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Complex Policy, Comprehensive Updates
As policies evolve, how can we identify when their growing complexity begins to affect acquisition outcomes?
That’s the question the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) and Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council set out to answer earlier this year following Executive Order (EO) 14275. Across forty years of thoughtful but incremental policy additions, the acquisition rules have accumulated layers that can occasionally create complexity for practitioners. The EO acknowledged this growing complexity and signaled that a comprehensive, modernizing update would be valuable.
That rewrite arrived in spring with the announcement of the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO). The RFO is not a new law, but an effort to remove non-statutory language, reorganize FAR rules into a logical order, and rephrase them in plain language.
It’s a welcome change for acquisition practitioners, but what can you expect as implementation continues?
How the Process Will Work
Beginning in May the FAR Council issued a series of model deviation texts of the original FAR text, which are revised drafts of FAR guidelines. Deviation texts were published on a rolling basis, and agencies were expected to implement them within roughly 30 days of each release.
The doors for providing feedback on the model deviation texts have closed, and now the FAR Council will follow the formal rulemaking process to modify or confirm each of them.
Current Tools for Understanding the FAR Overhaul
Several non-regulatory tools have already been developed to help users understand the RFO:
- Practitioner Albums: A collection of trainings that review changes and deletions in detail part by part, along with Smart Accelerators, which are tips for implementing the RFO in your workflow efficiently.
- The Companion Guide: An extensive blueprint to “assist acquisition officials exercising their discretion within the recently rewritten FAR parts” from award to contract closeout. Updated regularly.
- Open Office Hours: Monthly FAR Forward office hours with GSA via Zoom for practitioners to ask questions.
- GSA Blogs and How-To Guides: Published advice from GSA on navigating the overhaul.
- VAO RFO Page (For VAO subscribers): A dedicated webpage that serves as a one-stop hub for RFO resources. The Virtual Acquisition Office (VAO) has also produced the publication, Say FARewell: Preparing for the RFO, which explains what the RFO is, why this update is happening, and what it means for you.
Common RFO Implementation Challenges (and How to Avoid Them)
As with any transition of this scale, practitioners can expect to have questions about when to defer to deviation texts and how to exercise discretion appropriately during implementation. Fortunately, identifying pain points early can help prevent friction later:
- Hybrid Environment: Until rulemaking is concluded, acquisition teams will operate in a hybrid environment, where some contracts will be awarded and administered under the traditional FAR while others will fall under the RFO. Some awards may even contain language from both. This may cause friction if obsolete text is cited, or if old and new structures are mixed together during the solicitation phase.
- Outdated Tools: Agency templates and automated systems like the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) or System for Award Management (SAM) may lag behind RFO alterations. This may require manual review and cross-walking of clauses until systems are up to date. In-system errors may just be due to outdated references. Additionally, the FAR Council has stated that it’s up to agencies to update their internal guidelines and in-house resources.
- Oversight Alignment: Oversight bodies are also learning the new framework. This means Inspector General file reviews and other audits may reference legacy structures during reviews, even as teams begin adopting the RFO.
- Out-of-Date Systems: As regulations evolve, agencies need contract writing systems that adapt just as quickly. The right software automatically updates to reflect policy and clause changes, applies logic accurately, and integrates with the systems agencies rely on every day.
Practitioners can follow a few guidelines to avoid headaches. Broadly speaking, transparency and a “show your work” approach can ease the transition:
- Always Cite Your Sources: Be prepared to explain any decisions with the most current regulatory text.
- Do Not Mix Old and New Clause Structures: Select one clause structure per action for simplicity.
- Do Not Over-Correct: Each section of the Practitioner Albums highlights what’s been retained from the original FAR. Know what’s been updated and what hasn’t, and don’t make unnecessary adjustments within your acquisition documents.
What Happens Now?
As formal rulemaking begins, the FAR Council will finalize which modifications to scrap and which to adjust or maintain. Model deviation texts will remain in place until this rulemaking process is finished. As these updates reshape the familiar workflows of acquisition professionals, the RFO presents a unique opportunity. The accessibility and ease of a simplified FAR is within reach, and it will take a little adjustment to achieve it. Until then, practice makes perfect, and practitioners have many tools available to begin.
