U.S. senators press FAR Council to implement contractor conflict rules

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Senators press FAR conflict rules

Highlights

Senators Joni Ernst, Chuck Grassley, Gary Peters, and Maggie Hassan urge the FAR Council to expedite conflict-of-interest safeguards required by the 2022 Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition Act.
The FAR Council has missed the 18-month deadline to implement government-wide acquisition rule updates, with the process still unfinished over two years after the law’s passage.
Once enacted, these rules will mandate greater conflict disclosures from federal contractors, raising compliance standards and reducing risk of contractor business interests affecting public work.

Rulemaking delay draws bipartisan pressure

As reported by the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst and Senators Chuck Grassley, Gary Peters and Maggie Hassan are pressing the Federal Acquisition Regulatory, FAR, Council to accelerate implementation of safeguards tied to conflicts of interest in federal contracting.

The group says the Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition Act, passed in 2022, requires federal contractors to disclose conflicts before they receive taxpayer-funded contracts. Under the law, the FAR Council was required to update government-wide acquisition rules within 18 months, but senators say that process remains unfinished more than two years later.

In their letter, the senators say government agencies should know whether contractors' outside business interests could conflict with their work for the public. They are asking the council to provide a clear implementation timeline and to specify any interagency coordination or review steps still outstanding before a final rule is completed.

Compliance implications for federal contractors

The push highlights continuing pressure on the federal acquisition system to tighten compliance standards for companies seeking public contracts. Once implemented, the measure is intended to increase disclosure requirements and reduce the risk that contractors hold outside interests that could affect federally funded work.

The letter also fits into a broader effort by Ernst to emphasize oversight of taxpayer spending. Her earlier CONSULT Act seeks to prevent the Pentagon from contracting with consulting firms that simultaneously advise the United States, Russia, China and other countries of concern.

In our earlier article, we examined concerns about Donald Trump potentially monetizing presidential influence through Truth Social’s paid Truth API, which offers high-paying subscribers faster access to his market-moving posts. We also highlighted the broader conflict-of-interest debate around how such privileged access and Trump’s financial arrangements could intersect with official statements that may affect markets, amid gaps in federal ethics rules for presidents.

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