FAR and DFARS › FAR Part 3: Improper Business Practices and Personal Conflicts of Interest › Subpart 3.9
FAR 3.907-5 Access to investigative file of Inspector General.
The codified text (eCFR, as of 2026-10-02). Under the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul ↗, agencies follow class deviations with new text for many parts while the formal rules go through the Federal Register: check the solicitation and your contract's clauses, which rule.
In plain English
This section explains that an employee who alleges reprisal has access to the Inspector General's investigation file under the Privacy Act. It also allows the Inspector General to withhold certain information from disclosure and restricts the Inspector General from responding to inquiries or disclosing information about the person alleging reprisal, except as allowed by law.
Applies to: Employees alleging reprisal and non-Federal employers involved in such allegations
Key terms: Inspector General · Privacy Act · reprisal · investigative file · Recovery Act
Written by AI from this section's text. A guide, not legal advice: the text below rules.
The text
(a) The employee alleging reprisal under this section shall have access to the investigation file of the Inspector General, in accordance with the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a. The investigation of the Inspector General shall be deemed closed for the purposes of disclosure under such section when an employee files an appeal to the agency head or a court of competent jurisdiction.
(b) In the event the employee alleging reprisal brings a civil action under section 1553(c)(3) of the Recovery Act, the employee alleging the reprisal and the non-Federal employer shall have access to the investigative file of the Inspector General in accordance with the Privacy Act.
(c) The Inspector General may exclude from disclosures made under 3.907-5(a) or (b)—
(1) Information protected from disclosure by a provision of law; and
(2) Any additional information the Inspector General determines disclosure of which would impede a continuing investigation, provided that such information is disclosed once such disclosure would no longer impede such investigation, unless the Inspector General determines that the disclosure of law enforcement techniques, procedures, or information could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law or disclose the identity of a confidential source.
(d) An Inspector General investigating an alleged reprisal under this section may not respond to any inquiry or disclose any information from or about any person alleging such reprisal, except in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a or as required by any other applicable Federal law.
← 3.907-4 Procedures for investigating complaints. · 3.907-6 Remedies and enforcement authority. →
Rule changes for FAR Part 3
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation Overhaul Parts 3 and 49 ↗ · proposed 2026-06-23 · comments due 2026-07-23
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Inflation Adjustment of Acquisition-Related Thresholds ↗ · final rule 2025-08-27 · effective 2025-10-01
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition ↗ · proposed 2025-01-15 · comments due 2025-03-17
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Controlled Unclassified Information ↗ · proposed 2025-01-15 · comments due 2025-03-17
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Improving Consistency Between Procurement and Nonprocurement Procedures on Suspension and Debarment ↗ · final rule 2025-01-03 · effective 2025-01-17
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Inflation Adjustment of Acquisition-Related Thresholds ↗ · proposed 2024-11-29 · comments due 2025-01-28
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Reverse Auction Guidance ↗ · final rule 2024-07-30 · effective 2024-08-29
- Federal Acquisition Regulation: Improving Consistency Between Procurement and Nonprocurement Procedures on Suspension and Debarment ↗ · proposed 2024-01-09 · comments due 2024-03-11
Source: eCFR, 48 CFR chapters 1 and 2 (GPO GovInfo bulk data) ↗. Plain words for the terms: glossary.