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Module 4: Capture and Read the Package. Written explanation, fictional example, and sources.
Educational content. Follow the applicable solicitation and contract. Official sources are provided below.
14 min · Progress tracking is not available yet
After this lesson you should be able to open a solicitation as a package, not a single PDF: the cover, the list of attachments, every amendment, and the instructions and evaluation language. You should also create an AsherGate company draft that holds those files together. AsherGate does not import the listing from SAM.gov and does not submit a bid.
Confirm every requirement in the source files.
FAR 2.101 defines a solicitation as any request to submit offers or quotations to the Government. What you download from SAM.gov is often several files: a cover or request for proposals, a statement of work, a price workbook, drawings, and later amendments. FAR 15.206 says that when the Government changes its requirements or terms, the contracting officer shall amend the solicitation. Amendments issued before the proposal due date go to everyone who received the solicitation. An amendment can change quantity, a deadline, an attachment, or the evaluation language. If FAR 52.215-1 is in the solicitation, paragraph (b) of that provision says that terms and conditions that are not amended remain unchanged, and that offerors shall acknowledge receipt of any amendment by the date and time specified in the amendment. That unchanged-terms rule applies only when 52.215-1 is actually in the files. Commercial packages may use FAR 52.212-1 instead. Read the provision that is in the package.
For negotiated acquisitions, FAR 15.204-1 tells contracting officers to use the uniform contract format. Beginners can use that table as a map even when the files are split across PDFs. Section A is the solicitation or contract form. Section B is supplies or services and prices or costs. Section C is the description, specifications, or statement of work. Sections D through H cover packaging, inspection, deliveries, administration, and special requirements. Section I is clauses. Section J lists documents, exhibits, and other attachments. Sections K, L, and M are representations, instructions to offerors, and evaluation factors. Upon award, Part IV (K through M) is not physically included in the resulting contract, but it still governed how you had to respond.
Copy quantities, units, and deadlines from the current files, including the latest amendment. If an amendment and the cover disagree, do not average them. Read the amendment’s description of the change. AsherGate analysis can later extract those lines with citations, but the files remain the source of truth.
In this product, open Solicitations and choose New Solicitation. Name the draft with the notice number. You can attach PDF, Word, Excel, PNG, and JPEG files, each up to 50 MB, when you create the draft or after it is saved. Saved drafts can run AI analysis on PDF, Word (.docx), and Excel (.xlsx) files. Images and older .doc or .xls files are stored for your company but are not analyzed. Analysis of the uploaded PDF, Word, and Excel files together also has a 50 MB limit.
The sample analysis on the Solicitations page is not a company draft. It is not extracted from files you selected on New Solicitation. Use your own draft for this lesson.
Keep this as a side note, not the default map. Commercial product and commercial service buys assembled under FAR Part 12 use a different layout to the maximum extent practicable, often Standard Form 1449 with 52.212-1 instructions, 52.212-2 evaluation language if used, attachments, and 52.212-3 representations. Sealed-bid invitations use a similar uniform format in FAR 14.201-1, with listed cases such as construction and some simplified-contract formats where that table need not be used. If Section letters are missing, still look for a cover, a list of attachments, amendments, instructions, and evaluation language in whatever headings the files actually use.
Using the Mossglen story below, the files for AG-PKG-26-0402 are the RFP PDF (Sections A through M), Section J naming two attachments, Attachment 1 specifications PDF, Attachment 2 price workbook, and Amendment 0001 PDF that changes delivery from 30 days to 60 days.
Download all five from SAM.gov. In AsherGate choose New Solicitation, name the draft AG-PKG-26-0402 Mossglen, and upload every file. Do not stop at the cover PDF. Do not submit a bid.
Fictional example
Mossglen Safety Supply LLC is a fictional personal-protective-equipment shop in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It has an Active SAM.gov registration and no federal award.
On SAM.gov it finds a fictional negotiated request for proposals, AG-PKG-26-0402, from a fictional Chippewa Plant Safety Desk for 90 confined-space lighting kits. The listing has five files: the RFP PDF, Attachment 1 specifications, Attachment 2 price workbook, a cover-sheet image, and Amendment 0001 PDF. Amendment 0001 changes delivery from 30 calendar days to 60 calendar days.
A teammate opens New Solicitation, names the draft AG-PKG-26-0402 Mossglen, and uploads all five files. The PNG cover sheet is stored. The PDFs and the .xlsx workbook can be analyzed later. They copy 90 kits and 60 days from Amendment 0001, not from the unamended cover. Nothing is submitted.
Each official source is listed with the teaching claim it supports. Product behavior is labeled separately. Review dates are when AsherGate last checked the page.
Acquisition.gov · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: A solicitation is any request to submit offers or quotations to the Government, including invitations for bids, requests for proposals, and simplified requests.
Acquisition.gov · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: Negotiated solicitations using the uniform contract format include Sections A through M. Section J lists attachments. Sections L and M are instructions and evaluation factors. Part IV is not physically included in the awarded contract.
Acquisition.gov · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: When requirements or terms change, the contracting officer shall amend the solicitation. Amendments before the proposal due date go to all parties who received the solicitation. Each amendment should describe the change and any revised closing date.
Acquisition.gov · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: When this provision is in the solicitation, paragraph (b) says unamended terms remain unchanged and offerors shall acknowledge amendments by the date and time specified in the amendment. Do not apply that paragraph unless the provision is in the files.
Acquisition.gov · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: Commercial product and commercial service solicitations under Part 12 use a different assembly to the maximum extent practicable, including SF 1449, attachments, 52.212-1 instructions, and evaluation language if used.
Acquisition.gov · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: Sealed-bid invitations use a similar Section A through M table to the maximum practicable extent, with listed cases such as construction where that format need not be used.
Acquisition.gov · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: Synopsized solicitations are made available through the GPE at https://www.sam.gov. AsherGate is not the GPE.
AsherGate · AsherGate product · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: New Solicitation creates a company draft. PDF, Word, Excel, PNG, and JPEG can be stored up to 50 MB each. Analysis runs on saved PDF, DOCX, and XLSX. The product does not import SAM.gov or submit bids. The sample analysis is not a company draft.