I. Background

DoD published an interim rule in the Federal Register at 76 FR 23505 on April 27, 2011, amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to provide accelerated payments for all small business concerns. The rule removes the term "disadvantaged" from the language at DFARS 232.903 and DFARS 232.906(a)(ii), thereby extending the accelerated payment policy uniformly to all small business concerns.

In combination with the change to the regulations, DoD immediately began a phased implementation to update the entitlement and payment systems so that they could accommodate accelerated payments. During the initial phase, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service modified DoD's largest system, the Mechanization of Contract Administration Services (MOCAS) system. MOCAS processes approximately 57 percent of the dollars paid through DFAS. The upgrades to MOCAS were completed on June 1, 2011. Over the course of the next year, subsequent legacy entitlement and payment system upgrades are scheduled for completion and deployment.

Two respondents submitted public comments. DoD reviewed the comments in the development of the final rule. A discussion of the comments is provided as follows.