FAR 1.201—Maintenance of the FAR.

The two councils.

FAR 1.201-1 explains how revisions to the FAR are developed and processed through the two FAR councils: the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (DAR Council) and the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council (CAA Council). It identifies the legal backdrop for council authority, the composition and staffing expectations for each council, and how responsibility for FAR revision work is divided between them. The section also describes the councils’ shared duties in coordinating revisions, preparing Federal Register notices, considering public comments, arranging public meetings, and submitting final revisions for publication. In practice, this provision is the governance mechanism that keeps FAR changes coordinated across defense and civilian agencies, ensures subject-matter expertise and agency representation, and creates a formal public rulemaking process for FAR updates. For contractors and contracting officers, it matters because it explains why FAR changes are deliberate, cross-agency, and publicly vetted before becoming effective.

FAR Secretariat.

FAR 1.201-2 explains who runs the FAR Secretariat and what support functions it performs for the Federal Acquisition Regulation system. It covers two main topics: first, the General Services Administration’s responsibility to establish and operate the Secretariat so the FAR can be published and distributed through the Code of Federal Regulations system, including a separate online edition with periodic updates; and second, the Secretariat’s duty to provide centralized administrative support to the two FAR councils. That support includes keeping a synopsis of current FAR cases and their status, maintaining official files, helping interested parties review files on completed cases, and handling miscellaneous administrative tasks related to maintaining the FAR. In practice, this section matters because it identifies the administrative hub that keeps the FAR current, accessible, and organized, which supports transparency, public access, and orderly rulemaking. It does not set substantive acquisition policy, but it is essential to how FAR changes are tracked, documented, and made available to the public and stakeholders.