National Aeronautics and Space Administration November 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announces a meeting of the Technology and Innovation Committee (TIC) of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC). The meeting will be held for the purpose of reviewing status of activities within the Office of the Chief Technologist with an emphasis on the discussing the Agency's Technology Roadmapping efforts; status of the Space Technology Mission Directorate programs with an emphasis on Solar Electric Propulsion and Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer; and a discussion of barriers to innovation and innovation enablers.

This document is issued under the joint authority of DOD, GSA, and NASA. 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 a summary of the rules appearing in Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-71, which amends the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). An asterisk (*) next to a rule indicates that a regulatory flexibility analysis has been prepared. Interested parties may obtain further information regarding these rules by referring to FAC 2005-71, which precedes this document. These documents are also available via the Internet at https://www.regulations.gov.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to add Croatia as a new designated country under the World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement (WTO GPA). On July 1, 2013, Croatia joined the European Union, which is a party to the WTO GPA.

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) 2005-71. 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.

DoD, GSA, and NASA issued a proposed rule on September 26, 2013, amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to strengthen protections against trafficking in persons in Federal contracts. These changes are intended to implement E.O. 13627 and Title XVII of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013. The comment period is being extended to provide additional time for interested parties to provide comments for FAR Case 2013-001, Ending Trafficking in Persons, to December 20, 2013.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, 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 preaward survey forms (Standard Forms 1403, 1404, 1405, 1406, 1407, and 1408). A notice was published in the Federal Register at 78 FR 38341, on June 26, 2013. One comment was received.

NASA is proposing to remove from its regulation agency procedures for the delegation of administration of grants and cooperative agreements. Simultaneous with the removal of the delegation of administration procedures from the regulation, NASA will issue non- regulatory delegation of administration procedures.

This notice is issued in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209(e) and 37 CFR 404.7(a)(1)(i). NASA hereby gives notice of its intent to grant an exclusive license in the United States to practice the invention described and claimed in U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 13/874,182 entitled Hermetic Seal Leak Detection Apparatus and U.S. Patent No. 8,448,498 entitled Hermetic Seal Leak Detection Apparatus to REMCAL Products Corporation, having its principal place of business in Warrington, PA. 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.

Pursuant to sections 14(b)(1) and 9(c) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463), and after consultation with the Committee Management Secretariat, General Services Administration, the NASA Administrator has determined that renewal and amendment of the charter of the NASA Advisory Council is in the public interest in connection with the performance of duties imposed on NASA by law. The renewed charter is for a two-year period ending October 24, 2015. It is identical to the previous charter in all respects except with regard to information pertaining to annual operating costs and number of meetings per year.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, 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 patents.