Department of Defense June 29, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

DoD is issuing a final rule to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to ensure contractor employees accompanying U.S. Armed Forces are made aware of the DoD definition of sexual assault as defined in DoD Directive 6495.01, Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program, and that many of the offenses addressed in the definition are covered under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Further, sexual assault offenses in the definition, which are not covered by the Uniform Code of Military Justice, may nevertheless have consequences to contractor employees under DFARS clause 252.225-7040, Contractor Personnel Authorized to Accompany U.S. Armed Forces Deployed Outside the United States.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to provide revised regulatory coverage on organizational conflicts of interest (OCIs), provide additional coverage regarding contractor access to nonpublic information, and add related provisions and clauses. Section 841 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 required a review of the FAR coverage on OCIs. This proposed rule was developed as a result of a review conducted in accordance with Section 841 by the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (the Councils) and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), in consultation with the Office of Government Ethics (OGE). This proposed rule was preceded by an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR), under FAR Case 2007-018 (73 FR 15962), to gather comments from the public with regard to whether and how to improve the FAR coverage on OCIs. The comment period is being reopened for an additional 30 days to provide additional time for interested parties to review the proposed FAR changes.

DoD is issuing an interim rule to implement section 812 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011. Section 812(b)(5) instructs DoD to issue guidance that, at a minimum, shall require appropriate consideration of the manufacturing readiness and manufacturing-readiness processes of potential contractors and subcontractors as a part of the source selection process for major defense acquisition programs.

DoD is issuing a final rule to implement section 8102 of the DoD and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 and similar sections in subsequent appropriations acts, to extend the restriction on the use of mandatory arbitration agreements, when awarding contracts that exceed $1 million, to use of 2011 and subsequent fiscal year funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act or any subsequent DoD appropriation act. Section 8102 allows the Secretary of Defense to waive applicability to a particular contractor or subcontractor, if determined necessary to avoid harm to national security.

The Defense Logistics Agency is America's combat logistics support agency responsible for sourcing and providing nearly every consumable item used by U.S. military forces worldwide. DLA Energy is a primary level field activity of DLA responsible for providing the Department of Defense and other government agencies with comprehensive energy solutions in the most effective and efficient manner possible. Its products and services offer a large array of energy related needs for the Federal Government and also help facilitate the cycle of storage and deployment of fuels and other energy sources. DLA Energy's action, to purchase mobility fuels for the Department of Defense, has not changed. However, the nature and makeup of the petroleum market has. Crude oil from Canada represents 13% of total United States consumption. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers 2010 forecast states that by 2020 Canadian oil sands production will rise from 2.72 million barrels per day in 2009 to 4.34 million barrels per day in 2025. In addition, within the past three years, the Department of State has approved two new pipelines to transport crude oil derived from Canadian oil sands to the United States. An additional permit for a third pipeline is pending. Thus, more petroleum products derived from Canadian oil sands recovered crude may be available within the United States petroleum market. In addition, because various types of crudes are comingled prior to processing and because refined petroleum products are fungible, it is anticipated that these petroleum products produced from Canadian oil sands recovered crude will be blended with and thus indistinguishable from other petroleum products, thereby making it difficult for DLA Energy to exclude Canadian oil sands recovered crude refined petroleum from routine petroleum purchases. Therefore, DLA Energy has decided to study whether its current purchases of mobility fuels for its customers today, and in the future, would or would not have environmental consequences. DLA Energy will conduct an Environmental Assessment to evaluate the potential environmental, human health, engineering and socioeconomic considerations, including a review of lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions, associated with DLA Energy's purchase of mobility fuels, including any fuels containing Canadian oil sands recovered crude, in light of Section 526 of the EISA. The Environmental Assessment will aid DLA Energy in defining the effects of its current mobility fuels purchasing program, and determine whether a modification to this program would bring an improved environmental outcome without consequences to DLA Energy's mission to support the Warfighter with comprehensive Energy solutions in the most effective and efficient manner possible. This notice serves as an announcement of scoping. As such, comments are sought from the public, government agencies, and other interested persons and organizations. Scoping is used to gain insight into the issues to be addressed and to identify other significant issues related to the proposed actions. All comments submitted during scoping will be considered by DLA Energy. There is always the possibility that DLA Energy might proceed to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed actions instead of an Environmental Assessment. If this occurs, comments submitted now will be considered for any Environmental Impact Statement that is developed.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense proposes to alter a system of records in its inventory of record systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended.

Announcement is made of the availability for licensing of the invention set forth in U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 61/517,858, entitled ``Guanidylimidazole and Guanidylimidazoline Derivatives as Antimalarial Agents, Synthesis of and Methods of Use Thereof,'' filed on April 26, 2011. The United States Government, as represented by the Secretary of the Army, has rights to this invention.