FAR Overhaul Gives New Flexibility Authority To Contracting Officers

“WASHINGTON TECHNOLOGY” By Nick Wakeman

“The latest changes to Part 15 eliminate deviation requirements, allowing contracting officers to structure deals without senior-level approvals.”

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“The General Services Administration is foot-stomping one of the main goals of the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul: give more flexibility and authority to contracting officers.

Jeffrey Koses, GSA’s senior procurement executive, began talking about the flexibility the rewritten Federal Acquisition Regulation will bring to acquisition officials back in May. At the time, GSA released changes to FAR Part 10 that governs market research.

Also in May, GSA released changes to Part 34 to give contracting officers “wide latitude to exercise business judgement.”

In changes to Part 1 of the FAR, contracting officers and acquisitions teams are encouraged to use strategies that are in the best interest of the government. This also applies when issues are not specifically addressed in the FAR.

 Koses published a LinkedIn post on how changes to Part 15 are intended to provide contracting officers more flexibility in determining the structure of contracts as way of fostering innovation.

The old Part 15 specifically prohibited the use of contract types not described in the regulation, unless a deviation is issued.

“In other words, if you want to use an innovative contract type not called out, you have to write out a compelling rationale, navigate a complex and long review process, make the lawyers happy, and gain approval at a very senior level,” Koses wrote in his Oct. 20 LinkedIn post.

The new FAR language only bans contract types that are expressly prohibited by law or by the FAR. Anything else is permitted.

“The overhaul empowers the CO to use innovative contract types. No special approvals or justifications,” Koses wrote.

Koses also points to the strategic acquisition guidance that is part of the FAR overhaul, but not a regulation, as a resource for contracting officers because it provides examples of how to the new authorities.

For example, he said buying cloud services with a fixed unit price contract can now be done without a deviation.

The guidance “explains that fixed price contract is ideal for things such as buying cloud on a per (gigabyte) basis,” he wrote. “We can firm-fix the per unit price even when there’s no reasonable way to estimate the total number of units needed.”

The example doesn’t fit every situation, Koses wrote.”

“But when it does fit, it should be easy to use.”

GSA’s FAR Overhaul gives contracting officers new flexibility to use innovative contract types

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Nick Wakeman is the editor-in-chief of Washington Technology and joined the publication in 1996 as a staff writer. He’s a graduate of Bridgewater College and earned a masters degree from American University. When he isn’t writing about government contractors, he’s thinking of cooking large pieces of meat over fire and dreaming of ways to embarrass his two sons. Follow him on Twitter: @nick_wakeman