Federal Agencies Must Now Justify Lucrative Sole-Source Contracts

An interim rule was issued on March 16, 2011, by the Department of Defense, the General Services Administration, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in order to align the Presidential Memorandum on Government Contracting, issued on March 4, 2009, which directed agencies to save $40 billion in contracting annually by Fiscal Year 2011 and to reduce the use of high-risk contracts, with section 864 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009.   This rule provides regulatory guidance on the proper use and management of contracts other than firm-fixed-price contracts (e.g., cost-reimbursement, time-and-material, and labor-hour).

Important changes include the requirement of additional documentation when a contract other than a firm-fixed-price contract is selected;  the designation of a properly trained contracting officer's representative (or contracting officer's technical representative) prior to award of the contract or order; ensuring that acquisition planners document the file to support the selection of the contract type; ensuring that the statement of work is closely aligned with the performance outcomes and cost estimates; obtaining approval and signature from the appropriate acquisition official at least one level above the contracting officer; and the requirement that the contracting officer determine the continuing adequacy of the contractor's accounting system during the entire period of contract performance.

Interested parties should submit written comments to the Regulatory Secretariat on or before May 16, 2011 to be considered in the formulation of a final rule.

Read the supporting article at: http://get.govexec-media.com/portal/wts/cemcfOaBrE2baEfsufvfnra97TBc6b