  The first order formalism for 3D Yang-Mills theory is considered and two
different formulations are introduced, in which the gauge theory appears to be
a deformation of the topological BF theory. We perform the quantization and the
algebraic analysis of cohomology and renormalization for both the models, which
are found to be anomaly free. We discuss also their stability against radiative
corrections, giving the full structure of possible counterterms, requiring an
involved matricial renormalization of fields and sources.
