Question

What is the history of FAR and how it has changed processes and procedures in regard to government contracts. In your opinion, has it improved or hindered the processes? What are some changes that you think should be made?

Answer 1

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) is the principal set of rules in the Federal Acquisition Regulations System regarding government procurement in the United States.

The FAR System governs the "acquisition process" by which executive agencies of the United States federal government acquire (i.e., purchase or lease) goods and services by contract with appropriated funds.^[1][2][3] The process consists of three phases

1. Need recognition and acquisition planning;
2. Contract formation; and
3. Contract administration.

The FAR System regulates the activities of government personnel in carrying out that process.

While nearly all federal government executive agencies are required to comply with the FAR, some executive agencies are exempt. In those cases, the agency promulgates its own specific procurement rules. The remainder of the FAR System consists mostly of sets of regulations issued by executive agencies of the federal government of the United States to supplement the FAR.

The purpose of the FAR is to provide uniform policies and procedures for acquisition. It is the uniform, government-wide regulation governing executive agency procurement contracts. Among its guiding principles is to have an acquisition system that satisfies customer's needs in terms of cost, quality, and timeliness; minimize administrative operating costs; conduct business with integrity, fairness, and openness; and fulfill other public policy objectives.

When a federal government agency issues a solicitation, it will specify the applicable FAR provisions, which may be numerous. In order to be awarded a contract, an offeror must either comply with the provisions, demonstrate that it will be able to comply with them at the time of award, or claim an exemption from them. As an example, Part 30 (Cost Accounting Standards Administration) allows for small businesses to be exempt from those requirements. If the offeror demonstrates that it meets the small business criteria, Part 30 does not apply.

2. No discussion of government procedures and rules is complete without talking about the basic rulebook for government contracts: the Federal Acquisition Regulation, commonly known as "the FAR." The FAR, which had its beginnings in the Armed Services Procurement Regulation established in 1947, is considered the Bible for federal government contracting. The FAR contains all the rules governing the contracting process as well as all the forms and clauses used in contracts. The FAR has recently gone through a significant rewrite to reflect and implement all of the changes made by all the recent laws. In order to do business with the federal government, you definitely need to have a basic knowledge of what is in the FAR and how to use it. Although the FAR is the primary acquisition regulation for the federal government, each government agency may issue an agency acquisition supplement to the FAR. We therefore have the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), the General Services Acquisition Regulation Supplement (GSARS), and the National Aeronautics Space Administration FAR Supplement (NASFARS) These supplements are not stand-alone documents, but must be read in conjunction with the FAR. Therefore, when preparing a proposal or quote, remember to look at the relevant supplement, in addition to the FAR, to make sure added requirements don't apply. The FAR has not helped much as there are other rules and regulations that needs to be kept in mind as well for these contracts.

3. The most important change that needs to be done is to make the FAR comprehensive so that no other acquisition supplements issued by any other government agencies. The rules and regulations need to be revised keeping the current situation in mind.