The recipient is central to the confidentiality rule published January 13, 2017 by the Defense Department, General Services Administration and NASA. It concerns lawful reports of waste, fraud or abuse in government-contract performance to designated federal investigative or law-enforcement representatives authorized to receive the information. It does not establish a general right to disclose information publicly. [2016-31497]

The rule implements a restriction on using covered fiscal year 2015 and subsequent funds for contracts with entities imposing prohibited internal confidentiality terms. Offerors must represent that they will not require such restrictions; failure to make the representation means ineligibility for award. Contracting officers may rely on the representation unless they have reason to question it. [2016-31497]

Its January 22, 2016 predecessor was a proposal, not the final amendment. That proposal already preserved the federal forms governing classified-information nondisclosure. The final text keeps those duties and defines internal confidentiality agreements to exclude agreements arising from civil litigation or required by a federal agency. Thus, neither document treats every confidentiality obligation as invalid. [2016-31497][2016-01050]

January 19 was the scheduled effective date, separate from publication. The clause-insertion instructions also contain personal-services exceptions for individuals and require modification of existing covered contracts before obligating relevant funds. Reading those instructions alongside the summary avoids an overbroad claim that every agreement changed immediately. Proposal and final rule explain the same policy process; they do not measure its subsequent results. [2016-31497][2016-01050]

Source documents

  1. Federal Acquisition Regulation; Contractor Employee Internal Confidentiality Agreements or Statementshttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2017-01-13/html/2016-31497.htm
  2. Federal Acquisition Regulation: Contractor Employee Internal Confidentiality Agreementshttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-01-22/html/2016-01050.htm