DLA-owned material when the estimated cost is $1,000 or less. The contracting officer tells you, and you reimburse the Government's cost.(source 9)
  • If the estimated cost is more than $1,000, the material may be returned to you for correction and resubmittal. In urgent cases the Government may fix it at your expense.(source 9)
  • You must fix hazardous supplies that were damaged in transit or do not meet the preservation, packaging, packing and marking requirements.(source 9)
  • If a contractor repeats packaging or labeling discrepancies, the contracting officer decides whether to consider it for the Defense Contractor Review List (DCRL).(source 9)
  • The DCRL is a tool contracting officers use to identify and share contractor performance, capability and integrity issues.(source 10)

What this page leaves out

We only include a fact when we read it on an official government page. DLA's own website would not let our automated reader open some pages. We did not work around that. These points are left out for that reason:

  • What adding remarks, exceptions or alternate product does to automated award eligibility, beyond note M06 above. DLA's Master Solicitation for automated purchases returned an access error.
  • The DIBBS quote entry screens, field names and quote validity rules. The DIBBS pages we could reach showed only a Department of Defense warning banner.
  • Packaging standards and DLA's packaging guides. DLA's packaging pages returned an access error.
  • Any time estimate, price benchmark or success statistic. No official page we read gives one.

Check a part before you quote

Look up a part by NSN or part number to see who controls the design and which companies are catalogued for it. The bid desk reads DLA's catalog codes for a part and lists the paperwork a solicitation calls for.

Open the NSN and part number lookupSee the bid desk

More plain-English help is on the government contracting hub.

Related checklists

Sources

  1. DLAD 11.391, Part numbered items, notes L04 and M06 (acquisition.gov). Kinds of offer, alternate offers, evidence deadlines. DLAD change 2024-0906. Read 2026-11-09.
  2. DLAD 11.392, Traceability documentation (acquisition.gov). CAGE mismatch as a risk indicator. DLAD change 2024-0906. Read 2026-11-09.
  3. FAR 4.1802, Policy (acquisition.gov). CAGE code before award. Read 2026-11-09.
  4. DLAD 11.401, General (acquisition.gov). Delivery in automated small-purchase evaluation. DLAD change 2024-0906. Read 2026-11-09.
  5. DLAD 13.003, Policy (acquisition.gov). Which items are candidates for automated solicitation. DLAD change 2024-0906. Read 2026-11-09.
  6. DLAD 46.402, Government contract quality assurance at source, notes E06 and E07 (acquisition.gov). Inspection location and the origin inspection evaluation factor. DLAD change 2024-0906. Read 2026-11-09.
  7. DLAD 9.306, Solicitation requirements, note E08 (acquisition.gov). First article testing requirements. DLAD change 2024-0906. Read 2026-11-09.
  8. DLAD 9.304, Exceptions (acquisition.gov). Programs and AMSC codes where FAT is not applied. DLAD change 2024-0906. Read 2026-11-09.
  9. DLAD 46.407, Nonconforming supplies or services, note C14 (acquisition.gov). Correction of nonconforming packaging or marking. DLAD change 2024-0906. Read 2026-11-09.
  10. DLAD 9.100, Scope of subpart (acquisition.gov). What the Defense Contractor Review List is. DLAD change 2024-0906. Read 2026-11-09.
  11. DLAD 25.7902-4, Procedures (acquisition.gov). Export-controlled data checks on offerors and sources of supply. DLAD change 2024-0906. Read 2026-11-09.

MachineShop.Directory is not affiliated with DLA. The solicitation always governs.