The record, and how to check it without asking us.

FAR section 9.104-1 lists the general standards a prospective contractor must meet before a contracting officer may find that firm responsible. The list is public, short, and made of items a buyer can test with documents instead of with an impression.

Paragraph (c) is the standard this page exists to serve. FAR section 9.104-1(c) requires a prospective contractor to "have a satisfactory performance record", and the same paragraph adds that a "prospective contractor shall not be determined responsible or nonresponsible solely on the basis of a lack of relevant performance history, except as provided in 9.104-2". Both halves belong together. A performance record is a real standard a buyer is entitled to test, and a short record is not by itself a finding against the firm.

A county, a school district, a general contractor or a property owner is under no obligation to use the federal test. The reason to borrow it anyway is that FAR section 9.104-1 was drafted by people whose job is to be wrong as rarely as possible about firms they have never met, and the test converts a judgment about character into a list of documents.

Rare Earth Ltd records $198,000 or more for recycled aggregate supplied to the Fulton County Department of Public Works. That figure belongs to one engagement with one public buyer, not to a portfolio, and it was independently verified on 2026-08-27. An earlier version of this page described it as a total aggregated across engagements. That description was wrong and has been corrected.

A separate engagement with MCS Chainstore Maintenance, covering facility and grounds work, is recorded at $50,000 or more. Both amounts are floors. Neither is an exact contract value, and the page states them the way the files state them.

Thrare Contracting publishes no combined total on this page. The engagements are separate, so a sum would not double count, but every amount here is recorded as a floor rather than an exact contract value, and adding floors together produces a floor of unknown tightness presented with the authority of a total. A buyer who needs a single figure for a bid tab should use $198,000 or more for the Fulton County engagement and ask for the contract file behind it.

FAR section 4.605(b) requires a contracting officer to "identify and report a unique entity identifier for the successful offeror on a contract action", and states that the identifier "shall correspond to the successful offeror's name and address as stated in the offer and resultant contract, and as registered in the System for Award Management". The practical consequence for any buyer is that the UEI is the field tying a legal name and an address to a registration. A mismatch between the name on a proposal and the name on the registration is a finding, not a typographical slip.

A CAGE code answers a different question, and FAR section 4.605(b) says so in a parenthetical: the CAGE code "is a different identifier". FAR section 52.204-16 defines a Commercial and Government Entity code, for an entity in the United States or its outlying areas, as "an identifier assigned to entities located in the United States or its outlying areas by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Branch to identify a commercial or government entity by unique location". Location is the operative word. CAGE identifies where an entity sits; UEI identifies who the entity is.

Registration status is the third lookup, and FAR section 4.1102(a) treats it as a condition rather than a formality: "Offerors and quoters are required to be registered in SAM at the time an offer or quotation is submitted in order to comply with the annual representations and certifications requirements". The exceptions in that paragraph are narrow and named, and include micro-purchases made on a Governmentwide commercial purchase card and contract actions at or below $40,000 awarded to a foreign vendor for work performed outside the United States. Neither exception describes a metro Atlanta property contract.

Rare Earth Ltd has performed no federal prime contract, so no Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System evaluation exists for the firm. A page that implied otherwise would be checkable and wrong, and CPARS is checkable by precisely the officials such a claim would be aimed at.

What the regulation does with an absence is the part worth reading. FAR section 15.305(a)(2)(iv) states that "in the case of an offeror without a record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available, the offeror may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance". The instruction runs in both directions. A firm with no federal record does not earn credit for a clean slate, and does not take a penalty for a blank one.

FAR section 15.305(a)(2)(iii) is the paragraph a teaming partner should read next, because it permits an evaluation to take account of "information regarding predecessor companies, key personnel who have relevant experience, or subcontractors that will perform major or critical aspects of the requirement when such information is relevant to the instant acquisition". Rare Earth Ltd holds subcontractor and teaming positions for exactly that reason, and the route is described on teaming and joint pursuits.

FAR section 15.305(a)(2)(i) sets the weight the information carries: "Past performance information is one indicator of an offeror's ability to perform the contract successfully. The currency and relevance of the information, source of the information, context of the data, and general trends in contractor's performance shall be considered." The same paragraph adds that the comparative assessment of past performance "is separate from the responsibility determination required under subpart 9.1", which is why the seven standards above and the record below are two different tests rather than one.

FAR section 42.1503(b)(2) sets the minimum evaluation factors for a federal past performance assessment, and the list is a better reference script than most reference sheets a buyer receives. The six minimum factors are listed in full below.

FAR section 42.1503(b)(4) requires each factor to be "rated in accordance with a five scale rating system (i.e., exceptional, very good, satisfactory, marginal, and unsatisfactory)" with "a supporting narrative provided". The narrative is the part most commercial buyers skip and should not. A satisfactory rating with a specific narrative tells a buyer more than an exceptional rating with none.

The regulation also builds in a right of reply. Under FAR section 42.1503(d), contractors "shall be afforded up to 14 calendar days from the date of notification of availability of the past performance evaluation to submit comments, rebutting statements, or additional information", and an evaluation becomes available to source selection officials not later than 14 days after the contractor is notified. A commercial buyer running an informal reference check has no equivalent step, which is worth knowing when a single negative reference decides an award.

Currency has a defined limit too. FAR section 42.1503(g) directs that agencies "shall use the past performance information in CPARS that is within three years (six for construction and architect-engineer contracts) of the completion of performance of the evaluated contract or order". A federal past performance record ages out. A survey figure or a project record republished years after it was collected does not become current by being republished, which is the same discipline this page applies to its own numbers.

Gwinnett County Public Schools awarded Bid B-2622LM, On Demand Pressure Washing, Softwash and Window Cleaning, on 2026-08-31, for a term running 2026-09-01 to 2027-06-30. Rare Earth Ltd is one of the awarded vendors. Twelve of twelve responsive bidders were awarded, with zero exclusions, and the district published no dollar value for the contract.

The district's own award notification is the plainest description of what the award is worth, so this page uses the district's words rather than a paraphrase. The bid "has completed the procurement process"; the awarded company "is eligible to be considered as a service provider"; "if your organization's services are needed, a department representative will contact you directly to request a quote"; and "participation in this contract does not guarantee any minimum amount of work".

No work has been performed under B-2622LM. As of the read date no task had been dispatched, so nothing on this page describes performance under it. An award of this shape is a qualification event and not revenue, and any vendor presenting it as a contract value, an exclusive position or a sole source award is describing something that did not happen.

What the award does evidence is a completed competitive procurement by a public school district, which is a different thing from a private reference and is worth precisely that. A buyer wanting the underlying record can read the district's own award page for opportunity 238246 rather than take this page's account of it.

The Small Business Administration reports "the statutory federal contracting goal of 23%" and states that the federal government awarded "nearly 28% of all prime federal contracts to small businesses" in fiscal year 2025. The SBA describes that share as "a $179 billion investment in the small business economy" in prime contracts, and records that "the federal government earned an A on this year's government-wide scorecard".

Two qualifiers travel with those numbers and both matter. According to the same SBA release, a separate figure of nearly $273 billion covers federal contracts to small businesses including subcontracts, so the $179 billion prime figure and the $273 billion prime-plus-subcontract figure are not interchangeable. The 28 percent is also government-wide federal prime contracting, not Georgia, not state or local procurement, and not a rate that any individual certified firm experiences.

The reason a past performance page carries a market figure at all is that certification is frequently misread in both directions. A DBE or MBE certification is not a set-aside and does not cause work to be awarded, and the SBA scorecard is the published measure of how much prime work reaches small business across the whole federal government. A buyer weighing a certified vendor should read the certification as eligibility and the performance record as evidence, and keep the two separate.

A certificate of insurance is the document mistaken for the policy more than any other, and Georgia regulates what a certificate is required to state. Subject 120-2-103 of the Georgia Administrative Code, the Rules of the Commissioner of Insurance, exists to "establish guidelines, procedures and best business practices for the issuance and delivery of property and casualty certificates of insurance in the State of Georgia".

Rule 120-2-103-.05 requires the certificate to carry a statement on its face: "This certificate of insurance is issued as a matter of information only and confers no rights upon the certificate holder. This certificate does not amend, extend or alter the coverage, terms exclusions and conditions afforded by the policies referenced herein." A buyer reading that sentence is reading a warning, not boilerplate. Holding a certificate does not make the holder insured.

Rule 120-2-103-.07 lists prohibited practices, and a certificate "which purports to affirmatively or negatively amend, extend, modify or alter in any way the coverage" is prohibited outright, as is any certificate purporting to confer "new or additional rights" beyond what the referenced policy expressly provides. Rule 120-2-103-.08 sets a penalty of "a fine not to exceed $5,000 per violation", which falls on the party issuing a non-compliant certificate rather than on a contractor who lacks coverage.

What this means for a qualification package is narrow and useful. A certificate answers whether a policy existed on the date of issue and what its named coverages and holder were. A certificate does not answer whether a specific loss would be covered, and a buyer relying on one for that purpose should be reading the policy or asking the producer. Reading the exclusions is the step that separates a document collected for a file from a document actually used.

Georgia publishes its own guidance for the vendors the state buys from, and it is the most useful public benchmark a private buyer can borrow because it is written by the buyer rather than by a vendor. The Georgia Department of Administrative Services, State Purchasing Division, document SPD-SP048, Insurance and Bonding Guidelines, prepared by DOAS Risk Management Services and dated November 2015, sets out what a state entity asks a vendor to produce.

The document carries its own qualifier and this page carries it too. DOAS calls the figures "recommended minimum insurance limits" and states that the categories and limits "are to be used as guidelines and are indicative of best practices but are not exhaustive. Your insurance needs may be higher (or lower)." A vendor page asserting an industry standard minimum without a source is exactly the unsourced claim this section replaces.

Four requirements in SPD-SP048 are procedural rather than numeric, and a buyer can apply all four to any contractor. First, "the certificate shall be furnished no later than ten (10) business days after notification of the State's intent to award a contract", which puts a deadline on the document rather than leaving it to follow-up. Second, "all policies must be issued by an insurance company licensed to do business in the State of Georgia, with a minimum AM Best rating of A-, and signed by an authorized agent". Third, all policies "shall contain a provision that coverage afforded under the policies shall not be canceled, changed, allowed to lapse, or allowed to expire until thirty (30) calendar days after written notice has been given to the state certificate holder on the certificate of insurance". Fourth, the vendor "shall add the 'State of Georgia, its officers, employees and agents' as an additional insured" under the named liability policies.

SPD-SP048 also lists eleven items a certificate must provide, and the eleventh is the one most frequently missing: "details of policy exclusions in the comments section of the insurance certificate". A buyer who asks for the exclusions in writing learns more in one line than a limit figure conveys. Note also that SPD-SP048 contains no pressure washing category at all. Custodial Services and Landscaping and Lawn Care are the nearest published analogues, and treating either as a published pressure washing requirement would misstate the document.

Exterior cleaning is a water discharge activity before it is a cleaning activity, and the governing instrument changes with the address rather than with the scope. Gwinnett County publishes its own guideline, and reading it is the difference between a contractor who plans containment and a contractor who discovers the rule on site.

Gwinnett County Water Quality Protection Guideline WQ-1, Surface Cleaning, dated 04/05/2007 and running 13 numbered pages, provides "minimum requirements for compliance with Gwinnett County's Illicit Discharge and Illegal Connection (IDIC) Ordinance", codified at Chapter 100 of the county code, sections 100-23 and 100-27. WQ-1 section 3.1(2) states that "except as allowed by section 3.2.1.4 of this guideline, washwater generated during surface cleaning must never be allowed to enter into a storm drain". Section 3.1(10) is blunter still: "there are NO 'environmentally friendly' or 'biodegradable' cleaning products that are approved for discharge to storm drains."

Two clauses in WQ-1 shift the risk onto the buyer as well, and a property owner should know both before hiring anyone. Section 3.1(11) states that "as the generator of the washwater the surface cleaner is considered jointly responsible with the property owner for its appropriate disposal", and section 3.1(4) says a buyer "should ensure that the selected contractor is capable of completing surface cleaning in accordance with this guideline", citing IDIC section 100-23(a)(1). Joint responsibility means a contractor's shortcut becomes the owner's exposure.

Gwinnett County's own consumer guidance is more direct about the market than a vendor page would be. According to the county's Consumer's Guide to Hiring a Pressure Washing Contractor, "the management of polluted wash water often requires the use of specialized equipment. Not all contractors have this equipment and may not be able to comply with the law." The same brochure records maximum penalties for violating the IDIC ordinance as "a $1,000.00 fine and/or 60 days in County jail", and notes that "as the consumer, you may also be held responsible for illegal discharges that occur on your property".

The material in this section is capability, not performance. Nothing above describes work Rare Earth Ltd performed under WQ-1. What the section evidences is that the governing instrument for a Gwinnett address was identified, read and quoted before a crew was scheduled, and the same research is done per jurisdiction because a Cobb, Roswell, Brookhaven or City of Atlanta address is governed by a different ordinance with a different disposal route.

For a live pursuit Rare Earth Ltd produces the contract file behind any figure on this page: the scope as awarded, the role held on the engagement, the schedule, the acceptance record and the invoice support. Job files add dated photographs. Client references are provided where the buyer on that engagement has agreed to be named, and no client name or logo is published without that agreement. The counterparties named on this page are the two commercial engagements already carried in the published summary and two public bodies whose procurements are a matter of public record.

The list of what is not held is published for the same reason the qualifiers are. A buyer who discovers a gap at award has lost the time spent evaluating, and a vendor who let that happen has spent credibility that is harder to recover than a bid.

The absence of a surety bond is the single most consequential item on that list, and it decides the route rather than the answer. Where a solicitation requires a bond, Rare Earth Ltd pursues the work as a subcontractor or a teaming partner to a bonded prime rather than as prime, and the mechanics of that are set out on teaming and joint pursuits. A buyer who needs a bonded prime is better served by learning that in the first conversation than at award.

Rare Earth Ltd issues a certificate of insurance to a named holder on request, and additional insured or lender wording is handled at the certificate stage rather than after mobilization. Coverage detail is read off the certificate, which is the document Georgia regulates for that purpose, rather than off a website.

Federal Acquisition Regulation, FAC 2026-01, effective 2026-03-13. Sections 9.104-1 (general standards), 15.305 (proposal evaluation), 42.1503 (past performance procedures), 4.1102 (SAM registration policy), 4.605 (unique entity identifier) and 52.204-16 (CAGE code reporting). Read 2026-09-03. Federal acquisition procedure, which no county, district or private buyer is obliged to follow.

U.S. Small Business Administration, "SBA Releases FY25 Scorecard for Small Business Contracting", published 2026-06-25. Read 2026-09-02. sba.gov FY25 scorecard release. The 23 percent goal, the nearly 28 percent share and the $179 billion are federal prime contracting government-wide; the separate figure of nearly $273 billion includes subcontracts and is not interchangeable with it.

Gwinnett County Public Schools, Purchasing and Property Management, award notification for Bid B-2622LM, On Demand Pressure Washing, Softwash and Window Cleaning, cross-checked against the authenticated Bonfire award page for opportunity 238246. Read 2026-09-02. A multi-award on-demand vendor pool with no published dollar value and no guaranteed minimum.

Georgia Administrative Code, Rules of the Commissioner of Insurance, Subject 120-2-103, Certificates of Insurance, rules .02 through .08, promulgated under O.C.G.A. sections 33-2-9 and 33-24-19.1(p). Read 2026-09-03. rules.sos.ga.gov Subject 120-2-103. The individual rule pages render by script and return nothing to a fetcher, so the subject level page is the copy read.

Georgia Department of Administrative Services, State Purchasing Division, SPD-SP048, Insurance and Bonding Guidelines, prepared by DOAS Risk Management Services, dated November 2015. Read 2026-09-03. DOAS SPD-SP048. DOAS describes its figures as recommended minimum limits and states that they are guidelines and not exhaustive.

Gwinnett County Storm Water Management Division, Water Quality Protection Guideline WQ-1, Surface Cleaning, dated 04/05/2007, and the Illicit Discharge and Illegal Connection ordinance it implements at Chapter 100, sections 100-23 and 100-27. Read 2026-09-03. WQ-1 Surface Cleaning and the IDIC ordinance.

Gwinnett County Water Resources, A Consumer's Guide to Hiring a Pressure Washing Contractor. Read 2026-09-03. Consumer's Guide. The penalty figures quoted are the county's, stated in the county's own brochure.

First-party records. The $198,000 or more Fulton County Department of Public Works engagement, independently verified 2026-08-27; the $50,000 or more MCS Chainstore Maintenance engagement; 54 doors and windows secured inside 72 hours; more than 20 units preserved to HUD specification; a four level occupied deck degreased over 4.5 days; and more than 500 projects completed since 2020. Contract and job files, produced for a live pursuit on request.