The “Revolutionary” FAR Overhaul Is Really a Regression!

"You say you want a revolution / Well, you know / We all want to change the world / But when you talk about destruction / Don't you know that you can count me out.” 

--John Lennon, Revolution, The Beatles

Count me as one who hates change. I find the so-called “Revolutionary FAR Overhaul to be unnecessary, confusing, and likely to lead to more not less procurement disputes.

Numerous labor-related provisions have been revised, consolidated, or removed from the Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) as part of Revolutionary FAR Overhaul in response to Executive Order 14275, Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement. The content of the removed provisions are found henceforth in Practitioner Albums, the FAR Companion and/or the Category Buying Guide and are available at www.Acquisition.gov. Good job Brownie -- now we have to go potentially to three other places to check  what must be done to comply with the Service Contract Act and Davis-Bacon Act.  Why is that revolutionary or even sensible?

 The “FAR Part 22 Change Summary” explains:

 FAR part 22, Application of Labor Laws to Government Acquisitions, is restructured to align with the stages of the acquisition lifecycle (e.g., Presolicitation, Evaluation and Award, Postaward). The part is now shorter, with sections combined to remove redundancy and duplicative language.

Importantly, the fundamental protections for workers remain the same. For example, contractors are still required to:

 •                     Pay the correct prevailing wages for construction and service work

•                     Provide safe and sanitary working conditions

•                     Ensure equal opportunity for veterans

•                     Pay overtime correctly.

The following SCA-related provisions (referred to in the Change Summary as “guidance and best practice procedures”) have been removed from the FAR and moved to the “FAR Companion”:

 ·         Administrative limitations, variations, tolerances, and exemptions (former 22.1003-4(a))

·         Examples of contracts covered by the Service Contract Labor Standards statute (former 22.1003-5)

·         Requirement to obtain wage determinations, (former 22.1007(b) & (c))

·         Wage determinations based on collective bargaining agreements (former FAR 22.1002-3(b))

·         Service Contract Labor Standards, Applicability, General (former 22.1003-1)

·         Administrative limitations, variations, tolerances, and exemptions (former 22.1003-4(a))

·         Examples of contracts covered by the Service Contract Labor Standards statute (former 22.1003-5)

·         Repair distinguished from remanufacturing of equipment (former FAR 22.1003-6)

·         Department of Labor responsibilities and regulations (former FAR 22.1004)

·         Obtaining wage determinations (former FAR 22-1008-1)

·         Successorship with incumbent contractor collective bargaining agreement (former FAR 22.1008-2(d)(2))

·         All possible places of performance not identified (former FAR 22.1009-4(a)(b))

·         Statement of equivalent rates for Federal hires (former FAR 22.1016(b))