DFARS Rule Adds Guidance on Personal Services


The Department of Defense has issued an interim rule (DFARS Case 2009-D028) amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement to enable further implementation of Section 831 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (PL 110-417). Section 831 requires DoD to mitigate the risks associated with personal services by developing guidance enabling contracting officers to better distinguish between personal services and non-personal services. The rule adds two new provisions at DFARS 211.106, Purchase descriptions for service contracts, and DFARS 237.503, Agency-head responsibilities. Newly added DFARS 211.106 requires purchase descriptions for service contracts to clearly distinguish between government employees and contractor employees. DFARS 237.503 requires DoD agencies to adopt procedures that ensure service contract requirements are vetted and approved in a manner that will prevent them from being awarded or administered as unauthorized personal services contracts. DFARS 237.503 also requires a program manager, or equivalent, certification to be completed and provided to the contracting officer as part of the service contract procurement request, for inclusion in the contract file. The certification must state that the service contract requirement does not include an unauthorized personal services arrangement, either in the way the work statement is written or in the manner in which the resulting contract will be managed and overseen. The certification requirement is designed to ensure that the statutory prohibitions against personal services contracting (e.g., 10 USC 129b, 5 USC 3109, or 10 USC 1091) are not violated. In addition, the rule makes changes to the DFARS companion resource, Procedures, Guidance and Information, by revising language on administration of peer reviews at PGI 201.170-4, and adding a new section at PGI 237.503 corresponding to DFARS 237.503 requirements for agency heads. Comments on the interim rule, identified by DFARS Case 2009-D028, are due November 8, 2010. For the text of this rule, see ¶70,016.591.

























 






 

 

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