General Services Administration
Every GovConFeed story on General Services Administration — contract awards, policy, enforcement, and protests, newest first.
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Policy
FAR Overhaul Comments Close Oct. 19: 'Negotiations' Replace 'Discussions,' Construction Can Go Commercial
Three FAR Council proposed rules published Sept. 18 would let contracting officers narrow competitive ranges, negotiate with one offeror at a time, buy construction as a commercial service and pick contract types more freely. Comments are due Oct. 19, 2026.
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Policy
AbilityOne Products on GSA Schedules Must Meet TAA by Nov. 12 as GSA Pulls 244 Chinese Items
AbilityOne Commission Directive 27-01 makes TAA compliance mandatory for AbilityOne products on GSA schedules and BPAs from Nov. 12, 2026, requires country-of-origin certification for new items and price changes, and follows GSA's removal of 244 Chinese products.
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Policy
GSA Wants Agencies to Call First Before Buying Utilities, Moving Rules Into New GSAR Part 541
A GSA proposed rule would move utility-services buying procedures from FAR part 41 into a new GSAR part 541, require most agencies to contact GSA first, and steer orders toward GSA areawide contracts. Comments are due Nov. 4, 2026.
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Policy
GSA's Final LLM Data Clause Takes Effect Oct. 19: What Changed and What Contractors Still Owe
GSA's final LLM data clause takes effect Oct. 19 with self-deleting carve-outs and limited flowdown, but contractors selling LLM tools still face 72-hour violation notices, 120-day disclosures, a ban on training with government data and certified deletion of fine-tuned weights at closeout.
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Policy
Beneficial-Owner Disclosure Rule Slips Again as GAO Flags Gaps in Federal Award Data
GAO-26-108174 finds federal awards generally don't require beneficial-owner disclosure, FinCEN's registry now exempts about 99 percent of formerly covered entities, and the FAR rule mandated in 2021 has a drafting deadline extended to at least September 2026.
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Policy
GSA's AI Data-Safeguarding Clause Draws Just Six Comments Ahead of July 14 Listening Session
Only six public comments have been filed on GSA revised GSAR clause 552.239-7001 governing LLM data safeguarding since its June 17 release, with a July 14 listening session and August 3 deadline still ahead.
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Policy
GSA's Rewritten AI Safeguarding Rule Wins Industry Praise, But "Ideological Neutrality" Language Still Worries Contractors
GSA's June 17 rewrite of its LLM data-safeguarding clause narrows scope and eases flow-down burdens, drawing praise from acquisition experts ahead of a July 14 listening session, though foreign-ownership limits and vague neutrality language remain unresolved.
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Policy
GSA Revises AI Data Safeguarding Rule, But Foreign-Ownership Clause Still Worries Contractors
GSA published a revised GSAR clause for LLM data safeguarding, splitting it into four role-specific flow-down clauses and dropping "lawful use" and "Made in America" requirements. Praised as consequential, but foreign-ownership rules and a vague neutrality standard still concern smaller firms.
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Policy
GSA Schedules Get Cross-Contract Ordering as VAR Pricing Rules Tighten
GSA is letting Multiple Award Schedule holders bid special item numbers from other vendors' contracts and redefining reseller "value" as service, not markup, after a 136-response RFI on IT hardware resale pricing.
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Policy
GSA Floats Two-Tiered 'Buy American' Tier for Advantage Marketplace, Opens Comment Window to July 24
GSA's June 25 RFI proposes restructuring the Advantage marketplace to spotlight American-made goods through voluntary certification or a dedicated OEM-only Special Item Number, with a 65% domestic-component test rising to 75% in 2029. Industry comments are due July 24, 2026.
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Policy
GSA Bets on Contracting-Officer Judgment as FAR Overhaul Eases Prescriptive Mandates
As the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul pares back one-size-fits-all mandates, GSA is repositioning its acquisition workforce to lean on individual judgment, backed by a non-regulatory "FAR Companion." Officials concede the trade-off: more discretion risks inconsistency across contracting officers.
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Policy
GSA Publishes Revised LLM Data Safeguarding Clause, Narrowing Scope but Keeping Government Data Ownership and No-Refusals Mandate
GSA released a narrower draft GSAR clause on June 17, 2026 governing contractor AI systems that process government data. Core mandates remain: government owns all data inputs and outputs, contractors cannot use that data for model training, and systems cannot refuse government tasks.
