Proposed FAR Part 27 Rewrite Sets a Single 20-Year SBIR/STTR Data Protection Period and Government Purpose Rights After It Ends

chris359949

Sep 21

2 min read

What changed

FAR Case 2026-011 (Docket No. FAR-2026-0011, RIN 9000-AO84, 91 FR 59584) was published on 18 September 2026 and covers FAR Parts 9, 27, 47 and 52. Comments are due 19 October 2026. The Part 27 data rights changes are the ones that matter to small business.

The rule would update the FAR's coverage of the Small Business Innovation Research program and add coverage of the Small Business Technology Transfer program, aligning the FAR with the SBA SBIR/STTR Policy Directive effective 3 May 2023. Three specifics stand out. The SBIR/STTR data protection period would become a single, non-extendable, 20-year period. After that period expires, the Government would receive a government purpose rights license rather than an unlimited rights license. And several definitions would be established or revised to match the terminology the SBA Policy Directive uses.

Structurally, the preamble describes the Part 27 changes as primarily replacing the current FAR data-rights coverage with analogous DFARS-based coverage. The rule would also add a new solicitation provision and a contract clause applicable to STTR awards, where no such coverage has existed in the FAR at all, and would provide a markings framework intended to let the Government identify and resolve inadvertently omitted restrictive markings.

What a contractor would have to do differently

The government purpose rights change is the favorable half of this. An unlimited rights license lets the Government disclose data outside the Government without restriction; a government purpose rights license does not. For a firm whose value sits in SBIR-developed technical data, the difference at year twenty-one is the difference between a protected commercial position and none.

The non-extendable part is the half to plan around. A single fixed clock means the protection period has to be tracked from the award that generated the data, and it cannot be pushed out. Firms that have treated the protection period as something that follows the latest funding agreement would need to look at each data deliverable separately and know which award it traces to.

Practically, the near-term work is marking discipline and records. A markings framework that lets the Government resolve omitted restrictive markings cuts both ways: it is a safety net, but it also means the question of what was marked, and when, becomes the record the parties argue from. STTR awardees in particular should read the new provision and clause closely, because they have not previously had FAR coverage of their own. This is a proposed rule and is not in effect.

Primary sources

Federal Acquisition Regulation: Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation Overhaul Parts 9, 27, and 47, 91 FR 59584 (18 September 2026), FR document 2026-19159. SBA SBIR/STTR Policy Directive effective 3 May 2023.