Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council

Federal Acquisition System

The vision for the Federal Acquisition System is to deliver on a timely basis the best value product or service to the customer, while maintaining the public’s trust and fulfilling public policy objectives. Participants in the acquisition process should work together as a team and should be empowered to make decisions within their area of responsibility (see  FAR 1.1).

All revisions to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) are published in the  Federal Register as a final rule before being placed in  Chapter 1 of Title 48 of the Code of Federal Regulations. 

Revisions are scoped into FAR rules which are drafted by FAR teams. There are six primary FAR teams that develop FAR rules:

• Acquisition Environmental and Contract Management 
• Acquisition Finance
• Acquisition Law
• Acquisition Small Business
• Acquisition Strategy
• Acquisition Technology

Drafted FAR rules are then coordinated through two councils, the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (DARC) and the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council (CAAC).

The chairperson of the CAAC is a representative from the General Services Administration. The other members of the CAAC are representatives from:

• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Commerce
• Department of Education
• Department of Energy
• Department of Health and Human Services
• Department of Homeland Security
• Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Department of the Interior
• Department of Justice
• Department of Labor
• Department of State
• Department of Transportation
• Department of Treasury
• Department of Veterans Affairs
• Environmental Protection Agency
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• Small Business Administration
• Social Security Administration
• U.S. Agency for International Development

The Director of the DARC is a representative of the Secretary of Defense. The Defense Acquisition Regulations System (DARS) leads the DARC as prescribed by the Secretary of Defense. Membership includes representatives of the military departments, the Defense Logistics Agency, and the Defense Contract Management Agency.

FAR rules undergo review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in accordance with Executive Order (E.O.)  12866, Regulatory Planning and Review, as amended by E.O.  14094, Modernizing Regulatory Review, and E.O.  13563, Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review.

For information on FAR rules currently under development, visit  RegInfo.gov to view the FAR Unified Agenda which is updated biannually, or review the  FAR Open Cases Report which is updated more frequently.