OFPP and the FAR Council Need to Police the System

Notwithstanding the OFPP Act's intent to create a thoughtful,disciplined, and limited regulatory system, Federal agencies have increasingly ignored the system's requirements and proliferated duplicative, conflicting, unnecessary, and ill-designed local requirements that greatly frustrate the contracting community. Most disturbing is the rampant failure to: 1) follow statutory requirements for publicizing and obtaining comment on standard agency policies and clauses that significantly affect contractor costs and other interests, 2) follow regulatory requirements for processing and coordinating deviations from the FAR, and 3) comply with statutory requirements prohibitting new certification requirements not mandated by law. The problem is compounded by OFPP and the FARC's inattention to their statutory oversight responsibilities to police these abrerrant practices. Suggest that these entities enforce the existing rules before creating new ones.