far/independent/
Contractors must now verify which FAR version governs each contract
A year into rolling model deviations, agency implementation is uneven enough that clause applicability is a contract-by-contract question, not an assumption.
Editorial brief
The FAR Council has released model deviation text for all FAR parts under the RFO initiative, launched via EO 14275 and OMB M-25-26 (May 2, 2025). Agencies had 30 days to implement each tranche via class or individual deviations, and they are doing so at different speeds. The result: which clauses govern a given contract now depends on the agency, bureau, and buying activity. Covington flags a compounding problem: procurement systems often lag the policy, meaning contract documents may not yet reflect adopted deviations. Contractors cannot treat the codified FAR as a reliable proxy for what is actually in their contracts.
Where implementation stands
The RFO's operating mechanism was always deviation-first. Rather than wait for a single comprehensive rulemaking, the FAR Council committed to publishing model deviation text by FAR part, with agencies expected to adopt it within 30 days through class or individual deviations. Over the past year, model text for the full FAR has been released in stages. Acquisition.gov now maintains a centralized FAR Parts and Agency Deviations hub that tracks overhauled parts and the number of agency deviations associated with each, a resource that didn't exist before and now functions as the closest thing to a unified map of the patchwork.
That patchwork is real. Implementation speed varies by agency, bureau, and buying activity. Revisions keep appearing: recent examples include changes to implement the March 2026 DEI executive order and updated value thresholds for trade agreements clauses. The model text is not static, and agencies adopting earlier iterations may be operating on outdated versions relative to agencies that adopted later.
The systems-lag problem
Covington's piece highlights a friction point that contractors are already encountering: procurement systems often haven't caught up to adopted deviations. Contract documents can be generated from clause libraries that predate the relevant deviation. The policy may be in effect; the solicitation or award may not reflect it. This creates a gap that is neither the agency's stated intent nor the codified FAR, it is administrative lag with compliance implications.
For contractors, the practical consequence is that the text of a specific contract now requires affirmative review rather than inference from the FAR baseline. Clause prescriptions that were once predictable by part and contract type are now variable. A clause present in one agency's contracts may be absent or modified in another's, with the applicable deviation as the operative document.
What to do now
Covington's guidance for sophisticated contractors applies broadly: verify clause applicability at the contract level, not the FAR level. Check Acquisition.gov's deviation hub for the parts most relevant to your contract vehicle. When reviewing solicitations, confirm whether a class deviation is in effect for the issuing agency and whether the solicitation text reflects it. If your procurement system auto-populates clauses from a FAR baseline, audit whether it has been updated to incorporate adopted deviations for the agencies you work with most.
The formal rulemaking that would codify these changes is still ahead. Until it lands, the deviation layer is the operative one, and it is not uniform.
Published ·Updated ·Deep Fathom