National Aeronautics and Space Administration – 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 announces a meeting of the Audit, Finance and Analysis Committee of the NASA Advisory Council.

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 Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has determined that a renewal of the International Space Station Advisory Committee is in the public interest in connection with the performance of duties imposed on NASA by law. The renewed Charter is for a one-year period ending September 30, 2012. It is identical to the original Charter in all respects, except it provides for a deputy chair in addition to the chair.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is issuing public notice of its proposal to significantly alter a previously noticed system of records Integrated Enterprise Management Program (IEMP)Core Financial System/NASA 10IEM1. This notice publishes updates of this system of records under a new system name and number, as set forth below under the caption SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

Notice is hereby given that NASA is amending the standard appendices that it regularly publishes with the Agency's systems of records under the Privacy Act of 1974. This notice publishes those amendments as set forth below under the caption SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. In this notice, NASA (1) names an additional location, the NASA Shared Services Center, and (2) adds two new routine uses in Appendix B, the Agency's Standard Routine Uses, to ensure the Agency's ability to disclose records from systems to individuals engaged by NASA in performance of its activities, as well as to Members of Congress or their staffs seeing records on behalf of subjects of the records.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to require contractors to complete training that addresses the protection of privacy, in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, and the handling and safeguarding of personally identifiable information.

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 Planetary Science 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.

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 contractor business ethics compliance program and disclosure requirements. 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.

The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, Public Law 95-454 (Section 405) requires that appointments of individual members to the Performance Review Board (PRB) be published in the Federal Register. The performance review function for the SES in NASA is being performed by the NASA PRB and the NASA Senior Executive Committee. The latter performs this function for senior executives who report directly to the Administrator or the Deputy Administrator and members of the PRB. The following individuals are serving on the Board and the Committee:

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 the Buy American Act certificate. This information collection requirement collects data for compliance with 41 U.S.C., Buy American. 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.

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 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.

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. 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 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 inventions described and claimed in US Patent Application Serial Number 12/757,657, Method and Apparatus for Microwave Tissue Welding For Wound Closure, NASA Case No. MSC-24238-1 to Meridian Health Systems, P.C., having its principal place of business in Los Angeles, California. 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 notice is issued in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 2451(314)(d). The 2012 Sample Return Robot Challenge is scheduled and teams that wish to compete may register. Centennial Challenges is a program of prize competitions to stimulate innovation in technologies of interest and value to NASA and the nation. The 2012 Sample Return Robot Challenge is a prize competition designed to encourage development of new technologies or application of existing technologies in unique ways to create robots that can autonomously seek out samples and return to a designated point in a set time period. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) of Worcester, Massachusetts administers the Challenge for NASA. NASA is providing the prize purse.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to address the impact of the decision in Rothe Development Corporation vs. the DoD and the U.S. Department of the Air Force (USAF) on small disadvantaged business concerns and certain institutions of higher education.

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) 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 EA for launch of NASA routine payloads on expendable launch vehicles. For purposes of this Draft EA, NASA routine payloads include science instruments, spacecraft or technology demonstrations. This EA updates the Final Environmental Assessment for Launch of NASA Routine Payloads on Expendable Launch Vehicles from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Florida and Vandenberg Air Force Base California published in June 2002. NASA missions covered by this Draft EA would be scheduled for launch at one of the proposed launch sites and would be within the total number of launch operations previously analyzed in launch vehicle and launch site NEPA documents. The proposed launches would occur from existing launch facilities at CCAFS, Florida, VAFB, California, the United States Army Kwajalein Atoll/Reagan Test Site (USAKA/RTS) in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), NASA's Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), Virginia, and the Kodiak Launch Complex (KLC), Alaska. The Cooperating Agencies on this Draft EA include the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Draft EA analyzes the potential environmental impacts associated with preparing and implementing launches of missions that are designated NASA routine payloads on U.S. expendable launch vehicles from existing U.S. facilities using established procedures. The NASA routine payloads meet rigorously defined criteria ensuring that the spacecraft and their operation would not present any new or substantial environmental and safety concerns. A Routine Payload Checklist is used to exclude missions from consideration as routine payloads if they: (1) Include any extraterrestrial sample return; (2) would be launched on a vehicle or from a launch site for which NASA has not completed NEPA compliance; (3) carry radioactive sources that could not be approved by the NASA Office of Safety and Mission Assurance Nuclear Flight Safety Assurance Manager or designee; (4) cause the manifested launch rate (per year) for a particular launch vehicle to exceed the rate previously approved and permitted at the launch sites; (5) require the construction of any new facilities (or substantial modification of existing facilities); (6) utilize hazardous materials in quantities exceeding the Envelope Payload Characteristics (EPCs); (7) utilize potentially hazardous material whose type or amount would not be covered by new or existing local permits; (8) release material other than propulsion system exhaust or inert gases into the atmosphere; (9) suggest the potential for any substantial impact on public health and safety not covered by this Draft EA; (10) have the potential for substantial effects on the environment outside the United States; (11) utilize an Earth-pointing laser system that does not meet the requirements for safe operations according to American National Standards Institute analysis techniques; (12) carry live or inactive disease-causing biological agents beyond Biological Safety Level 1; or (13) have the potential to create substantial public controversy related to environmental issues. Payloads that fall within the Routine Payload Checklist would utilize materials, quantities of materials, launch vehicles, and operational characteristics that are consistent with normal and routine payload preparation and flight activities at these specified launch sites. Therefore, the environmental impacts of launching routine payloads would fall within the range of routine, ongoing, and previously documented impacts associated with approved programs that have been determined not to be significant. The purpose and need for this proposed action is to fulfill NASA's mission for Earth exploration, space exploration, technology development, and scientific research. The scientific missions associated with NASA routine payloads could not be accomplished without launching orbital and interplanetary spacecraft.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-463, as amended, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announces an open joint meeting of the NASA International Space Station Advisory Committee and the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel. The purpose of this meeting is to assess the status of the development of two current commercial cargo vehicles under consideration by NASA for Commercial Resupply Services for the International Space Station (ISS), with particular focus on the ability of each to rendezvous and berth safely with the ISS.

This document corrects the comment date published in the Federal Register of August 9, 2011, regarding the proposed rule for Documenting Contractor Performance.

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 Earth Science 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.

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)).

DoD, GSA, and NASA are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to make necessary revisions to accommodate the authorization to use time-and-materials and labor-hour contract payment requirements.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) proposes regulations relating to requirements for the filing of claims against NASA where a potential claimant believes NASA is infringing privately owned rights in patented inventions or copyrighted works. The requirements for filing an administrative claim are important since the filing of a claim carries with it certain rights relating to the applicable statute of limitations for filing suit against the Government. The proposed regulations set forth guidelines as to what NASA considers necessary to file a claim for patent or copyright infringement, and they also provide for written notification to the claimant upon completion of an investigation by NASA.

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 regarding prohibition on acquisition of products produced by forced or indentured child labor.

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). The agenda topics for the meeting will include:

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 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.

This notice is issued in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 2451 (314)(d). The 2011 Strong Tether Challenge is scheduled and teams that wish to compete may register. Centennial Challenges is a program of prize competitions to stimulate innovation in technologies of interest and value to NASA and the nation. The 2011 Strong Tether Challenge is a prize competition designed to encourage development of very strong, lightweight material for use in a multitude of structural applications. The Spaceward Foundation administers the Challenge for NASA. NASA is providing the prize purse.