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

The General Services Administration (GSA), in conjunction with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, Premium Class Travel: Internal Control Weaknesses Governmentwide Led to Improper and Abusive Use of Premium Class Travel (GAO-07-1268), has issued GSA Bulletin FTR 10-05. This bulletin provides directions to Federal Agencies for reporting other than coach-class accommodations for employees on official travel. GSA Bulletin FTR 10-05 may be found at https://www.gsa.gov/federaltravelregulation.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have adopted as final, with minor changes, an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memorandum M-09-10, entitled ``Initial Implementing Guidance for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,'' (the Recovery Act) with respect to publicizing contract actions. The OMB issued Memorandum M-09-15, entitled ``Updated Implementing Guidance for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,'' to supplement, amend, and clarify the initial guidance in OMB Memorandum M-09-10.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have agreed on an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement Section 826 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (FY08 NDAA). Section 826 established additional requirements in subsection (c) of 10 U.S.C. 2377. As a matter of policy, these requirements are extended to all executive agencies. Specifically, the head of the agency must conduct market research before issuing an indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) task or delivery order for a noncommercial item in excess of the simplified acquisition threshold. In addition, a prime contractor with a contract in excess of $5 million for the procurement of items other than commercial items is required to conduct market research before making purchases that exceed the simplified acquisition threshold for or on behalf of the Government.

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 summaries of the rules appearing in Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-42 which amends the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). Interested parties may obtain further information regarding this rule by referring to FAC 2005-42 which precedes this document. These documents are also available via the Internet at http:/ /www.regulations.gov.

This document summarizes the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) rules agreed to by the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) in this Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-42. A companion document, the Small Entity Compliance Guide (SECG), follows this FAC. The FAC, including the SECG, is available via the Internet at https://www.regulations.gov.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) are issuing an interim rule amending the FAR to align the FAR with the revised Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Board standards 412, ``Cost Accounting Standard for composition and measurement of pension cost;'' and 415, ``Accounting for the cost of deferred compensation.''

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) are issuing a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to revise the list of articles determined to be domestically nonavailable.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have adopted as final, without change, an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to add Taiwan (known in the World Trade Organization as ``the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (Chinese Taipei))'' as a designated country, due to the accession of Taiwan to membership in the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement.

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 Government Property. A notice was published in the Federal Register at 75 FR 17410, on April 6, 2010. No comments were received.