📊Proposed Changes to Cost Accounting Standards Impacting Businesses
The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Cost Accounting Standards Board (CAS Board or the Board), is releasing this advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) to elicit public comments on proposed changes to the Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) on conformance to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) related to CAS 404, Capitalization of Tangible Assets, and CAS 411, Accounting for Acquisition Costs of Material, to GAAP. This ANPRM follows issuance of a Staff Discussion Paper 85 FR 58399 (September 18, 2020).
Learn More🏞️New Visitor Experience Improvements Authority Contracts Explained
This rule implements the Visitor Experience Improvements Authority given to the National Park Service by Congress in Title VII of the National Park Service Centennial Act. This authority allows the National Park Service to award and administer commercial services contracts and related professional services contracts for the operation and expansion of commercial visitor facilities and visitor services programs in units of the National Park System.
Learn More⚖️Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustments for Oil and Gas Operations
This final rule adjusts the amounts of civil monetary penalties contained in the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) regulations governing onshore oil and gas operations and coal trespass. This final rule is required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 and is consistent with applicable Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance. The adjustments made by this final rule constitute the 2025 annual inflation adjustments and account for one year of inflation spanning the period from October 2023 through October 2024.
Learn More🔒Federal Acquisition Regulation Amendments
DoD, GSA, and NASA are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement the National Archives and Records Administration's Controlled Unclassified Information Program enacted under an Executive Order entitled Controlled Unclassified Information.
Learn More⚖️New FAR Changes Address Organizational Conflicts for Contractors
DoD, GSA, and NASA are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement the Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition Act. The statute requires the FAR to provide and update definitions, guidance, and examples related to organizational conflicts of interest, including the creation of solicitation provisions and contract clauses to avoid or mitigate organizational conflicts of interest. The statute also requires the FAR to permit contracting officers to consider professional standards and procedures to prevent organizational conflicts of interest to which an offeror or contractor is subject.
Learn More📜Clarification of Protest Rights in Federal Acquisition Regulation
DoD, GSA, and NASA are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to clarify protest rights for orders set aside under certain multiple-award contracts.
Learn More💼2025 Annual Adjustment of Civil Monetary Penalties by AmeriCorps
The Corporation for National and Community Service, which operates as AmeriCorps, is updating its regulations to reflect required annual inflation-related increases to the civil monetary penalties under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (Act) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance.
Learn More📜CFPB Proposes Rule to Ban Unfair Contract Terms in Financial Services
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is proposing to prohibit certain contractual provisions in agreements for consumer financial products or services. The proposal would prohibit covered persons from including in their contracts any provisions purporting to waive substantive consumer legal rights and protections (or their remedies) granted by State or Federal law. The proposal would also prohibit contract terms that limit free expression, including with threats of account closure, fines, or breach of contract claims, as well as other contract terms. The proposal would also codify certain longstanding prohibitions under the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Credit Practices Rule.
Learn More⚖️2025 Civil Penalties Adjustments for Offshore Energy Operations
This final rule implements the 2025 inflation adjustments to the maximum daily civil monetary penalties in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) regulations for violations of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA). These inflation adjustments are made pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (Improvements Act) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memorandum M-25-02. The 2025 adjustment multiplier of 1.02598 accounts for 1 year of inflation from October 2023 through October 2024.
Learn More💼2025 Civil Penalty Adjustments by the National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is adjusting the maximum civil monetary penalties (CMPs) that may be imposed for violations of the Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act (PFCRA) and the NEA's Restrictions on Lobbying to reflect the requirements of the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (the 2015 Act). The 2015 Act further amended the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 (the Inflation Adjustment Act) to improve the effectiveness of civil monetary penalties and to maintain their deterrent effect. This final rule provides the 2025 annual inflation adjustments to the initial "catch-up" adjustments made on June 15, 2017, and reflects all other inflation adjustments made in the interim.
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