Over 1,000 pages on FAR overhaul heads to formal rulemaking process
Four proposed rules to begin formally overhauling 20 sections of the Federal Acquisition Regulation are set to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday.
While the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council has been rewriting and deviating from the FAR for over a year now as part of what it’s calling “the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul”, the unpublished proposed rules are a step toward codification of these changes.
Over a combined total of more than 1,000 pages of proposed rules, the overhaul would establish regular regulatory reviews and sunsets, as well as move the bid protest system to the agencies involved in disputes instead of the Government Accountability Office.
“This language was added as a step towards increasing confidence in agency protests, increasing the ability to capture data at the agency level on protests filed with contracting officers, and for agency management to respond to procurement issues raised in protests,” the rule says.
The FAR update comes in response to an April 2025 executive order mandating the procurement policy be pared down to the essentials and presented in plain language, void of any “undue barriers” and “unnecessary regulations.” The FAR has not been significantly updated in 40 years.
The rules would affect the following 20 sections:
- 1: Federal Acquisition Regulations System
- 2: Definitions of Words and Terms
- 3: Improper Business Practices and Personal Conflicts of Interest
- 4: Administrative and Information Matters
- 5: Publicizing Contract Actions
- 6: Competition Requirements
- 7: Acquisition Planning
- 10: Market Research
- 18: Emergency Acquisitions
- 24: Protection of Privacy and Freedom of Information
- 26: Other Socioeconomic Programs
- 29: Taxes
- 33: Protests, Disputes and Appeals
- 37: Service Contracting
- 39: Acquisition of Information (and Communication) Technology
- 40: Information Security and Supply Chain Security
- 41: Acquisition of Utility Services
- 49: Termination of Contracts
- 52: Solicitation Provisions and Contract Clauses
- 53: Forms
Tech-related highlights from one rule would implement a single “do not buy” list that would blacklist entities that “pose security risks” such as “certain Chinese telecommunications companies,” notably including Russia-based Kaspersky Lab and China’s TikTok. It would also update the definition of unmanned aircraft systems to ban foreign-built drones and require cybersecurity incidents to be reported within 72 hours.
That same rule proposes changes to contractors’ handling of controlled unclassified information, enabling “a uniform process for communicating the information contractors must manage and safeguard as well as identify where a CUI incident must be reported” or how that might differ from other FAR clauses. It also requires that when such information is held in the cloud, the contractor must use services that meet at least a FedRAMP Moderate baseline.
Another would increase the threshold for public announcement of a significant contract award from $4.5 million to $5.5 million, and it would make minimum posting timeframes for solicitation and award notices in a more readable table format.
A third rule would replace a static codified list of emergency procurement regulations with a dynamic webpage. It would also fold Part 10 into Part 7 to require agencies to procure commercial products and services to the “maximum extent practicable.”
Finally, the last rule would prohibit agreements that would restrict subcontractors from selling software or technical processes directly to the government.
Public comment will be open from Tuesday until July 23.
