It’s so exciting; the HHSAR is out there for the whole world to see! The HHS acquisition Regulations (HHSAR)  proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on March 2, 2015 and has just finished the 60 day comment period. The HHSAR is actually a supplement to the FAR, the Federal Acquisition Regulations. PL Systems played a big role in bringing the new slimmed down HHSAR to where it is now.

Along the way, we had the chance to work with tons of top notch people at HHS. It was truly an honor to work with so many dedicated, smart public servants. HHS has ten operating divisions, many are names you hear all the time like Center for Disease Control (CDC), Food & Drug Administration (FDA) or National Institute of Health (NIH). Each of the ten operating divisions and many of the HHS headquarters’ staff divisions provided two or more people who participated in the group effort to update the HHSAR which was last revamped in 2009, and we had the pleasure of working with them all!

Some of the goals of the project were to remove outdated material, bring the HHSAR current to the ever evolving FAR, remove parts that were just restating what’s in the FAR and to put in the items that will make the HHSAR work better for the ten operating divisions of HHS. In pure word count, this new proposed HHSAR is slimmer by 49.6%!  Can’t wait until the proposed HHSAR becomes a final regulation.

UPDATE: The HHS Final Rule for the HHSAR was sent for publishing September 30, 2015, was published in November 2015, and became effective in December 2015. It was a huge project for the HHS acquisition community, very successful, and accomplished in a very short period of time. Since that time PL Systems has assisted HHS with development and publishing internal procedures, guidance and instructions (PGI) and have created almost 500 frequently asked questions about the FAR, the HHSAR and HHS’ PGI.