General Services Administration March 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The General Services Administration (GSA) has reviewed the per diem rates for certain locations in the States of Kansas, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island and Texas and determined that they are inadequate.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the GSA will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve a new information collection requirement regarding tangible personal property. Requests for public comments were published in the Federal Register at 72 FR 64648, November 16, 2007 and 73 FR 67175, November 13, 2008. Comments were received.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the Regulatory Secretariat will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve an extension of a previously approved information collection requirement concerning rights in data and copyrights.

This document is issued under the joint authority of the Secretary of Defense, the Administrator of General Services and the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This Small Entity Compliance Guide has been prepared in accordance with section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. It consists of the summary of the rule appearing in Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-40 which amends the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). Interested parties may obtain further information regarding this rule by referring to FAC 2005-40 which precedes this document. These documents are also available via the Internet at http:/ /www.regulations.gov.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) are issuing a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS), as required by section 872 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009. FAPIIS is designed to improve the Government's ability to evaluate the business ethics and expected performance quality of prospective contractors and protect the Government from awarding contracts to contractors that are not responsible sources.

This document makes an amendment to the Federal Acquisition Regulation in order to make an editorial change.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (the Councils) have adopted as final, without change, an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement the Dominican RepublicCentral America United States Free Trade Agreement with respect to Costa Rica, the United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement, and the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have agreed on a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to revise FAR parts 15 and 53 instructions for use of the Standard Form (SF) 26 to strengthen the prohibition against using block 18 of the form when awarding a negotiated procurement and emphasize that block 18 should only be checked when awarding a sealed bid contract. In addition, the final sentence of the current FAR 53.214 is being amended because the updated SF 26 was issued in April 2008, making the sentence unnecessary.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have agreed on a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to revise subpart 13.5, ``Test Program for Certain Commercial Items,'' to implement section 816 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 (Pub. L. 111-84). The rule extends the program for two more years. The program was to expire January 1, 2010.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the General Services Administration will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve a new information collection requirement regarding GSA Advantage![reg] and Electronic Commerce-FACNET. A request for public comments was published in the Federal Register at 74 FR 4596, January 26, 2009. No comments were received.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the General Services Administration will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve a new information collection requirement regarding Sales Practice FormatSupplies and/or Services with an Established Catalog Price and Sales Practices FormatSupplies and/or Services with Market Pricing without an Established Catalog Price. A request for public comments was published in the Federal Register at 74 FR 4596, January 26, 2009. No comments were received.

Pursuant to the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, and the President's Council on Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR 1500-1508), as implemented by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Order PBS P 1095.4C, GSA, as the operational Joint Lead Agency, announces its Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an EIS for the anticipated sale of Plum Island, New York and an ancillary support facility at Orient Point, New York. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will act as a Joint Lead Agency in ongoing consultation with GSA for the NEPA and associated regulatory compliance activities.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the Regulatory Secretariat will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve a reinstatement of a previously approved information collection requirement concerning contractor use of interagency motor pool vehicles. A request for public comments published in the Federal Register at 74 FR 62782, December 1, 2009. No comments were received.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the Regulatory Secretariat will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve an extension of a previously approved information collection requirement concerning subcontracting plans/individual subcontract report. A request for public comments published in the Federal Register at 73 FR 21779 on April 22, 2008. No comments were received.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the Regulatory Secretariat will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve an extension of a previously approved information collection requirement concerning notification of ownership changes.

Pursuant to the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), GSA Order PBS P1095.1F (Environmental considerations in decisionmaking, date October 19, 1999), and the GSA Public Buildings Service NEPA Desk Guide, GSA has signed a Record of Decision (ROD) for the update to the Master Plan to support the consolidation of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Headquarters at the Federal Research Center at White Oak in Silver Spring, Maryland. The ROD identifies that Alternative 2: Dispersed Density Action Alternative, as defined in the FDA Headquarters Consolidation Master Plan Update Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) (GSA, July 2009), is the alternative selected for implementation. The complete ROD can be viewed at: http:[sol][sol]www.gsa.gov/ncrnepa.