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DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing a final rule to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to clarify the guidance for sole source 8(a) contract awards exceeding $22 million. This rule implements guidance from a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report entitled Federal Contracting: Slow Start to Implementation of Justifications for 8(a) Sole-Source Contracts” (GA0-13-118, December 2012). Sole-source contracting regulations are statutory and are found in section 811 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (Pub. L. 11184) (see 77 FR 23369). These clarifications improve the contracting officer's ability to comply with the sole source contracts statutory requirements by providing guidance, including when justification is necessary, how contracting officers should comply, and when a separate sole-source justification is necessary for out-of-scope modifications to 8(a) sole-source contracts. The GAO report indicates that the FAR needed additional clarification of the justification requirement to help ensure that agencies are applying the requirement consistently.