The FAR Part 6 overhaul appears significant, with entire subparts and sections removed or rewritten. The part has been reduced from five subparts to three, streamlining content, prioritizing clarity and removing redundancy rather than making deeply substantive changes.
The revised subpart structure is:
- Subpart 6.1 – Presolicitation: Combines full and open competition policies, exceptions and justification requirements
- Subpart 6.2 – Reserved: Formerly covered full and open competition after exclusion of sources
- Subpart 6.3 – Postaward: Now focuses solely on public justification posting requirements
Subpart 6.4 (Sealed Bidding and Competitive Proposals) and Subpart 6.5 (Advocates for Competition) were relocated to FAR 6.101(b) and FAR 6.003, respectively.
Set-Aside Provisions
The overhaul of FAR Part 6 consolidates six prior sections (FAR 6.203–6.208) addressing small business and other socioeconomic program set-asides into two streamlined subsections:
- FAR 6.102-2: Authorizes contracting officers to set aside acquisitions for all small business programs, including Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs and Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB)—referring to FAR Part 19 for implementation details.
- FAR 6.102-3: Permit set-asides for small businesses in response to major disasters or emergencies, at the contracting officer’s discretion.
The revised language frames set-aside decisions as discretionary, removing prior mandates and raising concerns about continued application of the long-standing Rule of Two—which requires agencies to set aside an acquisition when there is a reasonable expectation of receiving offers from two or more responsible small businesses. While the Rule of Two remains a statutory requirement for procurements below the simplified acquisition threshold, these revisions suggest it may be phased out as part of the FAR overhaul. Supporting this view, the Practitioner Album states that contracting officers now have “discretion to set aside solicitations” and that “prescriptions around socioeconomic concerns have been removed from FAR part 6.” The true impact of these changes will be clearer once the revisions to Part 19 (Small Business Programs) are released, but the trajectory appears to favor greater discretion and fewer set-aside mandates moving forward.
Simplified “Other Than Full and Open Competition” Provisions
The familiar list of seven statutory exceptions to competition, previously FAR 6.302-1 through 6.302-7, now appears in FAR 6.103-1 through 6.103-7. The revised provisions:
- Use plain language and eliminate prescriptive examples
- Preserve all seven statutory authorities for exceptions to competition, such as Unusual and Compelling Urgency (FAR 6.103-2) and Brand-name Justifications (FAR 6.103-5)
Refined Justification and Approval (J&A) Provisions
- FAR 6.104-1 streamlines content requirements for J&As
- FAR 6.104-2 introduces clearer approval thresholds:
- ≤ $750,000 – Contracting Officer
- >$750K–$15M – Advocate for Competition
- >$15M–$75M (or $100M for DoD, NASA, Coast Guard) – Head of Procuring Activity
- >$75M (or $100M for DoD, NASA, Coast Guard) – Senior Procurement Executive