Department of Commerce October 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents
Results 251 - 253 of 253
Membership of the Performance Review Board for the Office of the Secretary
In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 4314(c)(4), the Office of the Secretary, Department of Commerce (DOC), announces the appointment of those individuals who have been selected to serve as members of the Performance Review Board. The Performance Review Board is responsible for (1) reviewing performance appraisals and ratings of Senior Executive Service (SES) and Senior Level (SL) members and (2) making recommendations to the appointing authority on other performance management issues, such as pay adjustments, bonuses and Presidential Rank Awards. The appointment of these members to the Performance Review Board will be for a period of twenty-four (24) months.
Setting and Adjusting Patent Fees During Fiscal Year 2017
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office or USPTO) proposes to set or adjust patent fees as authorized by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (Act or AIA). The USPTO is a business- like operation where external factors affect the productivity of the workforce and the demand for patent products and services. The proposed fee adjustments are needed to provide the Office with a sufficient amount of aggregate revenue to recover its aggregate cost of patent operations (based on current projections), while maintaining momentum towards achieving strategic goals. This rulemaking represents the second iteration of patent fee rulemaking by the USPTO to set fees under the authority of the AIA; the first AIA patent fee setting rule was published in January 2013. This current rulemaking is a result of the USPTO assessing its costs and fees, as is consistent with federal fee setting standards. Following a biennial review of fees, costs, and revenues that began in 2015, the Office concluded that further targeted fee adjustments were necessary to continue funding patent operations, enhance patent quality, and continue to work toward patent pendency goals, strengthen the Office's information technology (IT) capability and infrastructure, and achieve operating reserve targets. Further, in several instances, the fee change proposals offered during the biennial fee review process were enhanced by the availability of cost and workload data (e.g., the number of requests for a service) that was not available in 2013. As a result, the 205 proposed fee adjustments outlined in this proposed rule align directly with the Office's strategic goals and four key fee setting policy factors, discussed in detail in Part V.
Revolving Loan Fund Program Changes and General Updates to PWEDA Regulations
Through this notice of proposed rulemaking (``NPRM''), the Economic Development Administration (``EDA''), U.S. Department of Commerce (``DOC''), proposes and requests comments on updates to the agency's regulations implementing the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965, as amended (``PWEDA''). In particular, through this NPRM EDA is proposing important changes to the regulations governing the Revolving Loan Fund (``RLF'') program that are intended to reflect current best practices and strengthen EDA's efforts to evaluate, monitor, and improve RLF performance by establishing the Risk Analysis System, a risk-based management framework, to evaluate and manage the RLF program. The proposed Risk Analysis System is modeled on the Uniform Financial Institutions Rating System, commonly known as the capital adequacy, assets, management capability, earnings, liquidity, and sensitivity (``CAMELS'') rating system, which has been used since 1979 to assess financial institutions on a uniform basis and to identify those in need of additional attention. EDA also proposes to reorganize the RLF regulations to improve their readability and clarify the requirements that apply to the distinct phases of an RLF award. In addition, EDA proposes specific changes to RLF requirements to make RLF awards more efficient for Recipients to administer and EDA to monitor. In addition, through this NPRM EDA proposes important, but less comprehensive updates to other parts of its regulations, including revising definitions, replacing references to superseded regulations to reflect the promulgation of the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements (2 CFR part 200) (``Uniform Guidance''), streamlining the provisions that outline EDA's application process, and clarifying EDA's property management regulations.
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