Compliance Stuff

What: The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FAR Council) issued the first four proposed rules to implement Executive Order (EO) 14275, Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement, covering 20 parts of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), including the related clauses and forms in Parts 52 and 53. (The proposed rules can be found here , here , here , and here .) The FAR Council intends to issue a total of 12 proposed rules that collectively will revise the entire FAR. This formal notice-and-comment rulemaking represents Phase Two of the “ Revolutionary FAR Overhaul ” (RFO) process that began in 2025, when the FAR Council issued a series of model class deviations to the FAR that virtually all federal agencies have adopted. The proposed rules incorporate and build on general changes from the RFO class deviations, such as reorganizing the FAR Parts to follow the phases of the acquisition process, revising text to use plain language, and relocating examples of best practices a...

The Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) of the General Services Administration (GSA)  revealed on October 17, 2025 , that it will issue a Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Solicitation 47QSMD20R0001 “refresh” sometime in November 2025 . While GSA allowed the contracting community 10 business days to submit comments—until October 31, 2025 —as MAS contract holders know, GSA issues refreshes from time to time so that changes are made uniformly in recognition of shifts in policy, regulations, or statutes. Administering MAS contracts in this way allows GSA to curate terms in a consistent manner for contractual vehicles at all stages of performance, as contractors perform orders at different times. Refresh #30 The incoming November changes, “Refresh #30,” promise to be significant because they will make several modifications to the overall MAS Solicitation. In GSA’s  Summary of Changes , Refresh #30 will update numerous clauses and provisions to align the MAS Solicitation with deviations...

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) is often described as the “bible” of federal procurement. For decades, it has governed how agencies acquire goods and services, and how contractors compete for, win, and perform government contracts. While incremental updates are common, the federal procurement community is now bracing for the implementation of an effort describing itself as a “ revolutionary FAR overhaul ” — a top-to-bottom “modernization effort” that could reshape the contracting landscape. Why an Overhaul Now? For some time, certain policymakers, acquisition officials, and industry stakeholders have criticized the FAR for being: Overly complex  – Thousands of pages of regulations can overwhelm even experienced contractors. Outdated  – Some provisions reflect procurement practices from the 1980s, ill-suited to today’s fast-moving tech environment. Inflexible  – Agencies often struggle to adopt innovative solutions due to rigid rules. The current change has its ro...