Department of Defense 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

DoD has issued a final rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to waive application of 10 U.S.C. 2533b for acquisitions of commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) items. 10 U.S.C. 2533b, established by Section 842 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, places restrictions on the acquisition of specialty metals not melted or produced in the United States.

This document is issued under the joint authority of the Secretary of Defense, the Administrator of General Services and the Administrator of 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) 2005-21 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 2005-21 which precedes this document. These documents are also available via the Internet at http:/ /www.regulations.gov.

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 revise references to published pricing sources available to the contracting officer. The revision will provide greater flexibilities for contracting officers when selecting sources of pricing data.

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 revise the current SCA exemption and to add a SCA exemption for contracts for certain additional services that meet specific criteria.

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 7 U.S.C. 8102, as enacted by section 9002 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (FSRIA) (Pub. L. 107-171), and amended by sections 205 and 943 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Pub. L. 109-58). Entitled ``Federal Procurement of Biobased Products,'' 7 U.S.C. 8102 requires that a procurement preference be afforded biobased products within items designated by the Secretary of Agriculture.

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) 2005-21. 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.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), Wilmington District, Regulatory Division has been reviewing the request for Department of the Army authorization, pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act, from Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Phosphate Division (PCS) for the continuation of its phosphate mining operation near Aurora, Beaufort County, NC. PCS proposes to expand its existing open pit phosphate mining operation into a 3,412 acre tract immediately adjacent to the current mine. This expansion would impact 2,408 acres of waters of the U.S. including wetlands adjacent to the Pamlico River and South Creek. The Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for this action was published in the Federal Register on Friday, October 20, 2006 (71 FR 61962).

This notice provides information on the surplus property at Naval Air Station Alameda, Alameda, California.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Secretariat will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve an extension of a currently approved information collection requirement concerning value engineering requirements. The clearance currently expires on February 29, 2008. 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.

Under the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 (5 U.S.C., Appendix, as amended) and the Sunshine in the Government Act of 1976 (U.S.C. 522b, as amended) the Department of Defense announces the following Federal Advisory Committee Meeting. Name of Committee: Uniform Formulary Beneficiary Advisory Panel (hereafter referred to as the Panel). Date of Meeting: Thursday, January 10, 2008. Location: Naval Heritage Center Theater, 701 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20004. Time: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Purpose of Meeting: The Panel will review and comment on recommendations made to the Director, TRICARE Management Activity, by the Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) Committee regarding the Uniform Formulary. Meeting Agenda: Sign-In; Welcome and Opening Remarks; Opportunity for Public Citizen Comments; Scheduled Therapeutic Class Reviews Targeted Immunomodulatory Biologics (TIBs), BPH Alpha Blockers (BPH- ABs), Adrenergic Blocking Agents (ABAs) and Designated Newly Approved Drugs; Panel Discussions and Vote, and comments following each therapeutic class review. Meeting Accessibility: Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552b, as amended, and 41 CFR 102-3.140 through 102-3.165, and the availability of space this meeting is open to the public. Seating is limited and will be provided only to the first 220 people signing in. All persons must sign in legibly. Written Statements: Pursuant to 41 CFR 102-3.105(j) and 102.3.140, the public or interested organizations may submit written statements to the membership of the Panel at any time or in response to the stated agenda of a planned meeting. Written statements should be submitted to the Panel's Designated Federal Officer. The Designated Federal Officer's contact information can be obtained from the GSA's FACA Databasehttps://www.fido.gov/facadatabase/public.asp. Written statements that do not pertain to the scheduled meeting of the Panel may be submitted at any time. However, if individual comments pertain to a specific topic being discused at a planned meeting then these statements must be submitted no later than five (5) business days prior to the meeting in question. The Designated Federal Officer will review all submitted written statements and provide copies to all the committee members. Public Comments: In addition to written statements, the Panel will set will set aside one (1) hour for individual or interested groups to address the Panel. To ensure consideration of their comments, individuals and interested groups should submit written statements as outlined in this notice. Additionally, they will be afforded the opportunity to address the Panel. Registration for addressing the Panel in on a first-come, first-serve basis. Those wishing to address the Panel will be given no more than five (5) minutes to present their comments, and at the end of the one (1) hour time period no further public comments will be accepted.

This notice informs the public that the Global Positioning Systems Wing will be hosting a follow-on meeting to the Public ICWG that occurred on 25 Sept 2007 at the ION GNSS Conference in Ft. Worth, TX. The meeting will take place on 19 Nov 2007 at the SAIC Facility in El Segundo and will address the action item to review a ``tracked changes'' version of the IS-GPS-800. The meeting will consist of a line-by-line review and discussion of all L1 MBOC spreading codes and L1 bandwidth augmentation changes within the document. A tracked change ``was/is'' version of the document can be found at the following address for review: https://www.losangeles.af.mil/library/factsheets/ factsheet.asp?id=9364. To make additional comments, please open the ``Comment Form Draft IS-GPS-800'' on the Web site and e-mail comments to Thomas Davis and Capt Garrett Knowlan by 5 Nov 2007 (contact info below). For those who would like to attend and participate in this meeting, you are requested to register by 14 November 2007. Please send the registration to thomas.davis.ctr@losangeles.af.mil and provide your name, organization, telephone number, address, and country of citizenship. Foreign nationals must have their passports available on the day of the meeting or admittance will be denied. The parking lot can be entered via Sepulveda Blvd or Grand Ave. The outside parking lot is available for all cars, but the underground parking structure is only for those with monthly parking passes. Parking validation is provided.

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), Sacramento District, will prepare a draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Corps authorization actions for the proposed Great Salt Lake Minerals Solar Evaporation Ponds Expansion project. The overall project purpose is to expand extraction capability for potassium at the Great Salt Lake Mineral Corporation's facilities. The proposed expansion would add approximately 33,000 acres of solar evaporative ponds, impacting approximately 30,713.75 acres of waters of the United States, and reducing the need to import raw potassium from other sources. The DEIS will address impacts such as wildlife habitat, water quality, Great Salt Lake water elevations, wetlands, hydrology, cultural resources, transportation, endangered species and industry.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement the Governmentwide Enterprise Software Licensing Program, also known as SmartBUY. This action is necessary to comply with Office of Management and Budget Memorandum M-04-08, Maximizing Use of SmartBuy and Avoiding Duplication of Agency Activities with the President's 24 E-Gov Initiatives, dated February 25, 2004. By leveraging the Federal Government Enterprise Software Licensing Program, the Government will achieve the maximum cost savings and favorable terms and conditions for acquiring software and software maintenance. This rule impacts contracting officers and other acquisition officials responsible for reviewing the terms, conditions, and prices for the acquisition of commercial software and software maintenance.

The Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics) is waiving the limitation of 10 U.S.C. 2534 for certain defense items produced in the United Kingdom (UK). 10 U.S.C. 2534 limits DoD procurement of certain items to sources in the national technology and industrial base. The waiver will permit procurement of enumerated items from sources in the UK, unless otherwise restricted by statute.

The Department of the Navy hereby gives notice of its intent to grant to Oasis Diagnostics Corp., a revocable, nonassignable, partially exclusive license to practice worldwide the Government owned inventions described in U.S. Patent 6,927,068 entitled ``A Rapid and Non-Invasive Method to Evaluate Immunization Status of a Patient'' issued 9 August 2005 and related foreign filings (PCT/US 2003/002239, EP/1490665, and AU/2003301840) in the fields of detection of antibodies in present in oral fluids from the group saliva, oral rinse expectorant, oral mucosal transudate, gingival crevicular fluid, and phlegmuntil.

Pursuant to Section 10(a), Public Law 92-463, as amended, notice is hereby given of a forthcoming meeting of the Defense Department Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS). The purpose of the Committee meeting is to do the second review of the 2007 report and work on the findings and recommendations. The meeting is open to the public, subject to the availability of space. Interested persons may submit a written statement for consideration by the Defense Department Advisory Committee on Women in the Services. Individuals submitting a written statement must submit their statement to the Point of Contact listed below at the address detailed below, NLT 5 p.m., 12 November 2007. If a written statement is not received by 12 November 2007 prior to the meeting, which is the subject of this notice, then it may not be provided to or considered by the Defense Department Advisory Committee on Women in the Services until its next open meeting. The Designated Federal Officer will review all timely submissions with the Defense Department Advisory Committee on Women in the Services Chairperson and ensure they are provided to the members of the Defense Department Advisory Committee on Women in the Services. If members of the public are interested in making an oral statement, a written statement must be submitted as above. After reviewing the written comments, the Chairperson and the Designated Federal Officer will determine who of the requesting persons will be able to make an oral presentation of their issue during an open portion of this meeting or at a future meeting. Determination of who will be making an oral presentation will depend on time available and if the topics are relevant to the Committee's activities. Two minutes will be allotted to persons desiring to make an oral presentation. Oral presentations by members of the public will be permitted only on Thursday, 15 November from 4:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. before the full Committee. Number of oral presentations to be made will depend on the number of requests received from members of the public.

This notice describes the changes made to the TRICARE DRG- based payment system. It also provides the updated fixed loss cost outlier threshold, cost-to-charge ratios, and the Internet address for accessing the updated adjusted standardized amount and DRG relative weights to be used for FY 2008 under the TRICARE DRG-based payment system.

The Department of the Army announces the availability of the Final PEIS for the growth and realignment of the U.S. Army. Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Department of the Army has prepared a PEIS that evaluates the potential environmental and socioeconomic effects associated with alternatives for growing and realigning the Army's force structure. The Army's preferred alternative identified in the Final PEIS is Alternative 3 which will allow the Army to grow and restructure its forces to accommodate modular forces initiatives and critical shortfalls, while adding six Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs) to the Army's end strength. Potential impacts have been analyzed at installations that are being considered for the stationing of 1,000 or more additional Soldiers.

The purpose of the project is to reconstruct and rehabilitate Reach 1 of the Herbert Hoover Dike to prevent catastrophic failure of the system to retain the waters of Lake Okeechobee. On July 8, 2005, the Jacksonville District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) issued a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) for the Major Rehabilitation actions proposed for Herbert Hoover Dike (HHD), Reach One. Herbert Hoover Dike is the levee that completely surrounds Lake Okeechobee. On September 23, 2005, a Record of Decision was signed adopting the preferred alternative as the Selected Plan for Reach One. As plans and specifications were developed for Reach 1, it became apparent that the cut-off wall with seepage berm alternative would not work for all of Reach 1. The alternative for Reach 1 will be a combination of one or more of the following features dependent on the geology and adjacent land factors with the cut-off wall: Seepage Berm, Relief Trench, Soil Replacement Wedge, Relief Wells, Drainage Feature and Sand Columns. Reach 1 of the HHD extends for approximately 22.5 miles within Martin and Palm Beach Counties, from the St. Lucie Canal at Port Mayaca, south to the Hillsboro Canal at Belle Glade, FL. This study is a cooperative effort between the Corps and the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD).