I. Background

DoD published a proposed rule in the Federal Register at 77 FR 2679 on January 19, 2012, to establish an order for application of contract modifications. DFARS subpart 204.70, Uniform Procurement Instrument Identification Numbers, prescribes numbering procedures for contract modifications and the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 43.1, General, prescribes rules for determining the effective date of contract modifications. There are no rules to describe in what order to apply modifications to determine the actual content of a resulting modified contract. In order to determine the sequence of modifications to a contract or order, a method for determining the order of application for modifications is needed to resolve any conflict arising from multiple modifications with the same effective date. Therefore, this final rule adds DFARS text at 204.7007, Order of Application for Modifications, to resolve any potential conflict in these circumstances. One respondent submitted a public comment in response to the proposed rule.