FAR Overhaul targets commercial buying and negotiations in newest rewrite

A second set of proposed rules to implement that Revolutionary FAR Overhaul have been released for several parts focused on commercial buying and negotiated acquisitions, arguably one of the more consequential parts of the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

The proposed rule (FAR Case 2026-003) covers Parts 8, 12, 13, 15, 38, 44, 51 and associated clauses in Part 52.

Part 12 covers commercial buying, and the proposal reorganizes and streamlines the rules to make it what the FAR Council says will be “user-centric, faster, simpler, and more aligned with customary commercial practices.”

“Commercial” practices have been one of the primary goals since the launch of the FAR Overhaul last year and the executive order Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement.

The FAR rewrite has focused on eliminating requirements not required by statute, as well as encouraging contracting officers to be more flexible in how they buy products and services.

The proposal outlines several hoped-for benefits of the Part 12 rewrite including improved efficiency and effectiveness, greater clarity, and reduced administrative burdens.

The rewrite puts on emphasis on buying commercial to the “maximum extent practicable, encouraging innovation, and finding efficiencies.”

The FAR Council also believes that moving toward a plainer language regulation will make the acquisition process easier for contracting officers, offerors and contractors to understand.

The council also opened up construction to be considered a commercial service, streamlining those acquisition processes as well.

Efficiency and streamlining themes also run throughout the rewrite of Part 15, which governs how competitive procurements are conducted.

The council's changes to Part 15 emphasize negotiations versus holding discussions.

“Government and industry can benefit from meaningful negotiations that lead to a more advantageous contract award for both parties,” the proposal states.

Part 15 also simplifies the definition of “deficiency” during evaluations and pushes the government toward negotiations to address significant weaknesses.

By simplifying how agencies and bidders interact, the goal is to improve competition because contracting officers will gain a better understanding of the proposals. The council believes this will help them consider more proposals for award, according to the rewrite.

The proposal opens the door for contracting officers to keep proposals in the competitive range even if it isn’t the top-rated proposal but includes terms worth negotiating.

The Part 15 proposal also formalizes the highest technically rated with a fair and reasonable price source selection approach and evaluations that have multiple phases, such as down selects.

Increasing competition is a common theme in this set of proposed rules. The council included the data point that in fiscal year 2025, 45% of contract dollars were awarded either without competition or when only one proposal was submitted in a competitive process.

The council cites high compliance costs as a factor in the decline of competition because there also are fewer businesses in the federal market compared to 20 years ago.

The council also eliminated Part 38 and Part 51. Part 51 is being folded into Part 8, but Part 38 regulates the awarding of contracts under the Federal Supply Schedule program.

The General Services Administration oversees the schedule program and has its own rules in place, which means the council saw Part 38 as considered duplicative and unnecessary.

In addition to the proposed rule for Parts 8, 12, 13, 15, 38, 44, 51; the council also released proposed rules for Parts 16, 17, and 35, and Parts 14, 28, and 36.

So far, the FAR Council has published eight of 12 proposed rules. Comments on all the rules published Sept. 18 are due Oct. 19.