Department of Defense January 3, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document is issued under the joint authority of the Secretary of Defense, the Administrator of General Services and the Administrator for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 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- 07 which amend the 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 2005-07 which precedes this document. These documents are also available via the Internet at https://www.acqnet.gov/far.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have agreed on a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to modify the provision regarding Annual Representations and Certifications to include a section whereby the contracting officer can insert the appropriate North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and small business size standard for the procurement. Its exclusion in the original drafting of the subject provision was an oversight. When the FAR provision is included in a solicitation, the provision regarding Small Business Program Representations, where this information is normally placed, is not included. Without this change, there is no standard way in which the NAICS code and small business size standard can be communicated to the vendor.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have agreed on a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement Executive Order 13357, which removed sanctions against Libya.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have agreed on a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement Section 637 of Division H of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005. Section 637 provides that no funds made available under the Consolidated Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2005, or under any other Act for fiscal year 2005 and each fiscal year thereafter, shall be expended for purchase of a product or service offered by Federal Prison Industries, Inc., unless the agency making the purchase determines that the offered product or service provides the best value to the buying agency.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have agreed to convert the interim rule published in the Federal Register at 69 FR 77870, December 28, 2004, to a final rule with changes. This rule implemented new Free Trade Agreements with Australia and Morocco as approved by Congress (Public Laws 108-286 and 108-302). These Free Trade Agreements were scheduled to become effective on or after January 1, 2005. However, the Moroccan Free Trade Agreement has not yet been implemented and is therefore removed from this final rule. The rule also established a table of services excluded from the coverage of the various trade agreements, corrected the threshold for Canadian services, revised the list of Least Developed Countries, revised FAR terminology relating to international trade agreements and the Trade Agreements Act (TAA), and revised the FAR clauses that implement application of the Buy American Act (41 U.S.C. 10a, 10b, 10b- 1, and 10c) and trade agreements to construction material.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have agreed on an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to address the contractor personal identification requirements in Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD-12), ``Policy for a Common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors,'' and Federal Information Processing Standards Publication (FIPS PUB) Number 201, ``Personal Identity Verification (PIV) of Federal Employees and Contractors.''

This document summarizes the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) rules agreed to by the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council in this Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-07. 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.acqnet.gov/far.