I.  Background

DoD, GSA, and NASA published a proposed rule in the Federal Register at 76 FR 44884 on July 27, 2011, to make the necessary regulatory revisions to enable the use of the appropriate payment provisions for time-and-materials and labor-hour contracts. These revisions supplement the following previously issued revisions to the FAR addressing time-and-materials contracts:

(1) FAR Case 2003-027, Additional Commercial Contract Types (71 FR 74667 dated December 12, 2006), implemented section 1432 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (Pub. L. 108-136). Title XIV of the Act, referred to as the Services Acquisition Reform Act of 2003 (SARA), amended section 8002(d) of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 (FASA) (Pub. L. 103-355, 41 U.S.C. 3307) to expressly authorize the use of time-and-materials and labor-hour contracts for commercial services under specified conditions.

(2) FAR Case 2004-015, Payments Under Time-and-Materials and Labor-Hour Contracts (71 FR 74656 dated December 12, 2006), revised and clarified policies related to the award and administration of noncommercial time-and-materials and labor-hour contracts and the policies regarding payments made under those contracts.