Browse regulations

This regulation establishes procedures for Earned Value Management System (EVMS) requirements in major IT acquisitions, including cost thresholds, training requirements, and contract type considerations within federal procurement processes.

This regulation imposes costly compliance requirements on federal IT projects without clear evidence of benefits exceeding costs. EVMS adds administrative overhead, requires specialized training, and may not be appropriate for all project types. The $25 million threshold is arbitrary, and the complexity creates barriers to efficient government IT procurement while potentially distorting contract structures away from fixed-price arrangements that could better align incentives.

Internal agency procedures for handling procurement protests and claims, centralizing legal review through Procurement Counsel and specifying designees for decisions.

Creates unnecessary bureaucratic rigidity; such internal processes are better handled via agency guidance to reduce administrative delays and costs.

Regulation outlines procedures for federal contract financing, including payment approvals, advance payments, fund certifications, and purchase card use, with authority delegations referenced in CAM 1301.70.

Creates significant compliance burdens for contractors, especially small businesses, through complex certification requirements and multi-layered approvals. The repeated delegation to CAM 1301.70 adds opacity, violating the principle that laws must be knowable. These procedural layers contribute to the $2 trillion hidden tax on Americans while providing marginal benefits beyond streamlined commercial payment practices.

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provisions governing cost allowability, precontract cost approval, and duplication of effort in government contracts, with specific designees and clauses referenced in CAM 1301.70 and 1352.231-70/71.

These regulations ensure taxpayer dollars are spent efficiently by preventing duplicate payments for the same work and establishing clear authority for cost-related decisions. Without them, government contracts would face increased waste, fraud, and inconsistent cost management across agencies.

Delegates authority to waive Cost Accounting Standards requirements and to award contracts without required Disclosure Statements when impractical, designating the DOC Head of Agency for Procurement as the designee.

This non-essential internal delegation adds to regulatory bulk without public benefit; it can be handled by agency guidance and its removal reduces complexity while preserving underlying waiver authority under existing CAS regulations.

This regulation establishes procedures for the Department of Commerce and its contractors to purchase spirits tax-free for non-beverage government use, requiring an ATF permit to be attached to contracts and returned upon receipt of goods.

This regulation grants the federal government an unjust tax exemption unavailable to ordinary citizens and businesses, violating the principle of equal treatment under the law and distorting tax neutrality. The government should pay the same taxes as everyone else for alcohol used in its operations.

Establishes procedures for waiving bid/performance/payment bonds on NOAA vessel contracts, designates approving authorities for bond actions, mandates insurance coverage in government contracts, and prescribes specific clauses for aircraft leases and cost-reimbursement contracts.

Creates unnecessary compliance bureaucracy that increases transaction costs and barriers to entry, particularly for small contractors. The detailed mandates on insurance amounts, lease thresholds, and approval hierarchies substitute centralized administrative control for market-driven risk allocation. The regulation imposes unseen costs through paperwork burdens, approval delays, and rigid requirements that cannot account for the particular circumstances of each transaction, violating the knowledge principle central to Austrian economics. Any legitimate government protection objectives can be achieved through standard contract negotiation, competitive bidding discipline, and general fiduciary duty standards without this regulatory overhead.

Regulation establishes that all key designees for patent rights decisions (indemnity waivers, sublicensing, copyright assignments, etc.) are specified in CAM 1301.70. It mandates contracting officers to forward all invention-related disclosures to the DOC Patent Attorney and outlines when to insert clause 1352.227-70 for government copyright assignment.

This regulation is redundant paperwork that accomplishes nothing beyond pointing to another document (CAM 1301.70) for every authority decision. The substantive rules exist elsewhere in FAR; this merely creates an unnecessary administrative layer by requiring all documents to be funneled through a patent attorney and mandating specific clause insertion without adequate guidance. The costs are staff time spent routing paperwork and rigid clause requirements that may not fit all contracts, reducing flexibility without improving outcomes.

Regulation authorizes a designated official to determine that transitioning disaster response, relief, or reconstruction activities to local firms is not feasible or practicable.

Empowers bureaucrats to block local business participation in disaster recovery, harming small firms and local economies while concentrating contracts with large national contractors. The subjective 'feasibility' standard invites abuse and reduces competition without offsetting public benefit.

This regulation prescribes procedures for implementing Buy America Act requirements within Department of Commerce procurement, detailing authority for exceptions, nonavailability determinations, and evaluation factor adjustments.

The regulation enforces protectionist Buy America preferences that raise taxpayer costs, distort markets, and reduce competition. Unseen burdens include trade retaliation, innovation suppression, and disproportionate harm to small businesses. The policy contradicts free enterprise principles and should be repealed.

DOC rules implementing the Privacy Act of 1974 and Freedom of Information Act are administrative procedures for handling personal data and public records requests within the Department of Commerce.

These regulations ensure government transparency and protect citizens' personal information from misuse, providing essential accountability mechanisms that would be difficult to maintain through ad hoc processes.

Establishes procedures for energy-efficient procurement and drug-free workplace enforcement in federal contracts

Creates bureaucratic overhead and compliance costs that burden businesses without meaningful public benefit, while expanding federal control over private contracting decisions

This regulation establishes designee authorities for various labor-related contracting procedures, including labor dispute notifications, overtime approvals, liquidated damages determinations, Walsh-Healey Act exemptions, and national security waivers. All designee authorities are referenced to CAM 1301.70, with specific procedures for waiver requests and legal consultations.

This regulation creates bureaucratic layers for labor contracting procedures that could be handled through direct communication between contracting officers and legal counsel. The CAM 1301.70 references create dependency on internal documentation rather than clear statutory authority, and the waiver processes add compliance costs without clear evidence of improved outcomes. Labor contracting issues are better resolved through direct negotiation and existing contract law rather than federal regulatory oversight.

Internal DOC procedures for implementing small business and 8(a) contracting preferences, including set-aside reviews, Form CD 570 requirements, and appeal processes.

Distorts market competition, imposes significant administrative costs, creates perverse incentives for businesses to remain small or misrepresent status, and violates principles of equal treatment and free enterprise. The hidden tax of compliance outweighs any purported benefits.

This regulation establishes emergency procurement procedures for the Department of Commerce, including authorization processes for flexibilities, continuity planning, and management controls for emergency acquisitions with specific requirements for small business participation and documentation.

Emergency procurement flexibilities are essential for rapid response during crises when normal procurement processes would be too slow to address urgent national needs. Without these streamlined authorities, the government would be unable to quickly acquire critical supplies, services, or infrastructure during emergencies, potentially causing significant harm to public safety and economic stability.