Section 15.303 - Responsibilities(a) Agency heads are responsible for source selection. The contracting officer is designated as the source selection authority, unless the agency head appoints another individual for a particular acquisition or group of acquisitions.(b) The source selection authority shall- (1) Establish an evaluation team, tailored for the particular acquisition, that includes appropriate contracting, legal, logistics, technical, and other expertise to ensure a comprehensive evaluation of offers;(2) Approve the source selection strategy or acquisition plan, if applicable, before solicitation release;(3) Ensure consistency among the solicitation requirements, notices to offerors, proposal preparation instructions, evaluation factors and subfactors, solicitation provisions or contract clauses, and data requirements;(4) Ensure that proposals are evaluated based solely on the factors and subfactors contained in the solicitation (10 U.S.C. 3303(c) and 41 U.S.C. 3703(c) );(5) Consider the recommendations of advisory boards or panels (if any); and(6) Select the source or sources whose proposal is the best value to the Government (10 U.S.C. 3303(c) and 41 U.S.C. 3703(c) ).(c) The contracting officer shall- (1) After release of a solicitation, serve as the focal point for inquiries from actual or prospective offerors;(2) After receipt of proposals, control exchanges with offerors in accordance with 15.306; and(3) Award the contract(s).62 FR 51230, Sept. 30, 1997, as amended at 79 FR 24201 , Apr. 29, 2014; 87 FR 73897 , Dec. 1, 2022