We know that amendments are added and the number of pages increases but has anyone ever seen an historical account, by year, of the increased length of the FAR since its inception? Even better would be a chart showing the change in volume.

You'd have to decide what versions of the FAR to check. You'd probably have to check the official CFR version published by the GPO. Should be easy to do, though tedious.

It would be easier just to check the 1984 version against the 2020 or 2021 version.

But page counts won't tell the whole story.

51 minutes ago, BrettK said:

We know that amendments are added and the number of pages increases but has anyone ever seen an historical account, by year, of the increased length of the FAR since its inception? Even better would be a chart showing the change in volume.

Any page count comparison would have to be in a uniform format, using the same font and size lettering, etc. 

In 1984, in the GPO pamphlet format, FAR Vol. I, Parts 1 - 51 was 1,276 pages; Vol II, Parts 52 - 99 was 552 pages, for a total of 1,828 pages.

In 2020, in the GPO pamphlet format, FAR Vol 1 was 1,148 pages; Vol II was 525 pages, for a total of 1,683 pages.

Those page counts include covers and all front and back matter. So in that format the FAR shrank.

I did not investigate further.

The pamphlet edition for 2021 is not yet available.

The current edition will grow some when they add the new Part 40.

Yes, this is my exact problem. I know the FAR has grown and not shrunk over time. I also know the electronic versions counting pages are not exactly comparable to the paper versions of yesteryear. What might be a good way to illustrate visually the increase in complexity over time? I would have thought someone would have already created a nifty infographic for this but it might me up to me to do.

Instead of counting pages, do a word count. But that takes a special effort.

11 hours ago, BrettK said:

Yes, this is my exact problem. I know the FAR has grown and not shrunk over time. I also know the electronic versions counting pages are not exactly comparable to the paper versions of yesteryear. What might be a good way to illustrate visually the increase in complexity over time? I would have thought someone would have already created a nifty infographic for this but it might me up to me to do.

Try this.  It only goes back to 1999.  It doesn't answer your question but if you want to illustrate an increase in complexity, this might help.  On the left is the FACs since 1999.  On the right are the  FAR Cases.  Federal Acquisition Regulation Research.

14 hours ago, bob7947 said:

Try this. 

Interesting approach, Bob. Not sure I could effectively paint the complete picture using this but it is a different way to consider the problem for sure.

 

On 9/20/2022 at 11:05 AM, Vern Edwards said:

Instead of counting pages, do a word count. But that takes a special effort.

I don't think I have that kind of special effort in me, Vern. 

45 minutes ago, BrettK said:

Interesting approach, Bob. Not sure I could effectively paint the complete picture using this but it is a different way to consider the problem for sure.

 

I don't think I have that kind of special effort in me, Vern. 

Well, not manually. There is software that can do it. There are several such programs

Is there a reliable repository for all prior versions of the FAR that you would recommend as the source of truth? It's easy to get the most current, or sporadic yearly versions, but I cannot seem to locate all of them in one place in a standard format.

52 minutes ago, BrettK said:

s there a reliable repository for all prior versions of the FAR that you would recommend as the source of truth?

Acquisition.gov has archives going back to 1996. There may be archives going back further on the internet. Heinonline has archives going back to the beginning in the CFR pamphlet/pdf format.

For some reason, I was missing the archive section on Acquisition.gov. Got it now. Many thanks. If I get this made, I will share here.

If you're still looking, this old AT&L interview with Gansler has an infographic for the number of pages in the FAR from 1975 to 2011:

 

https://asc.army.mil/web/access-the-new-gansler-report/

The infographic cannot show the number of pages in the FAR from 1975 to 2011, because the FAR was not published until 1983. It took effect in 1984.

It's number of pages in the CFR.

That makes sense. 

On 10/18/2022 at 9:41 AM, It_Depends said:

If you're still looking, this old AT&L interview with Gansler has an infographic for the number of pages in the FAR from 1975 to 2011:

 

Thank you for this! I still did word count but this is useful as well.

5 hours ago, BrettK said:

Thank you for this! I still did word count but this is useful as well.

The information that it_depends referenced did not identify the number of pages in the FAR. 

On 10/19/2022 at 4:01 PM, joel hoffman said:

The information that it_depends referenced did not identify the number of pages in the FAR. 

I understand and I did not end up using it_depends' info. I have good word counts for the 1995 FAR and the 2022 FAR and compared them to the number of words in Harry Potter series for impact. I thought it came out nicely. If you're interested, the graphic is on this page and also embedded in the white paper that can be downloaded from the same page.

https://www.bidscale.com/whitepaper

@BrettKDid you write the white paper?  

Just the growth in the 52.212-5 required "commercial" clauses is enough to make you want to give up on any hope of better days to come.

35 minutes ago, Vern Edwards said:

@BrettKDid you write the white paper?  

It was a group effort. Thoughts?

BTW, the most interesting thing I learned about the FAR in terms of word count, having counted all years that were electronically available to me, was that it was not a linear expansion as I expected. There were some years parts were replaced or removed casuing a decrease from the prior year. It was much more of a jagged trend that eventually made its way upwards from 1995 - present.

@BrettKYes, some, but not for public disclosure.

Just now, Vern Edwards said:

@BrettKYes, some, but not for public disclosure.

Feel free to DM or email me. I'll put on a bulletproof vest just in case it gets ugly.