Nextgov/FCW reported that the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council on Thursday released new model deviation text for six parts of the FAR as part of the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul, or RFO, initiative.
In April, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing his administration to amend FAR to streamline the federal procurement process and eliminate barriers to doing business with the government.
In June, the FAR Council released model deviation text for sections related to emergency acquisitions, contract modifications and acquisition of information and communication technology, or ICT.
The overhauled FAR parts include sections related to administrative and information matters; required sources of supplies and services; acquisition of commercial products and commercial services; and information security and supply chain security.
The council announced the removal of FAR Part 51, Use of Government Sources by Contractors, and FAR Part 38, Federal Supply Schedule Contracting. These class deviations will take effect on Nov. 3.
Commercial Acquisition
FAR Part 12 concerning the acquisition of commercial products and services has been reengineered in its scope, structure and operational mechanics to accelerate federal procurement and align it more with commercial practices.
The council said the changes reflect an effort to establish a user-centric part that advances flexibility and innovation when acquiring commercial goods and services.
The revised part structure consolidates all relevant guidance into process-oriented subparts: presolicitation; solicitation; evaluation and award; postaward; and micropurchases.
Forty-six provisions and clauses from other FAR parts have been removed as they are no longer required for commercial contracts. The change reflects a 30 percent reduction in the number of provisions and clauses that apply to commercial contracts.
Information Security & Supply Chain Security
The council has reorganized FAR Part 40 related to information security and supply chain security into three key subparts: processing supply chain risk information; security prohibitions and exclusions; and safeguarding information.
The subpart 40.1, for instance, now incorporates a section concerning sharing supply chain risk information.
The overhauled part also merged more than a dozen provisions and clauses into four: one provision and three clauses. The change is part of efforts to improve clarity and eliminate redundancies.
