48 CFR Chapter 1, Subchapter F - SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is proposing to amend and update its VA Acquisition Regulation (VAAR) in phased increments to revise or remove any policy superseded by changes in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), to remove procedural guidance internal to VA into the VAAM, and to incorporate any new agency specific regulations or policies. These changes seek to streamline and align the VAAR with the FAR and remove outdated and duplicative requirements and reduce burden on contractors. The VAAM incorporates portions of the removed VAAR as well as other internal agency acquisition policy. VA will rewrite certain parts of the VAAR and VAAM, and as VAAR parts are rewritten, will publish them in the Federal Register . To minimize the number of rules published, VA will combine related topics.

Pursuant to Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code, taxpayer return information, with few exceptions, is confidential. Under this authority, officers and employees of the Department of the Treasury may have access to taxpayer return information as necessary for purposes of tax administration. The Department of the Treasury has determined that an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) contractor's compliance with the tax laws is a tax administration matter and that taxpayer return information is needed for determining an offeror's eligibility to receive an award, including but not limited to implementation of the statutory prohibition of making an award to corporations that have an unpaid Federal tax liability. This interim rule amends the Department of the Treasury Acquisition Regulation (DTAR) for the purposes of supplementing the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). This interim rule will amend the DTAR by adding a subpart titled “Responsible Prospective Contractor” and a paragraph concerning Representation and certifications regarding responsibility matters, for the purpose of directing IRS contracting officers to the newly added DTAR subpart titled “Tax Check Requirement,” which prescribes the policies and procedures for performing a tax check on the apparent successful offeror in order to determine eligibility to receive an award.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement a public law that disapproved the final rule, Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces (FAR Case 2014-025), and an Executive Order (E.O.) dated March 27, 2017, that rescinded the prior Executive orders authorizing that rule.