Government Contracts Intelligence Briefing

Last week, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) and the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FAR Council) released three new proposed deviations in their overhaul of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). They include:

• FAR Part 18 – Emergency Acquisitions;
• FAR Part 39 – Acquisition of Information and Communication Technology; and
• FAR Part 43 – Contract Modifications

FAR Part 52, which contains the clauses inserted into contracts, was also modified for the newly overhauled parts. The changes to these sections continue the theme of removing clauses or paragraphs of the FAR not required by law and either deleting them or instead including them in guidance.

This blog covers changes to FAR Part 18.

Changes to FAR Part 18

Certain portions of FAR Part 18 were deleted including:

• The stated scope and the definition of when emergency acquisitions are appropriate.
• FAR 18.202(e) encouraging, but not requiring, the use of sustainable products and services.
• FAR 18.205, which listed some “resources” including references to the National Response Framework and OFPP Emergency Acquisitions Guide.

All of these may be part of future guides issued by OFPP or the FAR Council.

A significant section of FAR Part 18 was moved from the FAR and put into an Emergency Procurement List. By shifting it to a website, it can change at any time without notice. It is also arguably no longer a requirement and merely guidance. 

Also, some things were modified when moved to the Emergency Procurement List. For instance, contracts may “directly” be awarded to 8(a) and women-owned small businesses concerns (which were previously only permitted for Service-disabled Veteran-owned Small Business concerns and Historically Underutilized Business Zone small business concerns). This assumes that “directly” means sole-source awards are permitted.

As will other FAR Parts, these changes will be subject to class deviations and eventually go through a notice and comment period. For existing contracts, these changes are not effective until the contract is modified.

Future blog posts will focus on changes to other FAR Parts.