FAR

Subscribe to FAR via RSS

On April 15, 2025, President Trump issued a sweeping executive order (EO), “Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement.” As reflected in its accompanying Fact Sheet, the EO promises to rewrite the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), eliminate most non-statutory provisions, and usher in the “most agile, effective, and efficient procurement system possible.” As the first comprehensive overhaul of the FAR in its nearly 40-year history, the forthcoming changes may dramatically reshape how businesses of all stripes engage with the federal government. But beyond its big promises and patriotic flair, the proposed overhaul raises critical questions: Can it really be done in six months? What happens to the thousands of existing regulations around which contractors have built compliance programs?Continue Reading Hold My Beer: The Trump Administration’s Bold Plan to Rewrite the FAR

As St. Patrick’s Day approaches, many of us are on the lookout for four-leaf clovers, a pot of gold, or perhaps even a mischievous leprechaun guarding his treasure. But in the world of government contracting, the real tricksters aren’t wearing green coats and buckled shoes—and there is no gold at the end of the procurement rainbow. Instead, that pot is full of the recently announced tariffs. Effective March 4, 2025, the Trump administration imposed 25 percent tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports (exclusive of Canada energy imports, where there is a 10 percent tariff) and a 20 percent tariff on Chinese products. While economists, pundits, and the stock market will all have their say on the wisdom behind these actions, such prognostication is of little help to federal contractors who are forced to deal with the very real effects right now.Continue Reading Tariffs, Leprechauns, and Contract Gold: Navigating the Hidden Costs of Trade Policies

After years of anticipation, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council has announced the arrival of its proposed rule to enhance the safeguarding of Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) in federal contracts (the Proposed Rule). Published in the Federal Register on January 15, 2025 (90 FR 4278), the Proposed Rule (stemming from FAR Case 2017-016) has been a long time coming and is intended to establish a government-wide standard for managing sensitive information, ensuring CUI uniformity and consistency across all agencies and federal contracts.Continue Reading They Did It. They Really Did It! The Arrival of the FAR CUI Proposed Rule

On January 8, 2025, in UNICA-BPA JV, LLC, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) sustained a protester’s challenge to its elimination from the competition for failing to have an active System for Award Management (SAM) registration at the time of its initial proposal submission. The GAO sustained the protest because the protester’s registration was in fact active at the time it submitted its final proposal revision (FPR) even though it was inactive at the time of initial proposal submission. The facts of the case are straightforward:Continue Reading What Happens When Uncle Sam Doesn’t Understand SAM? The Case of the Lucky Protester . . .

“Arm me with harmony.” – Treach, Naughty By Nature[1]

On May 14, 2024, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) dropped the third remix…er, revision…of its Special Publication (SP) 800-171, “Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Systems and Organizations.” It even came with a critical sidekick in the form of the companion assessment guide, “NIST SP 800-171A, Revision 3,” which gives organizations the necessary lowdown on “assessment procedures and methodologies” to check if they’re playing by NIST SP 800-171’s rules. Over a year in the making after previous releases in May and November of 2023, NIST’s finalized revision takes inspiration from industry by laying down the cybersecurity rules that contractors should expect to follow when handling Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) for the US Department of Defense (DoD). While DoD isn’t requiring contractors who handle CUI to roll with Rev. 3 just yet, contractors can expect that DoD will eventually bring Rev. 3 into the mix for DFARS 252.204-7012, “Safeguarding Covered Defense Information and Cyber Incident Reporting” (DFARS 7012), and will be harmonizing it with the upcoming Cyber Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program at some point soon.Continue Reading NIST SP 800-171 Revision 3 Goes Final: Who’s Down with ODP?

If you happen to be a government contractor and are contemplating additions to your Summer reading list, consider adding the FAR Council’s May 3, 2024 advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (“ANPR”) to the mix. The ANPR, which was issued in furtherance of implementing Section 5949 of the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”), contemplates various forthcoming changes to the FAR, all of which focus on banning agencies from purchasing certain products or services that contain or otherwise utilize semiconductors that are produced, designed, or provided by three Chinese entities and their subsidiaries, affiliates, or successors: Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (“SMIC”), ChangXin Memory Technologies (“CXMT”), and Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp. (“YMTC”). In addition, the FAR will likely be amended to prohibit the acquisition of semiconductor products or services from any entity that is owned, controlled by, or otherwise connected to China, North Korea, Iran, Russia and any other “foreign country of concern” – a designation to be determined by the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence or the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.Continue Reading Supply Chain Checkup: FAR Council Announces New Rulemaking Focused on Prohibiting Certain Semiconductor Acquisitions

The Proposed Rule behind FAR Case 2021-017 may strike fear into the hearts of many contractors, as it implements new recommendations regarding cybersecurity reporting obligations. Alex Major highlights the necessary steps and potential risks federal contractors must consider in the Government Contractor.

READ MORE

On June 2, 2023, the FAR Council issued an Interim Rule to implement the prohibition on having or using TikTok or any successor application or service developed or provided by ByteDance Limited (covered application). Importantly, the prohibition applies not only to Government-issued devices but encompasses contractor and contractor employee-owned devices (e.g., employee devices used as part of a bring-your-own-device program) as well. The Interim Rule took immediate effect and requires new FAR clause FAR 52.204-27, Prohibition on a ByteDance Covered Application, to be included in solicitations issued on or after June 2, 2023. In addition, solicitations issued before the effective date were required to be amended by July 3, 2023, provided that award of the resulting contract(s) occurs on or after the effective date. Existing indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts were required to be modified to include the new clause by July 3, 2023, to apply to future orders. Finally, if exercising an option or modifying an existing contract to extend the period of performance, contracting officers must include the clause. In short, this clause will soon be in most if not all Federal government contracts. Contractors should take action now to ensure that they are prepared to comply with these requirements and that employees are familiar with and trained regarding the prohibition.Continue Reading TikTok Dances Off of Contractor IT Devices—Interim Rule Prohibits ByteDance Limited Applications

As most government contractors have experienced firsthand, procuring agencies routinely engage in a wide variety of communications after bids have been submitted. On occasion, these exchanges are quite minor and afford an offeror the limited opportunity to clarify aspects of its proposal and/or to resolve clerical errors. Sometimes, however, the exchanges are more critical in nature and allow the contractor to submit proposal revisions as part of the negotiation process. When this occurs, the agency is said to have engaged in “discussions” with the contractor. In this scenario, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) imposes a host of obligations on the agency’s conduct.Continue Reading Sometimes Post-Proposal Communications Are More Than Sweet Nothings …