A.  Summary of Significant Changes

As a result of public comments, changes were made to the interim rule to--

1.  Make it clear that FAR subpart 17.5 applies to interagency acquisitions when an agency needing supplies or services obtains them using another agency's contract; or when an agency uses another agency to provide acquisition assistance, such as awarding and administering a contract, a task order, or delivery order. The subpart does not apply to interagency reimbursable work performed by Federal employees (other than acquisition assistance), or interagency activities where contracting is incidental to the purpose of the transaction;

2.  Revise FAR 35.017 to permit that when a nonsponsoring agency requests, under the authority of the Economy Act, the use of a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC), the nonsponsoring agency may incorporate the determination required by FAR 17.502-1(a) into the determination and finding justification required by FAR 17.502-2(c);

3.  Expand the requirement for business-case analysis when creating multi-agency contracts (MACs) to include governmentwide acquisition contracts (GWACs). Therefore, the procedures for establishing MACs and GWACs have been relocated from FAR 17.502-2(d) to 17.502-1(c) and hyperlinked to the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) Business Case guidance.