Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ)
An Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract buys an unspecified quantity of supplies or services, within stated minimum and maximum limits, over a fixed period. The government buys through task or delivery orders under FAR 16.504, with a preference for multiple awards.
The government guarantees a minimum — more than a nominal quantity under FAR 16.504(a) — and caps its exposure at a stated maximum the contractor must be prepared to fill. Actual work flows through task orders for services or delivery orders for supplies, placed under the procedures at FAR 16.505.
FAR 16.504(c) directs contracting officers to prefer multiple awards to the maximum extent practicable. Each awardee then gets a fair opportunity to compete for orders above the micro-purchase threshold, with formal notice procedures and GAO protest rights attaching at higher dollar levels. A single-award IDIQ exceeding $150 million requires a written agency-head determination.
Two traps recur. A token minimum guarantee undermines the consideration that binds the contract, and orders drifting outside the vehicle's scope are protestable even where ordinary task-order protests are barred.
Regulatory Reference
FAR 16.504; FAR 16.505
RFO Status
The Part 16 model deviation keeps IDIQ coverage in subpart 16.5, retains the multiple-award preference and the $150 million single-award determination, and adds express on-ramp and off-ramp authority for multiple-award vehicles.
Category
Contract Types & Vehicles
How AcqBot Helps
AcqBot drafts the IDIQ package — minimum and maximum quantities, ordering procedures, fair-opportunity language — and at the order level checks each task order against the vehicle's scope, ceiling, and ordering-period dates before it goes out.
Related glossary entries
Other Transaction Authority (OTA)
Other Transaction Authority (OTA) lets certain agencies enter agreements for research, prototypes, and follow-on production that are not standard procurement contracts — largely exempt from the FAR — to attract nontraditional contractors and move faster than conventional acquisition allows.
Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP)
A firm-fixed-price (FFP) contract sets a price that is not subject to adjustment based on the contractor's cost experience in performance. FAR 16.202 places maximum cost risk on the contractor, who absorbs every overrun and keeps every underrun.
Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF)
A cost-plus-fixed-fee (CPFF) contract reimburses allowable costs and pays a fee negotiated and fixed at inception. The fee does not vary with actual cost, though it may adjust when the work changes. FAR 16.306 governs; statutory caps limit the fee.
Time-and-Materials (T&M)
A time-and-materials (T&M) contract pays fixed hourly labor rates — wages, overhead, G&A, and profit built in — plus materials at actual cost. FAR 16.601 permits it only when the extent or duration of the work cannot be estimated accurately at award.