News for the Federal Acquisition Workforce

September 16, 2020

Hurricane Laura Response Contracts Exempted from Certain Equal Opportunity FAR Clauses Due to the special circumstances in the national interest resulting from the destruction caused by Hurricane Laura, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has issued a temporary exemption from certain equal opportunity requirements for new contracts supporting the Hurricane Laura relief efforts. The exemption is valid from August 27 to November 27. The OFCCP Memo contains the modified EEO FAR section language that can be inserted into contracts providing Hurricane Laura relief (at Alternate I for the clauses at FAR 52.222-26, 52.222-35, and 52.222-36). Please note that the exemptions and waivers in this memo do not apply to processing complaints of discrimination, nor do they exempt a covered contractor from their obligation to comply with other federal, state, and local civil rights laws.

Data and Dashboards Update To receive full spend under management credit for FY20, each agency should review the Contract Inventory and make updates as needed to confirm that it is up to date for Agency-managed Tier 1, Tier 1 -Small Business, and Tier 2 vehicles. Contract Inventory updates are due by October 31 for all non-Department of Defense (DoD) agencies  and by December 30 for all DoD agencies. Learn more on the Acquisition Gateway.

FAI IT Project Manager Detail Information technology (IT) professionals looking for an opportunity to manage government-wide IT projects should explore the FAI IT Project Manager detail. The successful candidate will support projects such as FAITAS, FAI.gov, and Interagency Agreements (IAA) renewals for approximately 20 hours per week for 6 months. Interested applicants should apply today!

GSA 3D Printing/Additive Manufacturing Capabilities Report GSA continues to expand the 3D printing/additive manufacturing solutions available under the Multiple Award Schedule Program, regularly adding new, innovative 3D printing/additive manufacturing products and services to meet unique and evolving needs. Visit gsa.gov/3dprint to download the new capabilities report and streamline your market research!

FPDS Reports Transition to beta.SAM.gov Oct 17 The reports function of the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) is migrating to beta.SAM.gov on October 17. Until that date, FPDS remains the authoritative source for reports data. After October 17, beta.SAM.gov will be the only place to run contract data reports. Only the FPDS reports function is migrating at this time. All other FPDS functionality will remain in place at FPDS.gov.

New FAC-COR Level III Recommended Training Requirements The new Recommended Training Requirements for Federal Acquisition Certification—Contracting Officer’s Representative (FAC-COR) Level III will become effective on October 1, 2020. The FCR 400 (40 CLPs) Advanced Contracting Officer Representative Workshop will replace FCR 201 (40 CLPs) Contracting Officer’s Representative in the FAC-COR Level III Recommended Training option only. The FCR 400 course is appropriate for experienced CORs who are assigned to the most complex, risk-filled, and mission-critical contracts within their agency. As always, a list of classes with open seats is published on FAI.gov.

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