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independent
Contractors must now verify which FAR version governs each contract
A year into rolling model deviations, agency implementation is uneven enough that clause applicability is a contract-by-contract question, not an assumption.
The FAR Council has released model deviation text for all FAR parts under the RFO initiative, launched via EO 14275 and OMB M-25-26 (May 2, 2025). Agencies had 30 days to implement each tranche via class or individual deviations, and they are doing so at different speeds. The result: which clauses govern a given contract now depends on the agency, bureau, and buying activity. Covington flags a compounding problem: procurement systems often lag the policy, meaning contract documents may not yet reflect adopted deviations. Contractors cannot treat the codified FAR as a reliable proxy for what is actually in their contracts.
FRI
independent
Trump EO makes fixed-price contracts the federal default
Large contractors have 90 days before agencies start renegotiating their biggest cost-reimbursement deals.
An April 30 Executive Order directs agencies to treat fixed-price, performance-based contracts as the default procurement method and requires contracting officers to submit written justifications to use anything else. Above certain dollar thresholds, agency-head approval is required. The 90-day clock is the immediate pressure point: each agency must review its 10 largest non-fixed-price contracts by value and seek to modify, restructure, or renegotiate them. Two categories are exempt: emergency or contingency operations, and R&D or pre-production development for major systems. OMB guidance is due within 45 days; proposed FAR amendments within 120. Cost-reimbursement-heavy primes should expect renegotiation outreach before late July.
FRI
trade-press
GAO finds uneven search methods hide China-linked equipment on agency networks
Four agencies reporting zero findings while DOD and DOE found covered devices is a methodology gap, not a clean bill of health.
A May 19 GAO report on six federal agencies' compliance with the Section 899 NDAA prohibition on China-linked telecom and video surveillance equipment found that only DOD conducted physical searches, and only DOD and DOE found covered devices. DHS, DOJ, State, and Treasury all reported zero findings, but none ran physical searches. GAO identified procurement record gaps, supply-chain opacity, and rebranding as structural limits on every agency's search approach. The divergence in methods makes the zero-finding results hard to read as actual risk clearance.
THU

FAR

Contractors must now verify which FAR version governs each contract

Trump EO makes fixed-price contracts the federal default

GAO finds uneven search methods hide China-linked equipment on agency networks