The dataset holds thousands of documents captured directly from official government websites such as eCFR, GovInfo, Acquisition.gov, the Federal Register and agency acquisition pages. The documents are split into over 100K searchable passages, so your assistant can find the exact section it needs and read on from there. Scanned PDFs have been run through text recognition so that their contents are searchable too.
It contains
- The Federal Acquisition Regulation (48 CFR chapter 1)
- Agency supplements such as the DFARS and its PGI, the VAAR, the HHSAR, the AFARS, the DAFFARS, the DLAD, the NMCARS and many civilian-agency supplements
- FAR overhaul and agency class deviations, including the replacement texts
- Federal Register rules that amend procurement regulations
- Procurement-related parts of other CFR titles, such as labor standards, the Cost Accounting Standards and Board of Contract Appeals procedures
- Procurement statutes, including Small Business Act contracting provisions
- Agency acquisition manuals, acquisition letters and policy flashes
It does not contain
- State, county, city or other local procurement rules
- Court opinions, GAO bid protest decisions or Board of Contract Appeals decisions
- Solicitations, contract awards or SAM.gov records
- Grants rules, except where a procurement regulation points to them
- Non-U.S. procurement law
- Legal review. Nobody has confirmed which version of a document is currently in force, and the dataset does not establish that.
Before you start: your SquarePact account
Every search is billed to a SquarePact account, so each user needs one. There are two ways to connect, and which one you use depends on your app.
- Sign-in (Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and Claude Code). You don't need to do anything in advance. When your app opens the SquarePact sign-in page, click Continue with Google, or click Sign up to create an account with your email and a password. Your account is created on that first sign-in, on the free plan. You can also create an account on the SquarePact website first and sign in with it.
- API key (Claude Code, Cursor and scripts). Use a key when a browser sign-in is awkward. The steps for creating one are in the Claude Code tab below.
Custom connectors work on every Claude plan, although the Free plan limits how many you can add.
Free, Pro and Max plans
- In Claude, go to Customize > Connectors and click Add custom connector.
- For the name, enter
SquarePact Federal Procurement Regulations. For the URL, enter:https://procurement-regulations.mcp.squarepact.com/mcpLeave the OAuth fields empty. - Click Add, then click Connect.
- Sign in with your SquarePact account. Claude returns to the connectors page once you are signed in.
- In a chat, click +, open Connectors and make sure SquarePact Federal Procurement Regulations is turned on.
Team and Enterprise plans
- An Owner goes to Organization settings > Connectors, selects Add, then Custom, and enters this URL:
https://procurement-regulations.mcp.squarepact.com/mcp - Each member opens Customize > Connectors, finds the connector marked Custom, and clicks Connect to sign in with their own SquarePact account.
OpenAI allows custom MCP servers on ChatGPT Business, Enterprise and Edu workspaces, on the web only. On a Business workspace only admins and owners can add one. On Enterprise and Edu, admins can also give selected members permission. Pro users can connect custom MCP servers with read and fetch permissions, which is all this server needs.
- In ChatGPT on the web, open Plugins. Don't search for SquarePact there, because the search only covers plugins already published to the directory.
- Click Add at the top right and choose Add custom MCP server. If that option is missing, your workspace doesn't allow custom MCP servers for your account, so ask a workspace admin or owner.
- For the name, enter
SquarePact Federal Procurement Regulations. Under Connection, enter:https://procurement-regulations.mcp.squarepact.com/mcp - Choose OAuth for authentication.
- Read the risk warning, tick I understand and want to continue, and select Create as a plugin.
- Sign in with your SquarePact account when asked, then check that ChatGPT lists the tools
search_regulations,read_passageandlist_sources. - Start a new conversation, type @ in the prompt box and select the plugin.
Microsoft 365 Copilot reaches MCP servers through an agent built in Copilot Studio. You add the server to an agent once, then make that agent available in Copilot and Teams. You need permission to create agents in a Copilot Studio environment.
Add the server to an agent
- In Copilot Studio, open an existing agent or create one named Procurement Regulations.
- Go to the agent's Tools page, select Add a tool, then New tool, then Model Context Protocol.
- For the Server name, enter
SquarePact Federal Procurement Regulations. For the Server URL, enter:https://procurement-regulations.mcp.squarepact.com/mcpFor the Server description, enter:Searches U.S. federal procurement regulations (FAR, agency supplements, class deviations, acquisition guidance) and returns passages with citations and official links. - Under authentication, choose OAuth 2.0, then Dynamic discovery, and select Create.
- Select Next. On Add tool, select Create a new connection, sign in with your SquarePact account, and then select Add to agent.
Make it available in Microsoft 365 Copilot
- Publish the agent.
- On the top menu bar select Channels, then the Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams tile.
- Make sure Make agent available in Microsoft Copilot is selected, then select Add channel.
- Select See agent in Teams, then Add. In Microsoft 365 Copilot, type @ and pick the agent to ask it a question.
Add the server once for all your projects:
claude mcp add --transport http --scope user squarepact-federal-procurement https://procurement-regulations.mcp.squarepact.com/mcp
Then start Claude Code, run /mcp, choose squarepact-federal-procurement and sign in with your SquarePact account in the browser window that opens. Run /mcp again to confirm it shows as connected.
Using an API key instead
For scripts and other machines where a browser sign-in is awkward, connect with an API key.
- Sign in to the SquarePact website. If you don't have an account yet, create one first.
- On your profile page, find the MCP API keys card and click Manage MCP API keys. You can also go straight to the MCP API keys page.
- Under Create a key, give the key a name you will recognize, such as
Claude Code on my laptop, and click Create key. - Copy the key, which starts with
sqp_mcp_. The page shows it only once, so if you lose it you will need to create another. - Run this command, replacing
sqp_mcp_YOUR_KEYwith your key:
claude mcp add --transport http --scope user squarepact-federal-procurement https://procurement-regulations.mcp.squarepact.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer sqp_mcp_YOUR_KEY"
Authorization header, such as Cursor.When it helps
Use it whenever an answer has to rest on the text of a federal procurement rule rather than on what the model remembers. Models often misquote clause numbers, mix up FAR and DFARS versions, and miss recent class deviations. With the MCP connected, the assistant quotes the passage it found and links to the official source.
- Checking what a clause actually says before you insert it or negotiate it.
- Comparing the FAR with an agency supplement or a class deviation on the same topic.
- Finding which regulation governs a situation, such as subcontracting limits, sole-source justifications, cybersecurity requirements or domestic preference rules.
- Pulling the exact wording of a clause into a memo or a contract review.
How it works
Your assistant decides when to call these tools:
search_regulationsfinds passages by keywords or by a citation such as52.219-14. It can filter by issuer, source type or collection.read_passagereturns a passage's full text and the ids of the passages before and after it, so the assistant can read a whole section.list_sourceslists the collections and source types it can search.
Each search and each passage read is billed to your SquarePact credits, and list_sources is free. See Pricing for what a call costs.
Getting better answers
- Mention the SquarePact Federal Procurement Regulations MCP in your request, so the assistant searches it instead of answering from memory.
- Name the regulation or clause number when you know it. Exact citations find the right passage fastest.
- Ask the assistant to quote the passage and give the source link. You can then check the wording against the official page.
- Say which agency you work with, so the assistant checks that agency's supplement and deviations as well as the FAR.
- If a question is about state or local procurement, or about protest decisions, this dataset will not have the answer. Ask the assistant to say so rather than guess.
A search or a passage read costs about one cent. There is no subscription for the MCP and no per-seat fee, because it uses the same SquarePact credits as the Word add-in.
| What your assistant does | Credits | In dollars |
|---|---|---|
Searches the regulations (search_regulations) | 0.1 | about 1¢ |
Reads a passage in full (read_passage) | 0.1 | about 1¢ |
Lists the sources it can search (list_sources) | Free | Free |
| Connects, signs in or lists its tools | Free | Free |
| A call that fails | Free | Free |
A credit costs between 7 and 13 cents depending on your plan, so one credit pays for 10 searches or passage reads.
What a question costs
Your assistant decides how many calls to make. A question it answers with 4 searches and 6 passage reads costs 1 credit, which is about 10 cents. Broad questions, such as comparing several agencies' rules, take more calls than looking up a single clause, and some assistants search more widely than others. Naming the clause or regulation you mean keeps a question cheap.
Start free
A new SquarePact account comes with 50 free credits, which is enough for 500 searches and passage reads. No credit card is required.
No surprise bills
- Calls are paid from credits you already have. When your credits run out, the MCP stops answering until you add more, and nothing is charged past your balance.
- Your remaining credits are shown on your SquarePact profile, where you can also top up or change your plan.
Sign-in shows "Something went wrong"
The SquarePact sign-in session only lasts a few minutes. Start the connection again and finish signing in promptly.
The assistant says it has no regulation tools
Make sure the connector is turned on for this chat. In Claude, click + and open Connectors. In ChatGPT, type @ and select the plugin. If you connected recently, start a new chat, because some assistants load a connector's tools only when a conversation begins.
Calls fail with a credits or quota message
Your SquarePact account is out of credits. Add credits or change your plan on the pricing page.
Claude Code says the API key is rejected
Check that the header value starts with Bearer followed by a space and the full key, and that the key has not been revoked on the MCP keys page.