Government Contracts Monitor

Short Takes: DOD Seeks Comments on the Unintended Adverse Impacts of Contracting Statutes and DOD Regulations

April 4, 2014

The DOD Director of Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy (DPAP) is currently conducting an assessment to identify impacts experienced by industry resulting from contracting statutes that do not achieve the intended benefits, and has invited public comments identifying (i) particular impacts associated with specific statutes, as well as (ii) candidate DFARS and component supplements requirements that, while not based on statute, warrant similar consideration. The initial Notice stated that initial review has identified approximately 400 DFARS requirements based solely on statute. The initial Request for Public Comments, 79 Fed. Reg. 8402 (Feb. 12, 2014), solicited comments on or before March 14, 2014. The comment period has now been extended by 40 days to on or before April 23, 2014. See Notice of Extension of Public Comment Period, 79 Fed. Reg. 10462 (Feb. 25, 2014). This review provides DOD contractors a great opportunity to identify and obtain review of statutory and regulatory provisions that may be having unintended adverse business impacts.

Hopewell Darneille is the attorney responsible for the content of this article.