Is the Proposed FAR Revision on OCIs Still Necessary?

In 2011, the FAR Councils proposed broad reform to FAR Subpart 9.5 governing organizational conflicts of interest (OCI). See 76 Fed. Reg. 23236 (Apr. 26, 2011) (FAR Case 2011-001). The proposed rule pondered whether ''substantive departures'' from the current OCI framework outlined in the FAR (and supplemented by interpretive caselaw) could be remade into "an OCI framework that is clearer, easier to implement, and better suited to protecting the interests of the Government." Indeed, the proposed revisions were sweeping in scope and would usher in significant OCI regulatory reform. Nearly four years later, there has been no public movement on the proposed rule, but FAR Case 2011-001 remains open and FAR Council reports suggest that a draft final rule may be imminent. Click here to read the full article.

(Reproduced with permission from Federal Contracts Report, 103 FCR 323, 03/24/2015. Copyright © 2015 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) http://www.bna.com.)