The FAR Overhaul Begins

Last week, the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO) website was launched on Acquisition.gov to inform contractors and interested parties of the changes in the renovation of the federal government’s buying regulations.

The overhaul is in response to President Trump’s executive order to reform the nearly 3,000 rules that govern the procurement of federal goods and services. The EO calls on the Administrator of the Office of Federal Public Procurement Policy (AOFPP) and the FAR Council to lead the change. The EO also directs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to issue guidance to implement the order.

Accordingly, OMB issued the Overhauling the Federal Acquisition Regulation memorandum to federal departments and agencies on May 2nd. In it, the memo states that the FAR will be focused on statutory regulations, while most existing non-statutory regulations will be replaced with buying guides that will emphasize, “innovative buying techniques for different phases of the acquisition lifecycle as well solutions and manageable procurement pathways for different types of common goods and services recognized by category management.” Together, the FAR and buying guides will be called the Strategic Acquisition Guide (SAG).

The memo also describes the deregulation roadmap of the FAR. In Phase I, the FAR Council will issue deviation guidance for each FAR Part in clear-cut language and on a rolling basis on the RFO website. Agencies are expected to issue individual or class deviations to the FAR Council’s model deviation text no later than 30 days of publication. Phase II will commence after deviation guidance for each FAR part is posted, shifting to a formal rulemaking process based on deviation text, public feedback, and agency experience and recommendations.

Regarding federal buying guides, the memo instructs agencies to identify best practices in incorporating innovation into the acquisition lifecycle and commonly used spend categories such as IT, professional services, and construction. The buying guides aim to evolve and accommodate various levels of procurement experience.

Alongside the memo on the FAR overhaul, OMB, in conjunction with DOD, OFFP, and NASA, issued the Deviation Guidance to Support the Overhaul of the Federal Acquisition to federal agencies. The guidance outlines how agencies are to coordinate, develop and deliver agency-specific class deviations.

The portion of the RFO website which lists the FAR Parts and Agency Deviations shows that (as of article publish) the FAR Council has issued deviation model text for Parts 1, 34 and 52 and GSA has issued class deviations for Parts 1 and 34.  Within each FAR Part entry on the site is the language for the new proposed regulation, as well as a line-out document to reveal the regulations that are proposed for removal.

It is important that contractors continue to monitor the Acquisition.gov site for ongoing changes to the FAR and issuance of deviation guidance for each FAR Part and associated agency class deviations. Each deviation guidance provides the option for feedback on the change.  While the FAR Council is not required to formally respond, it will consider this feedback during the formal rulemaking phase.