DFARS Deviations: Class vs. Individual

The two ways the Defense Department departs from the FAR, and why the distinction changes how long the change lasts.

The Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) implements and supplements the FAR for the Department of Defense. When DoD needs to depart from the FAR or the DFARS itself, it does so through a deviation, and the type of deviation tells you how long the departure lasts.

Individual deviations

An individual deviation applies to a single contract, a single solicitation or a single class of acquisitions in a specific instance. It is authorised case by case, and it does not change the regulation for anyone else. If you see an individual deviation referenced in a solicitation, it governs that procurement, not the rulebook as a whole.

Class deviations

A class deviation applies more broadly — to a category of acquisitions or across a period — and it is the one that tends to matter to the wider contractor community, because it changes the requirements on many procurements at once. A class deviation can be published as an interim rule in the Federal Register when DoD intends it to become part of the regulation.

Why the distinction matters to a bidder

An individual deviation can change the clauses in the one solicitation you are pricing; read the solicitation for it. A class deviation can change the baseline for everything you do for that period, and it is the kind of change worth tracking continuously. The register on this site surfaces DFARS documents by type and links the underlying Federal Register notice, so a class deviation that has been published as a rule shows up in the same place as any other DFARS change.

Deviations are not permanent by default

Many class deviations are temporary, in force until the FAR or DFARS is amended to incorporate the change. When the regulation catches up, the deviation is rescinded. Tracking both the deviation and the rule that supersedes it is how you avoid working from a clause that no longer applies.