Many federal contractors have heard about the revamping of the Federal Acquisition Regulation. Variously called FAR 2.0, the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul, or simply RFO, this project has been undertaken by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) and the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FAR Council). An executive order got the ball rolling, setting forth the mandate to create FAR 2.0 by October 12, 2025. We wrote about it in our earlier post, and described it as two parallel tracks. Track 1 involves a rewrite into “plain language” and removing non-statutory and unnecessary content. Track 2 involves the development of the non-mandatory guidelines to guide procurement officials.

The revision of the FAR sections has continued over the past few months, with the most recent proposed revisions being released on September 4, 2025. In this post, we’ll review a proposed revision that seems to make some significant changes to the language: Part 6 – Competition Requirements.

In recent months, the revamping of the FAR has been a big topic of discussion for federal contractors and those who work with them. This project is referred to as FAR 2.0 or the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul or simply RFO. An executive order got the ball rolling, setting forth the mandate to create FAR 2.0 within 180 days from April 15, 2025, which puts the deadline as  October 12, 2025.

The GSA has described its goals with the FAR overhaul by using some interesting metaphors. It says the FAR overhaul will be like a renovation of an old apartment building, taking things down to the studs while preserving the structural integrity of the original design. GSA acknowledged the inevitable growing pains for this adaption process using another metaphor—the “wobbly” phase of learning to ride a bike. As noted in the GSA post: “Let’s be honest—there will be an adjustment period, and it might be uncomfortable. This discomfort is normal. In fact, it’s a necessary part of growth. Remember learning to ride a bicycle? The wobbly phase was frustrating but essential to eventually riding with confidence.”

In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the proposed new parts (and missing old parts) that will be present in the proposed FAR revision. The idea behind this overhaul is to get the FAR back to its statutory roots, simplify the procurement process, and make things easier for all participants in the federal acquisition system. Those awaiting this update are, however, understandably anxious about what this means for a process that, while complicated, is familiar to them. We’ll dig into the motivating concepts and functions of the overhaul process itself, and then give some examples of proposed updated language to give readers a sense of what’s to come.