48 CFR Chapter 2, Subchapter E - GENERAL CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS

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proposing to amend and update its VA Acquisition Regulation (VAAR) in phased increments to revise or remove any policy superseded by changes in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), to remove procedural guidance internal to VA into the VA Acquisition Manual (VAAM), and to incorporate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 These changes seek to streamline and align the VAAR with the FAR and remove outdated and duplicative requirements and reduce burden on contractors.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, we will publish them in the Federal Register . VA will combine related topics, as appropriate. In particular, this rulemaking revises VAAR Parts 829—Taxes, 846—Quality Assurance, and 847—Transportation, as well as affected Parts 852—Solicitation Provisions and Contract Clauses and 870—Special Procurement Controls.

DoD is making a correction to the docket number listed in the final rule published on April 13, 2018, which amended the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to remove limiting language related to educational service agreements. This correction will allow DoD to make agreements that permit payment for Masters of Laws degrees and other legal training programs, in accordance with applicable law, regulation, and policy.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in this final rule amends six clauses or provisions and removes one clause which duplicates current FAR coverage and is not needed, provides updated policy on variations, tolerances and exemptions regarding overtime in contracts providing nursing home care for veterans, removes an information collection burden on an outdated practice of using bid envelopes; clarifies language regarding the prohibition of contractors from making reference in their commercial advertising, and revises definitions relating to D&S Committee, Debarring Official and Suspending Official currently contained in the VAAR. This document adopts as a final rule, with three technical non-substantive changes, the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on May 17, 2017.

This rule finalizes without change an interim rule that amended the Department of the Treasury Acquisition Regulation (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.