National Aeronautics and Space Administration June 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice is issued in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209(c)(1) and 37 CFR 404.7(a)(1)(i). NASA hereby gives notice of its intent to grant an exclusive license worldwide to practice the inventions described and claimed in U.S. patent 7,156,189, entitled ``Self Mountable and Extractable Ultrasonic/Sonic Anchor'' and U.S. patent 7,740,088, entitled ``Ultrasonic/Sonic Rotary-Hammer Drill'' to the California Institute of Technology, having its principal place of business in Pasadena, California. The patent rights in these inventions have been assigned to the United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The prospective exclusive license will comply with the terms and conditions of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-463, as amended, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announces a meeting of the Science Committee of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC). This Committee reports to the NAC. The Meeting will be held for the purpose of soliciting from the scientific community and other persons scientific and technical information relevant to program planning.

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.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announces a meeting of the Astrophysics Subcommittee of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC). This Subcommittee reports to the Science Committee of the NAC. The Meeting will be held for the purpose of soliciting from the scientific community and other persons scientific and technical information relevant to program planning.

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of NEPA (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508), and NASA NEPA policy and procedures (14 CFR Part 1216, Subpart 1216.3), NASA has prepared a Draft PEA that analyzes scientific balloon launch and flight operations originating from NASA's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facilities (CSBF) in Fort Sumner, New Mexico and Palestine, Texas. NASA has launched and monitored the flights of balloons from these locations for over 25 years. NASA is not proposing to change the launch locations and is only proposing to increase the number of scientific balloons launched each year. Balloon flights originating from CSBF Fort Sumner would increase from 15 to 25 annually; balloons launched from CSBF Palestine would continue at approximately 6 per year. The No Action Alternative, under which balloon launch and flight operations would not increase, is also analyzed in detail in the Draft PEA.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).