By Mumin Bashir
The CPARS rating scale runs five levels applied once per evaluation factor, not once per contract. See which factors use Table 42-1 and which uses Table 42-2. CPARS produces no single score. The five-level rating scale applies once per evaluation factor, and the small business subcontracting factor runs on a different table with different definitions. The CPARS rating scale has five levels: Exceptional, Very Good, Satisfactory, Marginal and Unsatisfactory. It does not produce one score for your contract. The assessing official applies the scale once per evaluation factor, and FAR 42.1503(b)(2) sets six factors as the minimum. The CPARS Rating Scale A single report card therefore carries up to six separate ratings, each with its own narrative. FAR 42.1503(b)(4) requires both: "Each factor and subfactor used shall be evaluated and a supporting narrative provided." Two of those six factors behave unlike the rest. Cost control falls away on firm-fixed-price work. Small business subcontracting answers to a second table with different definitions. This post walks the scale factor by factor, so you can tell which rating came from which rulebook. The Six Evaluation Factors FAR 42.1503(b)(2) lists the factors an agency must cover. Read them in order, because the order matters for how a card reads later. - Technical, meaning quality of product or service - Cost control, "not applicable for firm-fixed-price or fixed-price with economic price adjustment arrangements" - Schedule and timeliness - Management or business relations - Small business subcontracting, where FAR 19.702(a) requires a subcontracting plan - Other, as applicable ! Six CPARS evaluation factors, five rated against Table 42-1 and small business subcontracting against Table 42-2 (https://mhhifytmrlyksfrjacvi.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog-images/2026/10/cpars-rating-scale-figure.png) Each factor earns its own rating, and the subcontracting factor answers to good faith effort rather than performance quality. The sixth factor does quiet damage. "Other" is where an agency parks the items FAR 42.1503 treats as reportable events, including trafficking violations, tax delinquency, defective cost or pricing data, terminations, and suspension or debarment. A clean technical rating sits beside that entry without softening it. Source selection teams read the whole card. Two Tables, Not One Most contractors know Table 42-1. It carries the five definitions that run from Exceptional down to Unsatisfactory, and the rating definitions post (/blog/cpars-rating-definitions) covers that table in detail. Fewer people notice Table 42-2. Table 42-2 is a separate scale. It applies only to the small business subcontracting factor, and only when the contract carries FAR 52.219-9. The words in it measure something different from performance quality. They measure
CPARS produces no single score. The five-level rating scale applies once per evaluation factor, and the small business subcontracting factor runs on a different table with different definitions.
The CPARS rating scale has five levels: Exceptional, Very Good, Satisfactory, Marginal and Unsatisfactory. It does not produce one score for your contract. The assessing official applies the scale once per evaluation factor, and FAR 42.1503(b)(2) sets six factors as the minimum. The CPARS Rating Scale A single report card therefore carries up to six separate ratings, each with its own narrative. FAR 42.1503(b)(4) requires both: "Each factor and subfactor used shall be evaluated and a supporting narrative provided." Two of those six factors behave unlike the rest. Cost control falls away on firm-fixed-price work. Small business subcontracting answers to a second table with different definitions. This post walks the scale factor by factor, so you can tell which rating came from which rulebook. The Six Evaluation Factors FAR 42.1503(b)(2) lists the factors an agency must cover. Read them in order, because the order matters for how a card reads later. - Technical, meaning quality of product or service - Cost control, "not applicable for firm-fixed-price or fixed-price with economic price adjustment arrangements" - Schedule and timeliness - Management or business relations - Small business subcontracting, where FAR 19.702(a) requires a subcontracting plan - Other, as applicable ! Six CPARS evaluation factors, five rated against Table 42-1 and small business subcontracting against Table 42-2 (https://mhhifytmrlyksfrjacvi.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog-images/2026/10/cpars-rating-scale-figure.png) Each factor earns its own rating, and the subcontracting factor answers to good faith effort rather than performance quality. The sixth factor does quiet damage. "Other" is where an agency parks the items FAR 42.1503 treats as reportable events, including trafficking violations, tax delinquency, defective cost or pricing data, terminations, and suspension or debarment. A clean technical rating sits beside that entry without softening it. Source selection teams read the whole card. Two Tables, Not One Most contractors know Table 42-1. It carries the five definitions that run from Exceptional down to Unsatisfactory, and the rating definitions post (/blog/cpars-rating-definitions) covers that table in detail. Fewer people notice Table 42-2. Table 42-2 is a separate scale. It applies only to the small business subcontracting factor, and only when the contract carries FAR 52.219-9. The words in it measure something different from performance quality. They measure