This column was originally published on Roger Waldron’s blog at The Coalition for Common Sense in Government Procurement and was republished here with permission from the author.

On Nov. 3, Jeff Koses, the General Services Administration’s senior procurement executive, posted an article on LinkedIn announcing that the “RFO is in play.” The article highlighted that GSA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Homeland Security had issued all the deviations with Nov. 3 as the effective date for the changes. A new era begins for the Federal Acquisition Regulation as agencies and departments continue to work towards implementing the RFO deviations and updating their supplemental acquisition regulations. The procurement policy teams responsible for drafting the deviations, the Practitioner’s Albums, and the FAR Companion deserve praise for the thoughtful, integrated, and comprehensive effort. The streamlined RFO is an improvement on the FAR, providing a clear, concise, and coherent acquisition framework for government and industry.

As we know, the next phase of the process, the public rulemaking, is critical to the long-term success of the RFO. The rule making process provides the public, including key stakeholders across the procurement community, with the formal opportunity, consistent with law, to comment on the deviations in the form of proposed or interim rules. A robust, transparent process will ensure that the deviations become final rules, cementing the RFO. The Coalition for Common Sense in Government Procurement’s members look forward to the start of the public rule making phase and the opportunity to formally comment on the revised FAR.

The RFO is central to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the procurement system. The FAR establishes the ground rules for government and industry transacting business in support of agency missions. The RFO streamlines and clarifies the ground rules thereby increasing competition and access to the commercial market.

Leveraging the RFO to deliver best value mission support for customer agencies and the American people centers on three critical elements: (1) requirements development (2) the acquisition workforce; and (3) operational commercial best practices. 

1. Developing Sound Requirements

Clear, concise, and well communicated requirements are foundational to successful procurement outcomes that deliver best value mission support. Program offices must play a central role in developing requirements. In this regard, coordination between senior program managers and contracting officers drives effective requirements development for complex requirements. Part and parcel of requirements development is market research. Understanding the capabilities and technologies in the commercial market will inform sound requirements. Too often, government requirements reflect a “Hail Mary” approach that seeks a capability well beyond what is currently commercially available rather acquiring the 80 percent commercial solution that can meet mission needs. As with most “Hail Marys” these requirements often end unfulfilled and undelivered.

Finally, today’s outcome-based contracts are yesterday’s performance-based contracts. The administration rightly has identified outcome-based requirements as a strategy that can increase competition, improve performance and achieve greater savings. The long-standing challenge of outcome-based contracting is the articulation and implementation of clear outcomes and associated measures to support contractor performance and government contract administration. It all starts with the statement of objectives. Management focus on and investment in outcome-based requirements development is a commercial best practice. The government should look to emulate this commercial best practice to unlock the positive potential of outcome-based contracting. Perhaps leveraging technology (e.g. artificial intelligence) for data analysis and analytics can support the government’s requirements development process.

2. Embracing The Acquisition Workforce

The RFO vests greater discretion to the contracting officer. Some of the commentary around the RFO has raised the potential of increased inconsistency in contracting operations due to greater discretion. The Practitioner’s Albums, FAR Companion, and Category Management Buying Guides are the starting point for the acquisition workforce. As the implementation of the RFO moves forward, translating real life experience with the revised ground rules into a set of operational best practices will be important in fostering consistency. Further, consistent, strategic investments in acquisition training and professional development will enhance sound decision making. Finally, management support and corresponding lines of authority in contracting operations will foster consistency and accountability in the process.

3. Adopting Commercial Best Practices in Procurement Operations  

The hallmark of the RFO is its leveraging of the commercial market. The RFO reduces the number of clauses applicable to commercial contracts, strengthens the preference for commercial products and services, and streamlines the overall procurement process. As a policy statement, the RFO recognizes that access to, and competition from the commercial market drives innovation, efficiency, and increases value for the government mission.

Adopting commercial best practices in procurement operations is the third key element in leveraging the RFO to deliver best value mission support for the American people. For example, as mentioned above, it is a commercial best practice to invest significant time and resources in requirements development. Sound outcome-based requirements are the blueprint for success. Vigorous competition for sound requirements is the single most effective way to drive value for the taxpayer. Avoiding government-unique, noncommercial practices is the other side of the coin. Operational practices that overregulate or reregulate the procurement process will limit competition, reduce access to the commercial market, and undermine mission support. It will be incumbent at the operational level to embrace commercial best practices while avoiding/eliminating noncommercial practices that undermine the efficiency and effectiveness of the procurement process.

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Federal contractors finally have clarity on a question that has created protest risk over the past few years: When, exactly, must an offeror be “active” in the System for Award Management (SAM) to be eligible for award?

The answer is now straightforward, clarifying award eligibility for every entity competing for federal contracts. An offeror must be active at “two-points,” the moment an offer is submitted and at the time of award. A temporary lapse in registration will no longer result in disqualification.

Background on FAR confusion

The clarification about SAM registration corrects a practical problem created by a September 2018 amendment to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.204-7 that many read as requiring continuous registration between the time of proposal submission and the time of award, a period that can stretch months and sometimes years. That amendment tried to harmonize inconsistent phrasing across the FAR by saying an offeror must be registered at submission and “shall continue to be registered until time of award.”

Bid-protest forums such as the Government Accountability Office and the Court of Federal Claims read that as a literal, continuous requirement. A brief mid-evaluation lapse could render an otherwise qualified offeror ineligible. For years, contractors worried about this technical hiccup. This outcome did not enhance the government’s ability to select best-value solutions but rather rewarded diligence in website maintenance at the expense of competition and, in some cases, small-business participation.

The FAR Council saw the problem and stepped in with an interim rule in November 2024 that stated, “the offeror must be registered at time of offer submission and at time of contract award but would not be required at every moment in between those two points.”

Two-point clarification in FAR final rule

A final rule issued on Aug. 7, 2025, adopts that approach without change, making clear that offerors need to be actively registered in SAM at “two points” only — when they submit an offer and when the government makes the award. No continuous pre-award monitoring is required (although offerors have a continuing obligation to ensure that the representation and certifications in SAM are accurate).

If registration becomes “inactive” during evaluations, that midstream lapse is no longer automatically disqualifying so long as the offeror was active at submission and is active again at award. This important change means businesses no longer risk wasting precious business capture dollars for a fleeting registration oversight and the government will no longer lose the ability to award contracts to competitive bids due to a contractor’s administrative error.

By fixing the timing rule, the FAR now aligns the compliance burden with decision points that matter in procurement. This change is particularly welcome for small businesses, which deal with ownership transitions, banking changes and certification updates more frequently than large companies.

Importantly, this clarification applies to the pre-award stage only. It does not change the fact that contractors must keep their SAM registration active during performance and all the way through final payment.

Staying compliant with the two-point rule

Think of the “two-point” rule as the pre-award guide and the “keep it active” rule as the post-award guide. Both requirements are distinct but equally important. Contractors should not view the “two-point” rule as permission to allow registrations to lapse after award. Letting registration slip during performance can result in delays and headaches that are entirely avoidable.

As noted above, accuracy in representations and certifications remains a separate, ongoing obligation. The “two-point” timing rule does not soften responsibilities related to size status, affiliation, domestic-content and country-of-origin certifications, exclusions, or responsibility-related disclosures. A SAM record that is “active” but inaccurate creates a different kind of risk.

Two clear takeaways emerge from the new rule. The first is that protest risk over mid-evaluation lapses is now over, as long as contractors can show they were “active” at submission and award. The key is documentation. Taking a quick screenshot or PDF of the SAM “active” page on submission day and another close to or at award, would be prudent. If eligibility is challenged, those records give agencies and protest forums exactly what they need to confirm compliance.

Second, the rule shifts the focus from continuous monitoring to disciplined internal timing and coordination. The rule creates an opportunity to reinforce coordination between business development and compliance functions. Capture teams should communicate anticipated submission and award windows, compliance should identify any upcoming changes that might disrupt validation, and both should ensure the two required records are in place to demonstrate compliance. When those pieces align, a regulatory tweak becomes operational clarity and attention stays on winning and performing contracts, not chasing SAM status in the background.

The rule provides a clear and lasting answer to what had previously resulted in punitive exclusion from competitions due to brief registration lapses. Eligibility now hinges on a “two-point” gate, submission and award, while contract performance continues to require uninterrupted registration. With basic internal controls, contractors of all sizes can reliably satisfy these obligations, minimize protest risk, and allow acquisition teams to concentrate on substantive procurement decisions.

Richard Arnholt is a member of the Washington, D.C.-based government contracts practice at the law firm Bass, Berry & Sims PLC. He advises companies as they navigate the contracting process with federal, state, and local governments.

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