The Department of Defense, the General Services Administration, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation to provide revised regulatory coverage on organizational conflicts of interest and contractor access to nonpublic information. Section 841 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (PL 110-417) required a review of the FAR coverage on OCIs. The proposed rule follows an evaluation of FAR Subpart 9.5, Organizational and Consultant Conflicts of Interest, conducted by the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council, the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council, and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, in consultation with the Office of Government Ethics. The evaluation was informed, in part, by a review of recent case law and opinions from the Government Accountability Office and the Court of Federal Claims, which indicated agencies do not always perform adequate, case-by-case, fact-specific analyses when addressing OCIs. The evaluation also considered the findings of the Acquisition Advisory Panel, which concluded contracting officers and agencies have encountered difficulties implementing appropriate OCI avoidance and mitigation measures, responses to a 2008 advance notice of proposed rulemaking, which sought comment on whether the current guidance on OCIs adequately addresses the current needs of the acquisition community, and comments on a 2010 Defense FAR Supplement proposed rule (¶70,020.263) implementing Section 207 of the Weapons System Acquisition Reform Act of 2009 (PL 111-23).
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