New regs help FASA, FARA, ITMRA get going

The Clinton administration and the General Accounting Office have issued more than a dozen regulations that carry out various provisions of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act, the Federal Acquisition Reform Act and the Information Technology Management Reform Act, including:

Repeal, as of Aug. 8, of Chapter 201 of the Federal Information Resources Management Regulation, as required under ITMRA.

New timetables for filing protests and related information with GAO.

At the suggestions of some commenters, GAO will give protesters an extra day to review (and object to) the scope of documents agencies would disclose in a case. The agency also expanded the range of "informal" measures that might be used to resolve disputes, including status conferences.

Adoption of interim FASA rules concerning simplified acquisitions, the Federal Acquisition Computer Network, micro-purchases, task- and delivery-order contracts and multiple-year contracts, with some amendments.

The micro-purchase rules have been in effect since December 1994, while the simplified acquisition rules took effect last July. Although these rules are now final, the rules for electronic contracting are still subject to change while an interagency team reviews technical issues concerning contractor registration.

But the administration has eliminated a requirement that agencies join FACNET before being allowed to use simplified acquisition procedures for small contracts. That mandate was repealed by FARA this year.