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

DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement a section of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2013. This section removes the sunset date for protests against certain orders under a task-order contract or delivery-order contract for title 10 agencies only.

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) 2005-69. 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 have adopted as final, without change, an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to revise the definition of ``contingency operation'' to address the statutory change to the definition made by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012.

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 rights in data and copyrights.

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 a partially exclusive license in the United States to practice the invention described and claimed in U.S. Patent No. 7,801,687 entitled ``Chemical Sensors Using Coated Or Doped Carbon Nanotube Networks''; U.S. Patent No. 7,623,972 entitled ``Detection of Presence of Chemical Precursors''; U.S. Patent No. 7,968,054 entitled ``Nanostructure Sensing and Transmission of Gas Data; U.S. Patent No. 8,000,903 entitled ``Coated or Doped Carbon Nanotube Network Sensors as Affected by Environmental Parameters; ARC-16902-1, entitled ``Nanosensor Array for Medical Diagnoses''; ARC-16292-1, entitled ``Nanosensor/Cell Phone Hybrid for Detecting Chemicals and Concentrations''; to Nanobeak Inc., having its principal place of business at 575 Madison Avenue, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10022-2511. The patent rights in this invention have been assigned to the United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The prospective partially exclusive license will comply with the terms and conditions of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7.

This agenda provides summary descriptions of regulations being developed by the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council in compliance with Executive Order 12866 ``Regulatory Planning and Review.'' This agenda is being published to allow interested persons an opportunity to participate in the rulemaking process. The Regulatory Secretariat Division has attempted to list all regulations pending at the time of publication, except for minor and routine or repetitive actions; however, unanticipated requirements may result in the issuance of regulations that are not included in this agenda. There is no legal significance to the omission of an item from this listing. Also, the dates shown for the steps of each action are estimated and are not commitments to act on or by the dates shown. Published proposed rules may be reviewed in their entirety at the Government's rulemaking Web site at https://www.regulations.gov.

This agenda announces the proposed regulatory actions that GSA plans for the next 12 months and those that were completed since the fall 2012 edition. This agenda was developed under the guidelines of Executive Order 12866 ``Regulatory Planning and Review.'' GSA's purpose in publishing this agenda is to allow interested persons an opportunity to participate in the rulemaking process. GSA also invites interested persons to recommend existing significant regulations for review to determine whether they should be modified or eliminated. Proposed rules may be reviewed in their entirety at the Government's rulemaking Web site at https://www.regulations.gov. Since the fall 2007 edition, the Internet has been the basic means for disseminating the Unified Agenda. The complete Unified Agenda will be available online at www.reginfo.gov, in a format that offers users a greatly enhanced ability to obtain information from the Agenda database. Because publication in the Federal Register is mandated for the regulatory flexibility agendas required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 602), GSA's printed agenda entries include only: (1) Rules that are in the Agency's regulatory flexibility agenda, in accordance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act, because they are likely to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities; and (2) Any rules that the Agency has identified for periodic review under section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Printing of these entries is limited to fields that contain information required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act's Agenda requirements. Additional information on these entries is available in the Unified Agenda published on the Internet. In addition, for fall editions of the Agenda, the entire Regulatory Plan will continue to be printed in the Federal Register, as in past years, including GSA's regulatory plan.

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 limitation of costs/funds. A notice was published in the Federal Register at 77 FR 75163, on December 19, 2012. Two comments were received.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) are seeking information that will assist in determining if there is a distinction between leasing and renting that is useful for the purposes stated in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). This Request for Information (RFI) does not address real property or its leasing.

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 the examination of records by comptroller general and contract audit.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-462, as amended, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announces a meeting of the Human Exploration and Operations Committee of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC). This Committee reports to the NAC.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-463, as amended, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announces a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC).

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

Each Federal agency is required by the Privacy Act of 1974 to publish a description of the systems of records it maintains containing personal information when a system is substantially revised, deleted, or created. In this notice, NASA provides the required information for a new system of records related to NASA's Astronaut Candidate Selection System. This new system will help streamline and expedite NASA's selection of astronauts, in accordance with requirements set forth in 14 CFR part 1214, Subpart 1214.11, NASA Astronaut Candidate Recruitment and Selection Program.

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

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. A notice was published in the Federal Register at 78 FR 17670, on March 22, 2013. No comments were received.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to continue the implementation of the requirements of section 803 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. The proposed rule seeks public comments on applying section 803 with respect to that provision's expansion with respect to contracts that had been awarded by DoD, NASA, and the Coast Guard before the date of enactment of section 803 (which was December 31, 2011) of the application of the senior executive compensation benchmark amount. Section 803 expands to a broader group of contractor employees the limitation on reimbursing compensation costs. As section 803 provides, this proposed rule would apply section 803 retroactively to contracts awarded before December 31, 2011, with respect to the contractor compensation costs incurred after January 1, 2012. In addition, also as part of the implementation in the FAR of section 803, DoD, GSA and NASA are separately issuing an interim rule (FAR Case 2012-017) that addresses the prospective application of section 803 to contracts awarded on or after December 31, 2011.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement section 803 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. In accordance with section 803, the interim rule expands the application to a broader group of contractor employees on contracts awarded by DoD, NASA, and the Coast Guard of the senior executive compensation benchmark amount which limits the reimbursement of compensation costs. This interim rule applies section 803 prospectively to contracts awarded on or after (but not before) the date of enactment of section 803 (which was December 31, 2011), to the contractor compensation costs incurred after January 1, 2012. In addition, also as part of the implementation in the FAR of section 803, DoD, GSA and NASA are separately issuing a proposed rule (FAR Case 2012-025) that addresses the retroactive application of section 803 to contractor compensation costs incurred after January 1, 2012, under contracts that had been awarded before December 31, 2011.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-463, as amended, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announces a meeting of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Subcommittee of the Aeronautics Committee of the NASA Advisory Council. The meeting will be held for the purpose of soliciting, from the aeronautics community and other persons, research and technical information relevant to program planning.

This document makes amendments to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 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 the United States-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement. This Trade Promotion Agreement is a free trade agreement that provides for mutually non-discriminatory treatment of eligible products and services from Panama.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to remove the dollar limitation for set-asides to economically disadvantaged women-owned small business concerns and to women-owned small business concerns eligible under the Women-owned Small Business Program.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to address concerns raised in an opinion from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) involving the use of unrestricted, open-ended indemnification clauses in acquisitions for social media applications.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to reflect the joining of the Central Contractor Registration (CCR), Online Representations and Certification Application (ORCA), and Excluded Parties List System (EPLS) databases into the System for Award Management (SAM) database.