Overview
FAR 5.705 establishes specific transparency and reporting requirements for contract actions funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It mandates public disclosure of award notices for actions exceeding $500,000 and requires public rationales for any actions that are not both fixed-price and competitively awarded.
Key Rules
- Threshold for Publication: Award notices must be publicized for any Recovery Act-funded action exceeding $500,000, including new contracts, modifications, and orders under existing task or delivery order contracts.
- Identification Requirements: Contracting Officers (COs) must specifically tag these actions on SAM.gov by selecting the "Recovery Act" checkbox and ensuring the word "Recovery" is the first word in the title field.
- Public Accessibility: Descriptions of the procurement must be written in clear, concise, plain language that is understandable by the general public, specifically avoiding technical jargon and acronyms.
- Rationale for Non-Standard Awards: Regardless of dollar value, if an action is not both fixed-price and competitively awarded, the CO must post a rationale for using a different contract type or procurement method.
- Prohibited Information: While rationales must be public, COs are prohibited from including proprietary information or data that would compromise national security.
- Specific Triggers for Rationale: According to the provided table, rationales are explicitly required for:
- Non-fixed-price contracts.
- Awards made without competition.
- Orders under multiple-award contracts where "fair opportunity" was not provided.
- Non-competitive small business or 8(a) awards that are not fixed-price.
Practical Implications
- Increased Documentation Burden: Contracting Officers face a higher administrative burden because the usual exceptions for publicizing awards (under FAR 5.301) are superseded by these transparency requirements.
- Heightened Public Scrutiny: Because the rationale for sole-source or cost-reimbursement awards must be published at the Governmentwide Point of Entry (GPE), agencies must be prepared for public and media oversight regarding their procurement choices.
- Communication Shift: Procurement professionals must shift from writing technical "government-speak" to "plain English" to comply with the mandate for public-facing descriptions.