On January 3, 2012, DoD, GSA and NASA jointly released a Final Rule that amends the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to prevent abuse of interagency contracts. The FAR changes are applicable to interagency acquisitions issued under the Economy Act as well as other authorities.
The three main changes that the Final Rule implements are:
1. It broadens the scope of coverage of FAR subpart 17.5 to address all interagency acquisitions that result in a contract action excluding Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) orders under $500,000.
2. Agencies are now required to support the decision to use an interagency acquisition with the determination that the solution is the “best procurement approach.”
3. Assisted acquisitions must now be accompanied by written agreements between the requesting agency and the servicing agency. The written agreements will document the roles and responsibilities of the respective parties.
The changes to FAR subpart 17.5 go into effect on February 2, 2012.
