DOD Issues Final Rule Addressing Conflicts Of Interest In Certain Consulting Contracts

WHAT: The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) published a final rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to prohibit contracting officers from awarding contracts assigned certain North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes to offerors that hold contracts for consulting services with certain covered foreign entities related to the governments of China, Russia, and other countries of concern – unless the offeror has an approved conflict-of-interest mitigation plan. The final rule, implementing Section 812 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY2024 NDAA), incorporates some changes from the proposed rule, most significantly by expanding the contractor certification to include subcontracts under contracts with covered entities. We previously covered the proposed rule here.