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Tag: FAR

A New and Improved FAR coming your way

GSA Hosts Webinar on Transformative Federal Procurement Changes

The General Services Administration (GSA) hosted a live webinar last week to discuss major reforms reshaping the future of federal acquisition. The session focused on two recent Executive Orders EO 14240, which consolidates federal procurement under GSA, and EO 14275, which launches a sweeping overhaul of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). Together, these changes aim to streamline buying, cut waste, and open government contracting to more innovation and efficiency. (GSA webinar to discuss executive orders) May 28, 2025)

Consolidating Federal Procurement: EO 14240

Jeff Koses, GSA’s Senior Procurement Executive, explained how EO 14240 shifts common goods and services procurement under GSA’s leadership. This move will eliminate redundancy, reduce cost, and enable agencies to concentrate on mission delivery. GSA will now act as the Executive Agent for all Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), aligning those currently managed by NASA and NIH into GSA’s centralized procurement strategy. (ibid)

GSA will collaborate with OMB, NASA, and NIH to assess current GWACs, resources, and commitments, building a cohesive transition plan. The 10 key spending categories, Information Technology, Professional Services, Security & Protection, Facilities & Construction, Industrial Products & Services, Office Management, Transportation & Logistics, Travel, Medical, and
Human Capital will fall under GSA’s streamlined acquisition umbrella. (ibid)

FAR Overhaul: EO 14275

The second half of the webinar focused on EO 14275, which calls for a modernized, intuitive, and mission-focused FAR. Koses highlighted that the current FAR is too complex and deters many businesses, especially small and innovative firms, from entering the federal marketplace. (ibid)

The FAR rewrite dubbed the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO), is being implemented through a series of deviations and will remove low-value administrative burdens while maintaining key protections against waste and fraud. New resources, including a FAR Companion Guide, Practitioner Albums, and Buying Guides, will support acquisition professionals and contractors as the rewrite rolls out. (ibid)

Parts of the revised FAR are already available on Acquisition.gov, and the public can comment directly on proposed changes. GSA also announced new training efforts in partnership with FAI and DAU to support the acquisition workforce in adopting the changes. (ibid)

What This Means for Industry

These changes signal a major shift for contractors:

  • Greater opportunity for innovative and small businesses to compete.
  • Streamlined acquisition timelines and reduced barriers to entry.
  • Increased emphasis on commercial buying and mission-first contracting. (ibid)

What’s Next

GSA will continue collecting agency implementation plans and begin analyzing them with OMB. The agency stressed the importance of collaboration with stakeholders and the acquisition workforce during this transitional period. (ibid)

To stay informed, stakeholders can sign up for RFO updates, download new FAR parts and guides, and share feedback directly on Acquisition.gov. (ibid)

This marks a new chapter in federal acquisition—one aimed at making government buying faster, smarter, and more accessible.

Questions concerning the FAR and the overhaul? Give us a call.

Trump Administration Moves to Overhaul Federal Procurement Rules

On April 15, 2025, President Trump signed two executive orders (EOs) aimed at transforming federal procurement. These actions directly impact contractors by pushing the system toward commercial solutions and simplified regulations. Insidegovernmentcontracts.com April 16, 2025

EO #1: “Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement” (FAR Reform EO)

This EO directs the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and the FAR Council to revise the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to include only what statutes require or what’s essential to sound procurement. Agencies must:

  • Appoint senior officials by April 30 to align their procurement rules.
  • Follow interim deviations and guidance ahead of final FAR amendments.
  • Prepare for potential “sunset” of non-statutory FAR clauses after four years unless renewed. (ibid)

OMB will issue implementation guidance by May 5 and enforce a “ten-for-one” rule—repealing 10 regulations for every new one added.

EO #2: “Ensuring Commercial, Cost-Effective Solutions in Federal Contracts” (Commercial Solutions EO)

This order requires agencies to prioritize commercial products and services under the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (FASA). Contracting officers must:

  • Justify any pending non-commercial procurements by June 14.
  • Submit their justifications for senior procurement executive (SPE) review within 30 days.
  • Obtain SPE approval for any future non-commercial contracts, with market research, price analysis, and rationale. (ibid)

Agencies must report progress to OMB within 120 days and annually thereafter, detailing compliance with FASA and progress on implementing the Order’s commerciality preference. (ibid)

What Contractors Should Do

  • Expect regulatory shifts that may change compliance obligations mid-contract.
  • Review current proposals to identify where you can frame your offering as a commercial item.
  • Engage proactively with contracting officers to support market-based solutions and pricing.

These changes aim to streamline procurement, reduce regulation, and shift focus toward cost-effective, commercially available solutions. (ibid)

Not certain how to frame your product/service as commercially available? Give us a call.

Prohibited telcom equipment may cost you

The General Services Administration’s (GSA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) published a new report highlighting GSA’s failure to address prohibited telecom items on its Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contracts. The report states that this puts customers at risk of unauthorized surveillance by foreign adversaries. In 2017 and 2018, Congress passed laws prohibiting the procurement of certain telecom and video surveillance services from specific entities, with FAS responsible for ensuring compliance. However, the OIG report reveals that FAS’s reliance on contractor self-certifications and the Prohibited Products Robomod process is inadequate in preventing the inclusion of prohibited items on MAS contract price lists. (MerriTalk July 11,2023)

The report also identifies FAS’s shortcomings in taking sufficient action against contractors violating Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) restrictions, as well as the lack of a process to notify customer agencies about purchases of prohibited telecom items. Furthermore, FAS initially failed to comply with FAR requirements by not including subsidiaries and affiliates of named entities in their efforts to identify prohibited items on MAS contracts. To address these issues, the OIG has made five recommendations to FAS Commissioner Sonny Hashmi, including strengthening controls and implementing more stringent consequences for non-compliant contractors. (ibid)

This report from the GSA’s OIG follows the release of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) “Covered List,” which prohibits the sale of telecom network equipment and services from certain China-based providers due to national security concerns. The FCC’s ban aims to safeguard the nation’s communications networks and enhance the security and resilience of the domestic supply chain. These efforts reflect the commitment of both agencies to protect national security and mitigate risks associated with unauthorized telecommunications equipment and services. (ibid)

Questions about prohibited telcom items? give us a call.

The Navy is looking to end Small Business subcontractor baiting

The Department of the Navy (DoN) has exceeded all of its small business goals for fiscal year 2021, spending more than $17 billion with small business prime contractors. The Navy is, however, wrestling with small business subcontractors getting their fair share. (Federal News Network October 21, 2021)

An updated effort to enforce small business contracting plans is in the works, according to Jimmy Smith, the director of the Office of Small Business Programs for the Department of the Navy. (ibid)

According to Smith, “the Navy executed a Navy audit, service audit on subcontracting on our 10 major buying commands. The Naval Sea Systems Command was the first of those 10 audits. The audit has concluded. We’ve already seen the results of that and now we’re sharing that information across the entire enterprise to go off and correct problems. We don’t think we’re going to learn anything more from going over the same information in the other audits, so now is the time to get into corrective actions and the steps that we need in order to execute solutions to problems instead of continuing to admire problems.” (ibid)

The first audit has provided some changes to be made Navy-wide, according to Smith. “First is reporting back to our industry partners. We have to make that something that’s pretty standard, maybe use a machine learning technology to help contracting officers identify problems that are in contractor performance assessment reporting (CPARs) when it comes to how well our industry partners are doing meeting their own subcontract and goals, that they can communicate it to us. We would love to have a system that flashed bright red lights when an industry partner wasn’t living up to the plan in the document that they provide to us about the health of their effort. Right now, it’s all hand-over-hand reading to see if you find that someone is off and then go do the analysis. I think we have to come up with a mechanism that brings the importance level of subcontract and compliance up to a higher level to raise it to the attention that it’s deserved.” (ibid)

Government agencies and prime contractors, need to hold up their side of the bargain and be held accountable. In 2018, the Inspector General for the Defense Department found it to be a challenge for five contracting commands to monitor prime contractors’ compliance with individual subcontracting plans. He told the House Small Business Committee the individual contractors who held subcontracting plans, did not meet their small business subcontracting goals. (ibid)

The Federal Acquisition Regulations Council issued a final rule in August. The rule requires large businesses to make “good faith efforts” to meet subcontracting goals. A few examples of actions that are a failure to make a good-faith effort can be found in the SBA’s guidance list. (ibid)

The final rule spells out what encompasses not making a “good faith effort”. The rule includes turning in subcontracting plan reports late, not designating an employee to monitor the subcontracting plan, and not completing market research. (ibid)

Smith said the Navy has met all of its small business goals for the past four years. He added, the Navy’s goals are not just the numbers, but providing the correct capability to the warfighter at the best value. (ibid)

Smith noted that the Navy is finding small businesses that meet their needs by an extended outreach effort. The move to virtual events has also extended their outreach. Virtual events are more cost-effective and reach more people. Smith plans to continue to do some live events, however, webinars will complement these and hopefully reach even more small business contractors. (ibid)

Questions about your small business subcontract plan? Give us a call.

 

 

Happy Birthday eBuy!

If you’ve not heard of eBuy it is the paperless request-for-quote (RFQ) system GSA put into place 20 years ago. It was set up to connect suppliers to the contracting process for various products and services. According to eBuy’s Senior Program Analyst Rich Carlson, “in 2001, this online program revolutionized how government connected buyers and sellers for contracting quotes. eBuy streamlined the process, allowing more suppliers, especially small businesses, to participate and connect in ways that they couldn’t before.”  (gsa.gov/blog June 25, 2021)

eBuy offers a single, user-friendly electronic platform with the appropriate supporting documentation and approved supplier oversight. eBuy provides the ability for federal clients, state and local governments to post RFQs, make changes in real-time, and connect buyers with suppliers to secure the best pricing and value for competitive quotes. Additionally, eBuy is available for use 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (ibid)

eBuy gives clients the confidence that suppliers meet all FAR and acquisition regulations. Additionally, companies of all sizes find opportunities to bid on contracts, with these opportunities all on a centralized platform. Multiple types of RFQs have been added to eBuy such as blanket purchase agreements (BPAs), set-asides, and governmentwide acquisition contracts (GWACS) for complex IT solutions. 2020 saw a complete redesign and refresh of functionality. (ibid)

When eBuy was created, 5 RFQs were launched on the site. 22 years later, more than $22 billion in awards have been contracted through eBuy with no slow down in sight. (ibid)

Questions about eBuy and how you can take advantage of it? Give us a call.