Teaming agreement
Also called: contractor team arrangement, CTA, teaming arrangement, prime-sub teaming agreement, exclusive teaming
A teaming agreement is a contract between two or more firms to pursue a specific government opportunity together, usually as prime and subcontractor, setting out roles, workshare, exclusivity and what happens after award.
FAR 9.6 recognizes contractor team arrangements and says the government will respect them within the limits of the FAR; GSA uses the term CTA for a separate schedule-level arrangement where each member holds a schedule contract. The agreement itself is a commercial contract governed by state law, and courts in several states have refused to enforce teaming agreements that left the subcontract to future negotiation, which is why the workshare and the subcontract terms should be as definite as possible before the proposal goes in.
What to check: the workshare in terms that can be measured, the exclusivity clause (will the prime team with others on the same bid), the obligation to negotiate a subcontract in good faith and the key terms attached, the handling of proprietary data, and the limitations on subcontracting if the bid is a set-aside. Sign before you share pricing or write a word of the proposal.
What it is not: a joint venture. Under a teaming agreement only the prime holds the contract.
See also: Joint venture (JV), Subcontractor, Prime contractor, Limitations on subcontracting
Questions that use this term
Search allA teaming agreement is a written agreement between two or more companies to form a team to compete for a government contract. To prevent being...
A joint venture is a separate legal entity formed by two or more businesses, while a teaming agreement establishes a prime contractor and one or more...