National Aeronautics and Space Administration March 16, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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 Heliophysics 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.

This document makes amendments to the Federal Acquisition Regulations 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 align it with a Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Board clause, Disclosure and Consistency of Cost Accounting Practices-Foreign Concerns.

DoD, GSA, and NASA have adopted as final, without change, an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement section 868 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009. Section 868 provides that the FAR shall be amended with respect to the procurement of commercial services, specifically services that are not offered and sold competitively in substantial quantities in the commercial marketplace, but are of a type offered and sold competitively in substantial quantities in the commercial marketplace. These services may be considered commercial items only if the contracting officer has determined in writing that the offeror has submitted sufficient information to evaluate, through price analysis, the reasonableness of the price for such services. The rule details the information the contracting officer may consider in order to make this determination.

DoD, GSA, and NASA have adopted as final, with changes, the interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement section 826, Market Research, of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008. Section 826 requires the head of an agency to take appropriate steps to ensure that any prime contractor of a contract (or task order or delivery order) in an amount in excess of $5 million for the procurement of items other than commercial items engages in market research as necessary before making purchases.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement section 863 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009. Section 863, entitled ``Requirements for Purchase of Property and Services Pursuant to Multiple-Award Contracts,'' mandates enhanced competition for orders placed under multiple-award contracts, including GSA's Federal Supply Schedules (FSS). If an individual order over the simplified acquisition threshold does not follow the section 863 competitive procedures, section 863 requires that a notice of, and the determination to waive competition for, the order be published in FedBizOpps within 14 days after award. These FAR changes support the Administration's commitment to strengthened competition and increased transparency.

This document summarizes the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) rules agreed to by DoD, GSA, and NASA in this Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-50. 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.