The FAR Council is proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation to broaden the scope of performance-based acquisition (PBA) and give agencies more flexibility in using PBA while reducing the burden of force-fitting contracts into PBA when it is not appropriate.  The substantial revisions to FAR Subpart 37.600, which would now be renamed “Performance-Based Service Acquisition (PBSA),” follows guidance made in a working group convened in April 2002 and seeks to implement numerous laws calling for use of PBA to the “maximum extent possible.”  The FAR revision states the principle objective of PBSA is to optimize contact performance by expressing government needs in terms of performance objectives or desired outcomes rather than method of performance.  The revisions provide that (1) solicitations for PBSA may use either performance work statement or a statement of objectives (2) PBSA contracts must include either a performance work statement (PWS) or measurable performance standards (3) PBSA contracts or orders may include performance incentives to promote contractor achievement which can be of any type such as positive, negative, monetary or non-monetary as long as they correspond to performance standards and (4) quality assurance would be expanded to address the means for assessing contractor accomplishment of outcomes.  The Office of Federal Procurement September 7 set a PBSA goal of if 40 percent, measured in dollars, of eligible service contracts over $25,000 in FY 2005.

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