Public comments close July 23, 2026
Speak up on the FAR Overhaul — before it’s too late.
The government’s proposed FAR Overhaul would change how small businesses find, compete for, and win federal work. You have until July 23 to be heard — and it takes just a few minutes.
What’s happening
The Federal Acquisition Regulation — the rulebook for how every federal agency buys — is getting its biggest rewrite in 40 years. The proposed rules would turn mandatory small-business protections into optional ones and narrow the public notices that help small firms find work. Over a thousand pages, and a single 30-day window to respond.
Listen or watch the case
6-min video explainer
The Constructed Market: Engineering Discretion in the FAR Overhaul
How the proposed rules re-engineer the federal marketplace — visualized, in six minutes.
Audio briefing
One Word Costs Small Business $53 Billion
One definitional change — “acquisition” becomes “contract” — moves $53 billion in small-business dollars out from under the mandatory floor, measured across five years of the government’s own award data. The full briefing — put it on for the commute.
Why it matters to you
- Less visibility. The guaranteed head start on smaller opportunities shrinks toward zero.
- Protection pulled from where the money is. The Rule of Two is removed from task orders — the channel most small-business dollars now flow through.
- A harder climb. Mandatory consideration is kept only for the smallest work; above it, it becomes the buyer’s choice.
You’re not starting from scratch
ASBCC has already filed detailed comments grounded in the government’s own procurement data. You don’t have to make the legal case — just tell the government what these changes would mean for your business, in your own words.
Read ASBCC’s filed comments:
- Principal comment on the FAR Overhaul — read the PDF · view on Regulations.gov
- Regulatory Flexibility Act (§610) comment — read the PDF · view on Regulations.gov
What you can do
1. File your own public comment. Regulators must read and respond to substantive comments — and the first round of public input already moved them. Your real experience is evidence they can’t get anywhere else.
2. Tell your members of Congress where you stand. A short note to your representative and senators adds weight to the record.
How it works
Our free Member Action Tool makes it quick:
- Enter your basics and pick your firm’s stage.
- Build your comment in your own words — we’ll surface the topics that fit you.
- Copy it, file in both dockets on Regulations.gov, and reach your members of Congress.
Your endorsement of ASBCC’s filed comments is added for you automatically.
What makes a strong comment
- Use your own words. A thousand identical letters count as one; a thousand real stories count as a thousand.
- Be specific. Your firm, your city, your size, and roughly what share of your revenue is federal.
- Tell one true story. Half a page of truth beats ten pages of anything else.
See it. Protect it. Be counted.
Deadline: July 23, 2026. It takes minutes.
This is an independent small-business advocacy effort. The tool helps you file your own comment — it does not submit anything on your behalf.
Make Your Voice Count
Start here
We use the information requested below to set up your comment and your letters.
The government is rewriting the rules of the federal marketplace — the Federal Acquisition Regulation — in the biggest overhaul since 1984. The proposed rules would change how opportunities get posted, whether agencies must consider small businesses at each step, and how the work you compete for reaches the market.
Commenting works. The first round drew about 1,600 comments, and the government changed course on several major provisions. What the record needs now is what only you can supply: real facts from real small businesses. The government's own small-business impact analysis is thin — your comment is the evidence it didn't gather.
The golden rules
- Write in your own words. A thousand identical letters count as one comment; a thousand real stories count as a thousand pieces of evidence.
- Be specific. Your company, city/state, industry, headcount, roughly what share of your revenue is federal.
- Tell one story. Pick one or two topics you've actually lived. Half a page of truth beats ten pages of anything else.
- Only true, verifiable facts. Every real story strengthens the record; anything exaggerated weakens all of us.
- Support, don't attach. Your comment closes with a one-line statement of support — the tool adds it for you, so there's no need to paste the full filing.
What the proposed rules would change
Finding the work
Task orders & big vehicles
Growing past small
The people & process that open doors
1 · Which of these sounds like your firm?
Click to pick one — we'll surface the topics that fit you best. You can always open all of them.
2 · Draft your comment
We'll set up your name and firm — you write the story. Click the Build my draft button to start. Your one-line statement of support gets added automatically when you copy for each docket below.
3 · File it in both dockets
For each docket, click Copy for this docket — this copies your finished comment (with your support line) to your clipboard. Then click Comment now → to open that docket on Regulations.gov, paste your comment into the comment box, scroll down to fill in the short form, and submit. Then do the same for the second docket, starting again with Copy for this docket under FAR Case 2026-005. Each one takes just a few minutes.
Next: tell your members of Congress where you stand.
Find your representatives
This is the one step that needs your street address — it's how we match you to your House district and senators.