The 12-field intake form federal-construction primes use to qualify subs against SAM.gov UEI, SBA size standards, set-aside certifications, CMMC level, bonding, insurance, CPARS, and OCI exposure. Before the subcontract package goes out.
Why federal subcontractor prequalification needs its own form, not a commercial template with extras
Every commercial-construction prequalification form on the internet asks the same questions. Legal entity, EIN, bonding capacity, insurance limits, three references, last three projects, OSHA 300. Useful for a private GC running a hospital build. Useless for a prime running a Davis-Bacon-covered job at an Air Force base.
A federal subcontractor prequalification has to capture data that a commercial prequal never thinks about. The sub’s SAM.gov UEI, because every payment to that sub eventually gets reported under FFATA. The sub’s NAICS codes and SBA size-standard self-certification, because if the prime is meeting a small-business subcontracting goal under FAR 19.7, mis-categorizing a sub as small kills the credit. The sub’s set-aside status, 8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, EDWOSB, SDVOSB, DBE, MBE/WBE, with active certification dates, because that’s how the prime credits its subcontracting plan numbers. The sub’s CMMC self-attestation level and SPRS score, because under DFARS 252.204-7021 the prime is now liable for sub posture. Bonding capacity broken into single-job and aggregate, because federal projects routinely require Miller Act bonds on first-tier subs above $35K and the prime needs to know if the sub can post them. Insurance limits with carrier names AND A.M. Best ratings, because federal contracts often require A-VIII or better and a sub with an A- carrier just failed prequal silently.
And then federal-only items that don’t exist on commercial prequals at all. Federal contracting history with prime-or-sub status and contract values for the past three years. The basis of past-performance evaluation. CPARS rating average if the sub has any past-performance entries in the database, plus disclosure of any adverse ratings (you’d rather know in prequal than learn during a protest response). Affiliations and Organizational Conflicts of Interest disclosure under FAR 9.5. Particularly relevant for design-build, A-E, and IT-services subs. Authorized signer at the senior-official level, not a junior estimator with no contractual authority.
The problem with starting prequal from a generic Procore or DPR form: every federal-specific question gets bolted on as an attachment, the sub fills out three different documents, half the federal data lives in the prequal form and half in a separate compliance-questionnaire spreadsheet, and the contracts admin spends a week chasing missing pieces from twenty different subs. By the time the package is complete the sub’s certifications have changed, SAM.gov has lapsed on at least two of them, and the prime is starting over.
This template is the federal-prime intake form built for federal work from the first field. Twelve fields, all federal-relevant, with the SAM.gov UEI in field one and the senior-official signature in field twelve. Send it during prequal. Verify the answers independently against SAM.gov, SBA DSBS, SPRS, the surety carrier, and the relevant state contractor licensing boards. Refresh annually. Refresh on every new federal subcontract award where the project value, FAR clauses, or required CMMC level differ from the previous award.
Federal prequal is not a generic prequal with extra questions. It’s a different form. Stop redoing it from scratch on every new project.
Who this questionnaire is for
- Federal general contractors prequalifying subs for FAR-covered projects (FAR 19.7 small-business plans, FAR 22.406 Davis-Bacon prerequisites, FAR 9.5 OCI screening)
- Prime contractors flowing down DFARS 252.204-7021 CMMC, FAR 52.219-9 small-business subcontracting plans, and FAR 52.222-6 Davis-Bacon clauses
- Contracts administrators running the federal prequal cycle across 20–60 subs per project
- Compliance officers building the DCAA / DCMA / OFCCP audit-ready evidence trail for sub-tier compliance
- Subcontracting program managers tracking 8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, EDWOSB, SDVOSB, DBE, and MBE/WBE participation against FAR 52.219-9 plan goals
- Risk managers evaluating sub-tier bonding, insurance, and OCI exposure before subcontract execution
If you’re the sub being asked to fill this out, work through the CMMC vendor / subcontractor questionnaire before responding to confirm your CMMC posture matches the level the prime needs.
The 12 fields the questionnaire captures
The questionnaire captures 12 fields the prime needs from every sub before federal subcontract award:
- Sub legal entity, DBA, EIN, and SAM.gov UEI. Capture the sub’s exact legal entity name as registered with the state of incorporation, any DBA names, federal Employer Identification Number, and the 12-character SAM.gov Unique Entity ID. The UEI is the federal-only field. Confirm it’s active at SAM.gov before relying on the entry. Subs with lapsed SAM registrations cannot legally receive payment on federal subcontracts and must re-register before award.
- State(s) of incorporation and active contractor licenses by state. List the state where the entity is incorporated plus every state where the sub holds an active contractor license, with license numbers and expiration dates. Federal projects often span states; a sub licensed only in their home state can’t perform on a job site across the line. Verify each license number against the state contractor licensing board before relying on the response.
- NAICS codes the sub claims competence in, with primary. List every NAICS code the sub will perform work under on this project, marking the primary. NAICS determines the SBA size standard that applies to the sub’s small-business self-certification, so primary NAICS must match the sub’s actual primary line of work, not the most favorable code for size-standard purposes. Small-business mis-categorization based on a stale NAICS is the most common audit finding under FAR 19.7.
- SBA size standard self-certification under primary NAICS. Sub self-certifies whether they meet the SBA small-business size standard for the primary NAICS code on this project (typically a revenue threshold like $36.5M for 236220 Commercial Construction or 500 employees for some manufacturing codes). Required for the prime to count this sub against any small-business subcontracting goals in the FAR 52.219-9 plan. The sub must restate the size standard threshold and affirm they fall under it as of the certification date.
- Set-aside status. 8(a) / HUBZone / WOSB / EDWOSB / SDVOSB / DBE / MBE/WBE. Sub lists every active socioeconomic set-aside certification with certifying entity, certification number, and expiration date. 8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, EDWOSB, and SDVOSB are SBA-administered and verifiable in DSBS or SAM.gov. DBE/MBE/WBE are state-administered (DOT, MWBE programs, NMSDC, WBENC). The prime credits these against subcontracting plan goals. Verify each certification is active on the response date, not just historically valid.
- CMMC self-attestation level and SPRS score. Sub states current CMMC level (None, L1 self, L2 self, L2 C3PAO, L3) and SPRS score under NIST SP 800-171 if applicable. For full CMMC questionnaire detail, the sub completes the CMMC vendor / subcontractor questionnaire separately. This field captures the headline answer for prequal screening. If the sub’s CMMC level is below what this project requires, they need to be carved out of FCI/CUI scope or escorted to L1 readiness before subcontract execution.
- Bonding capacity (single-job and aggregate) and surety carrier. Sub states maximum single-job bond limit, aggregate bond capacity across all open work, surety carrier name, and surety A.M. Best rating. Federal projects under the Miller Act require performance and payment bonds on first-tier subs at the prime’s discretion, typically required above $35K. Subs without sufficient bond capacity cannot perform on bonded scopes. Verify the carrier’s rating against A.M. Best before relying on the response. A-VIII or better is the federal floor for most agencies.
- Insurance limits and carriers with A.M. Best ratings. Sub lists Commercial General Liability, Umbrella, Auto, and Workers Comp limits, the carrier on each policy, and the A.M. Best rating of each carrier. Federal contracts often require carriers rated A-VIII or better; a sub carrying B+ coverage just failed prequal silently. Verify each carrier rating against A.M. Best. Don’t accept the sub’s stated rating without verification, and don’t assume “A-rated” means A-VIII.
- Federal contracting history. Past 3 years. Sub lists every federal project from the past 36 months: agency, prime or sub status, contract or subcontract value, period of performance, and contracting officer point-of-contact. This is the basis of federal past-performance evaluation. A sub with no federal experience isn’t disqualifying, but a sub claiming federal experience whose listed projects don’t show up in FPDS-NG or USAspending.gov is a red flag. Verify before relying on the response.
- CPARS rating average and adverse-rating disclosure. Sub provides the average of CPARS ratings across federal projects with CPARS entries, plus disclosure of any “Marginal” or “Unsatisfactory” ratings. CPARS data is non-public, so the sub’s self-reported numbers are evidence, but the prime can ask the contracting officer for direct CPARS access during prequal. Adverse ratings are not automatically disqualifying; the prime needs to understand the context (project, agency, root cause, remediation) before accepting or rejecting the sub.
- Affiliations and Organizational Conflicts of Interest disclosure. Sub discloses (a) any parent company, subsidiary, or affiliate relationships that could affect SBA size determination under 13 CFR 121.103, and (b) any OCI exposure under FAR 9.5. Biased ground rules, unequal access to information, or impaired objectivity from past or concurrent federal work. Construction subs with engineering or A-E affiliates running design work for the same agency carry real OCI risk. Pre-disclosure during prequal beats discovery during a bid protest.
- Authorized signer and senior-official signature. Senior official’s name, title, contact email, and physical or electronic signature acknowledging the responses are accurate as of the date signed and that material misrepresentation is grounds for subcontract termination and possible False Claims Act exposure. Senior official only. Junior estimator or coordinator can prepare the form but only an officer-level signer can attest. Date the signature; an unsigned or undated form is not a completed prequal.
How to send and verify the questionnaire on every federal prequal cycle
- Email the form (PDF or DOCX) to the sub’s primary contracts contact during prequal. 7-day SLA for return.
- When responses come back, verify field 1 (UEI) at SAM.gov, field 2 (license numbers) at the relevant state boards, field 5 (set-aside status) at SBA DSBS or the relevant state MWBE program, field 6 (SPRS score) at sprs.dla.mil, field 7 (surety rating) at A.M. Best, field 8 (insurance carrier ratings) at A.M. Best, and field 9 (federal contracting history) against FPDS-NG or USAspending.gov. Don’t rely on sub-stated numbers.
- Cross-reference field 3 (primary NAICS) against field 4 (size-standard self-cert). Primary NAICS must match the actual scope, and the size threshold must be the right one for that NAICS.
- Save the completed questionnaire and verification screenshots to the project’s contracts file with response date, reviewer name, and the sub’s UEI as the index.
- Refresh annually. Refresh on every new federal subcontract award where contract value, FAR clauses, or required CMMC level differ from the previous award.
Stop redoing prequal from scratch on every new federal project
The 12 fields above take a contracts admin 45 minutes per sub when responses are clean, and 4-6 hours when answers are missing, set-aside certifications need verification, UEIs are stale, or insurance carrier ratings have to be cross-checked manually. Multiply by 30+ subs on a federal project and prequal becomes a full-time admin job for two months. Contracts Connected’s Subcontractor Prequal feature pre-fills this questionnaire from sub records already on file, requests responses with a 7-day SLA, verifies SAM.gov UEI and SPRS score against live APIs, cross-checks insurance carrier A.M. Best ratings automatically, and flags any sub whose certifications are about to lapse, before subcontract execution.
For educational purposes. These templates, checklists, and trackers are operator-built starting points designed to help you move faster on the kind of work that usually drowns construction admins in email chains. They are not legal, insurance, accounting, or tax advice. Each project, jurisdiction, and contract has its own quirks. Review the document, refine the language, and consult your attorney, broker, CPA, or compliance officer before relying on it for a live project decision.
Frequently asked questions about federal subcontractor prequalification
Why does federal prequal need a separate form from commercial prequal?
Federal prequal captures data a commercial prequal never asks: SAM.gov UEI, SBA size-standard self-certification under primary NAICS, set-aside certifications (8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, EDWOSB, SDVOSB, DBE, MBE/WBE), CMMC level, SPRS score, OCI disclosure under FAR 9.5, and federal contracting history with CPARS. Bolting these on as attachments to a Procore or DPR commercial form creates split data, missing fields, and audit findings under FAR 19.7 and FAR 9.5. A federal-purpose-built form keeps the federal data structured and the verification trail clean.
How is SAM.gov UEI different from EIN, DUNS, or CAGE?
EIN is the IRS Employer Identification Number used for tax reporting. DUNS was the Dun & Bradstreet identifier the federal government used until April 2022. UEI replaced DUNS as the official federal-entity identifier and is now issued directly by SAM.gov when a contractor registers. CAGE (Commercial and Government Entity) code is a separate DLA-issued identifier used for DoD work and inventory control. A federal sub needs an active SAM.gov registration with a valid UEI to receive payment on a federal subcontract.
Can I rely on the sub’s self-certified set-aside status?
Treat self-certification as starting evidence. Always verify 8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, EDWOSB, and SDVOSB certifications in SBA’s DSBS or in SAM.gov’s entity record before crediting the sub against any FAR 52.219-9 subcontracting plan goal. Verify DBE certifications against the relevant state DOT program; verify MBE/WBE against NMSDC, WBENC, or the relevant state MWBE program. Self-certification without independent verification is the most common audit finding for primes under FAR 19.7.
What if a sub’s SAM.gov registration is lapsed?
A lapsed SAM registration disqualifies the sub from receiving payment on a federal subcontract until renewed. Subs with lapses must re-register and have an active record before subcontract execution. The renewal cycle is annual; many subs let it slip. During prequal, screenshot the SAM record on the verification date. Re-verify before any first payment milestone, and pause subcontract execution if the registration goes inactive between prequal and award.
What’s the OCI disclosure for under FAR 9.5?
Organizational Conflicts of Interest under FAR 9.5 cover three patterns: biased ground rules (sub helped write the spec they’re now bidding), unequal access to information (sub had non-public agency information that gave them an unfair bid advantage), and impaired objectivity (sub is being asked to evaluate or audit work performed by an affiliate). Construction subs with A-E affiliates, IT-services affiliates running agency systems, or program-management affiliates touching the same agency carry real OCI exposure. Pre-disclosure during prequal lets the prime structure mitigation; post-award discovery is grounds for protest and termination.
How often do I need to refresh this prequal?
Annually at minimum, on the response-date anniversary. Additionally on every new federal subcontract award where the project value, applicable FAR clauses, agency, or required CMMC level differ from the previous engagement. Refresh on any change to the sub’s set-aside certifications (8(a) typically expires after 9 years), bonding capacity, insurance carriers, or senior-official signers. Stale prequal data is a finding waiting to happen.