General Services Administration May 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document makes amendments to the Federal Acquisition Regulation in order to make editorial changes.

DoD, GSA, and NASA have adopted as final, without change, an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement section 615 of Division C, Title VI, of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, to authorize exemption from the Buy American Act for acquisition of information technology that is a commercial item.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) procedures for closing out contract files. This case revises procedures for clearing final patent reports and quick-closeout procedure, and sets forth a description of an adequate final indirect cost rate proposal and supporting data.

This document summarizes the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) rules agreed to by DoD, GSA, and NASA in this Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-52. 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 General Services Administration (GSA) is amending the General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation (GSAR) to revise sections that provide requirements for acquiring leasehold interests in real property.

This notice replaces the notice VSI-Notice 2011-01; Notice Pursuant to Executive Order 12600 of Receipt of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Requests for Access to the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) Data, published on May 16, 2011. It provides submitters notice pursuant to Executive Order 12600 that the General Services Administration, Office of Governmentwide Policy, Acquisition Systems Division (ASD) has received several FOIA requests for certain data elements within the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database. This notice describes each data element contained in CCR and its exemption status under FOIA. The non-exempt data elements are packaged in a monthly CCR FOIA extract available on Acquisition.gov (https:// www.acquisition.gov). The exempt data elements are not made public as part of the CCR FOIA extract. However, certain data elements that are exempt for CCR FOIA requests may be displayed publicly in other Federal systems after they are associated with a Federal award as required by law. For instance, CCR data elements 250-254 address Executive Compensation as required under section 2 of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Pub. L. 109-282), as amended by section 6202 of the Government Funding Transparency Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110-252). While collected in CCR as part of the registrant's profile, the Executive Compensation responses are not displayed until they are associated with an eligible Federal award at USAspending.gov (https:// www.usaspending.gov), nor are they releasable under CCR FOIA prior to association with an eligible Federal award and subsequent display on USAspending.gov. In addition, CCR data elements 255-260 address Proceedings information in accordance with FAR clause 52.209-7 (version dated January 2011). While collected in CCR as part of the registrant's profile (in accordance with FAR 52.209-7(d)), the Proceedings information is only displayed in association with a record in the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS) and is not releasable under CCR FOIA. The following information applies to CCR data fields 255 through 260, dealing with the Proceedings section of the CCR registration, which are marked with ``*'': Any information entered in data fields 255 to 260 before April 15, 2011, will be handled in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act procedures at 5 U.S.C 552. Information posted on or after April 15, 2011, will be available to the public through FAPIIS, as required by Section 3010 of Public Law 111-212 (see 41 U.S.C. 417b, as recodified, 41 U.S.C. 2313) and in accordance with FAR clause 52.209-9 (version dated January 2011). Federal contractors must not post information to data fields 255 to 260 under former FAR clause 52.209-8 (version dated April 2010) on or after April 15, 2011. Any contractors with a contract containing clause 52.209-8 (version dated April 2010) that requires update of information on or after April 15, 2011, should contact their contracting officer immediately to discuss a modification. Contracting officers are required to bilaterally modify existing contracts (including indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity contracts) that contain the FAR clause 52.209-8 (version dated April 2010) if a six-month update is due on or after April 15, 2011. The modification shall replace FAR clause 52.209-8 (version dated April 2010) with the new FAR clause 52.209-9 (version dated January 2011).

The President's Management Advisory Board, a Federal Advisory Committee established in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 U.S.C., App., and Executive Order 13538, will hold a public meeting on June 17, 2011.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the Regulatory Secretariat (MVCB) 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 statement and acknowledgment (Standard Form 1413). Public comments are particularly invited on: Whether this collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of functions of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), and whether it will have practical utility; whether our estimate of the public burden of this collection of information is accurate, and based on valid assumptions and methodology; ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways in which we can minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, through the use of appropriate technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the Regulatory Secretariat (MVCB) will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve a new information collection requirement regarding Preventing Personal Conflicts of Interest for Contractor Employees Performing Acquisition Functions. Public comments are particularly invited on: Whether this collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of functions of the FAR, and whether it will have practical utility; whether our estimate of the public burden of this collection of information is accurate, and based on valid assumptions and methodology; ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways in which we can minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, through the use of appropriate technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

This document corrects the preamble to a proposed rule published in the Federal Register of April 20, 2011, regarding Service Contracts Reporting Requirements. This document adds text that was inadvertently omitted.