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

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.

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 inventions described and claimed in USPN 6,730,498 B1, Production of Functional Proteins: Balance of Shear Stress and Gravity and NASA Case No. MSC- 22859-1 to GNetX Expression, LLC, having its principal place of business in Baytown, Texas 77520. The fields of use may be limited to the production of biomolecules and proteins. The patent rights in the invention 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.

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)).

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 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.

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 update references to authoritative accounting standards owing to the Financial Accounting Standards Board's (FASB's) Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) (``Codification of GAAP'').

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 issuing this document to summarize and respond to the comments received in response to the advance notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register at 75 FR 26916, May 13, 2010. This information was used to determine if the FAR should be amended to provide for further transparency in Government contracts. DoD, GSA, and NASA acknowledge the comments and solutions provided and will take this information into account, at a later date, in determining if the FAR should be amended to further enhance transparency in Government contracting. At this time, DoD, GSA, and NASA do not plan to amend the FAR because some of the existing acquisition systems at https:// www.acquisition.gov provide certain information on Government contracts that is readily available to the public, and most of the content of a contract solicitation or contract action not already available on one of the acquisition systems at https://www.acquisition.gov is either standard FAR terms and conditions available at https:// www.acquisition.gov/far/, agency specific terms and conditions available from the contracting agency Web site, or sensitive information that may be releasable under FOIA.

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.

In accordance with Section 743 of Division C of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-117), National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) is publishing this notice to advise the public of the availability of its FY 2010 Service Contract inventory. This inventory provides information on service contract actions over $25,000 that were made in FY 2010. The information is organized by function to show how contracted resources are distributed throughout the agency. The inventory has been developed in accordance with guidance issued on November 5, 2010, by the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP). NASA has posted its inventory and a summary of the inventory on the NASA Office of Procurement homepage at the following link: https:// www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/scinventory/. Point of contact for this initiative is Sandra Morris (202) 358- 0532, Sandra.morris@nasa.gov.

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 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.

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)).

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.

This document summarizes the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) rules agreed to by DOD, GSA, and NASA in this Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-49. 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.

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 rules appearing in Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-49, which amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). Interested parties may obtain further information regarding these rules by referring to FAC 2005-49, which precedes this document. The documents are also available via the Internet at https://www.regulations.gov.

NASA is revising the NASA FAR Supplement (NFS) to update requirements related to Information Technology Security, consistent with Federal policies for the security of unclassified information and information systems. The rule imposes no new requirements. Its purpose is to more clearly define applicability, update procedural processes, eliminate the requirement for contractor personnel to meet the NASA System Security Certification Program, and provide a Web site link within a contract clause to a library where contractors can find all underlying regulations and referenced 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 NASA Advisory Council (NAC) Space Operations Committee.

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 Education and Public Outreach Committee of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC).

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)).

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.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to remove FAR coverage of the Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program, to meet the requirements of section 1335 of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010.