We expressed concerns last week that the features and functionality of Hill Air Force Base’s search engine for the Federal Acquisition Regulation and agency FAR supplements — the FARSite — might not be transferred to Acquisition.gov. 

Now, there is at least one indication that the FARSite’s capabilities will be incorporated into Acquisition.gov.

As announced last week, the popular and functional FARSite search engine is going to be “transitioned” on Oct. 1, 2019 into the FAR search site maintained by the General Services Administration (GSA) at Acquisition.gov.

However, in the initial announcement of this change, there was no word about whether the FARSite’s capability to simultaneously search both the FAR and individual agency FAR supplements would be part of the transition.  This feature is especially useful when researching the application of a specific FAR provision or clause in a particular agency’s solicitation or contract.  Also unclear was whether Class Deviations to the FAR, currently shown in context with FAR provisions and clauses on the FARSite, would be integrated into Acquisition.gov.

Now, it appears that both of these helpful features will be part of the “new” Acquisition.gov when it debuts on Oct. 1st.

Last last week, the FARSite posted this message on its home page:

“We will continue making updates to FARSite until the new capability is ready for full deployment at which time you’ll be able to access the new system by going to Acquisition.gov.  More exact dates and information will be provided once the prototype is nearing completion.  During prototype testing the AF will have full transparency into ensuring the new site provides the existing capabilities as the current FARSite.”

The last sentence of the statement implies that the popular features and functions of the FARSite will be integrated into Acquisition.gov.  At present, Acquisition.gov offers neither the ability to search the FAR and FAR supplements simultaneously nor the ability to identify Class Deviations as a part of FAR searches.

Incidentally, while Acquisition.gov was initially silent about the merger with the FARSite, GSA posted this announcement on Friday:

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), Air Force (USAF), and Defense Acquisition University (DAU) are partnering to reduce duplication and make it easier to electronically access acquisition regulations. The USAF website for supplemental regulations, FARSite.hill.af.mil, will be transitioned to GSA’s acquisition.gov by September 30, 2019.  Acquisition professionals and vendors will then have a single website to access and search the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and supplemental regulations.  For additional questions, please contact the website administrator.

While GSA’s announcement offers no specific assurances that FARSite’s unique functionality will be a part of the transition, we’re counting on the FARSite’s assurances that “… the new site [will provide] the existing capabilities as the current FARSite.”  After all, the latest usage statistics available show that while all military branches make up the majority of the users of the FARSite, visitors from GSA itself and Lockheed Martin are among the top 25 user groups.  There’s no questioning the FARSite’s popularity; since its inception in mid-1996, it has been accessed 2.3 billion times.

Bottom line: There are a lot of people depending on the Air Force and the GSA to get this merger right.

See our initial story on this subject here.

It’s been accessed on-line more than 2.3 billion times since its launch in mid-1996.  But on Sept. 30th of this year, it will be retired.

The “it” is the popular and functional FARSite search engine, maintained by Hill Air Force Base near Ogden, Utah, and it is going to be “transitioned” into the FAR search site at Acquisition.gov effective Oct. 1, 2019.

This news was recently released on the FARSite in a tersely-written two sentence announcement: “FARSite.hill.af.mil is being actively transitioned to Acquistion.gov.  FARSite will be available in the current location through 30 Sep 2019.”

Unofficial But Useful

While the FARSite is widely used by acquisition officials in both government and industry sectors, it never was regarded as the “official” site for the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and agency FAR supplements.  Instead, it was regarded as the authoritative source for the Air Force FAR Supplement (AFFARS) only.  The FAR search engine at Acquisition.gov, maintained by the General Services Administration (GSA), holds the title of the “official” FAR website.

Despite its unofficial status, FARSite has been popular because of its functionality.  For instance, FARSite provides the ability to search both the FAR and any agency’s FAR supplement simultaneously.  This contemporaneous searching functionality enables users to see search results from two or more sources displayed side-by-side, a feature especially useful when researching the application of a specific FAR provision or clause in a particular agency’s solicitation or contract.

The Unknowns

It is not known at this time whether the simultaneous search capability will be integrated into Acquisition.gov.  There is no information about the transition on the Acquisition.gov website.  Currently, Acquisition.gov only allows for searching of the FAR and the GSAM — the General Services Acquisition Regulation.  The site provides a list of each of the other FAR supplements, hyperlinked to individual agency websites.  Some of these links lead to general agency websites where further searching is necessary, and where the links lead directly to an agency’s FAR supplement, the information is presented in non-uniform formats (e.g., HTML and PDF).

For many years, the FARSite published monthly usage reports.  In the last month these data were published — July 2017 — over 12 million hits were recorded, comprised of over 3 million individual page views by 53,000 unique visitors.  Military branches made up the bulk of the users in that month but, notably, visitors from GSA and Lockheed Martin appear on the Top 25 users list.

The status of another useful feature of the FARSite is unknown in the transition to Acquisition.gov, namely the integration of Class Deviations to the FAR.  Currently, the text on the FARSite includes a display of DoD Class Deviations where they are applicable to a particular provision or clause.  No such cross-reference appears at Acquisition.gov.

The fate of the FARSite has been in question for more than a year.  On Jan. 3, 2018, the webmaster for FARSite retired.  At that time, the following message was posted: “For now FARSite will continue as you see it. However due to new AF policies, FARSite’s location will eventually change which introduces unknows that could impact the site in the future. If you have any issues, concerns or opinions as to the sites direction contact USAF SAF/AQC.”   Faced with many questions following that announcement, a new message was posted on Mar. 1, 2018: “The FARSite team remains committed to updating the site and providing accurate, current, and complete postings of the FAR and its many supplements. If you have any questions feel free to contact the FARSite Webmaster at Hill.Farsite@us.af.mil.”

Despite that statement last year, it appears that the plug will be pulled on the FARSite this year at midnight, Sept. 30th.

See an important update to this article here.