Executive Office of the President 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is publishing a ``list of the compliance assistance resources available to small businesses'' and a list of the points of contacts in agencies ``to act as a liaison between the agency and small business concerns'' with respect to the collection of information and the control of paperwork. This information is posted on the OMB Web site: https://www.whitehouse.gov/ omb/inforeg/infocoll.html.

OMB requests comments on 2005 Draft Report to Congress on the Costs and Benefits of Federal Regulation. The full Draft Report is available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg/regpolreports congress.html, and is divided into three chapters. Chapter I presents estimates of the costs and benefits of Federal regulation and paperwork, with an emphasis on the major regulations issued between October 1, 2003 and September 31, 2004. Chapter II reports the latest results of our ongoing historical examination of the trends in Federal regulatory activity and explores what we know about the validation of ex ante estimates of costs and benefits of Federal regulation by ex post studies. Chapter III includes a discussion of the implementation of the Information Quality Act.

The Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction (``Commission'') will meet in closed session on Wednesday, March 30, 2005, and Thursday, March 31, 2005, in its offices in Arlington, Virginia. Executive Order 13328 established the Commission for the purpose of assessing whether the Intelligence Community is sufficiently authorized, organized, equipped, trained, and resourced to identify and warn in a timely manner of, and to support the United States Government's efforts to respond to, the development of Weapons of Mass Destruction, related means of delivery, and other related threats of the 21st Century. The March 30-31 meeting is expected to include Commission discussions about classified documents, and presentations from Commission staff that are based upon classified information. While the Commission does not concede that it is subject to the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 United States Code Appendix 2, it has been determined that the March 30-31, 2005, meeting would fall within the scope of exceptions (c)(1) and (c)(9)(B) of the Sunshine Act, 5 United States Code, Sections 552b(c)(1) & (c)(9)(B), and thus could be closed to the public if FACA did apply to the Commission.

In accordance with the FAIR Act, agency inventories of activities that are not inherently governmental are now available to the public from the agencies listed below. The FAIR Act requires that OMB publish an announcement of public availability of agency inventories of activities that are not inherently governmental upon completion of OMB's review and consultation process concerning the content of the agencies' inventory submissions. After review and consultation with OMB, agencies make their inventories available to the public, and these inventories also include activities that are inherently governmental. This is the third release of the FAIR Act inventories for FY 2004. Interested parties who disagree with the agency's initial judgment can challenge the inclusion or the omission of an activity on the list of activities that are not inherently governmental within 30 working days and, if not satisfied with this review, may demand a higher agency review/appeal. The Office of Federal Procurement Policy has made available a FAIR Act User's Guide through its Internet site: https://www.whitehouse.gov/ omb/procurement/fair-index.html. This User's Guide will help interested parties review FY 2004 FAIR Act inventories, and gain access to agency inventories through agency Web site addresses.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, as amended), notice is hereby given that the Acquisition Advisory Panel established in accordance with the Services Acquisition Reform Act of 2003 will meet on March 30, 2005 and again on April 19, 2005 at 9 a.m., eastern time. Location for the March 30, 2005 meeting will be the General Services Administration (GSA) Auditorium at 1800 F. Street, NW., Washington, DC 20405. While the meeting is open to the public, building security requires you to provide your name to the Designated Federal Officer (DFO) (contact information listed below) by March 28, 2005. You will need photo identification to enter the building. Location for the April 19, 2005 meeting is expected to be the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) basement auditorium, 801 17th Street NW., Washington DC 20434. While this meeting is open to the public, building security requires that you provide your name to the DFO by April 14, 2005. Confirm the location of the April 19th meeting by visiting the Panel's Web site at https://www.acqnet.gov/ aap. Confirmation is expected to be posted by March 21, 2005. The Panel's statutory charter is to review Federal contracting laws, regulations, and governmentwide policies, including the use of commercial practices, performance-based contracting, performance of acquisition functions across agency lines of responsibility, and governmentwide contracts. The Panel established the following five working groups during its February 28, 2005 meeting: Commercial Practices/Commercial Items; Performance-based Contracting; Governmentwide Contracts and Interagency Contract Vehicles; Cross- cutting IssuesSmall Business, and; Cross-cutting IssuesFederal Workforce. The working groups will report on their initial progress during the March 30th, 2005 meeting, which may also include any follow- up recommendations for additional working groups or other issues to be examined. The April 19th meeting will cover any significant updates as well as discussions related to the topics of each of the working groups. The public may obtain copies of Initial Working Group Issues for the Commercial Practices, Governmentwide Contracts and Interagency Contract Vehicles, Performance-based Contracting, and Cross-cutting IssuesFederal Workforce working groups at the Panel's Web site under Working Groups at https://www.acqnet.gov/aap. In addition to discussions related to these working groups, the Panel has also invited presentations from specific individuals in the private sector on commercial practices during the March 30th meeting and individuals from both the public and private sectors during the April 19th meeting. These presentations will focus on a number of issues including, but not limited to commercial practices/techniques for the use of time and materials or labor hour contracts, share-in- savings contracts, best value procurements, use of firm-fixed price contracts or task orders for services, competition for services contracts and task orders, including information technology and business process services, and the development of requirements for services procurements. A draft agenda will be posted at the Panel's Web site at https://www.acqnet.gov/aap prior to each meeting. While these two meetings will include presentations by invitation only, the general public will be given the opportunity to provide oral statements to the Panel at a subsequent meeting to be announced in the Federal Register. The Panel also seeks written public statements of any length specifically related to the working group topics. Although the Panel accepts written comments until the date of the meeting (unless otherwise stated), written comments should be received by the DFO at least five business days prior to the meeting date so that the written comments may be made available to the Panel for their consideration. Written comments should be supplied, electronically if possible, to the DFO at the e-mail address (or for hardcopies, mailing address) noted below. Acceptable electronic formats include Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Word, Rich Text files in IBM-PC/Windows 98/2000/XP format. Those providing written comments and who attend the meeting are also asked to bring 35 copies of their comments for public distribution.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requests comments on a draft guidance document entitled Improving Government Charge Card Management. The draft guidance, located at https://www.whitehouse.gov/ omb/financial/fiatravel.html, consolidates and updates current government charge card program guidance previously issued by OMB, the General Services Administration, the Department of the Treasury, and other Federal agencies. The draft guidance applies to all Executive Branch departments and agencies, establishing standard minimum requirements and suggested best practices in areas of charge card management such as planning, training, risk management, data collection, credit worthiness, and strategic buying. When this guidance is finalized, it will be issued as either a new OMB Circular or as an addendum to an existing OMB Circular.

Section 2004(k) of the Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2004, Public Law 108-429, designated Mauritius as eligible for certain additional benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for one year, beginning October 1, 2004. This notice modifies the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) to reflect this designation.

The Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction (``Commission'') will meet in closed session on Wednesday, March 9, 2005, and Thursday, March 10, 2005, in its offices in Arlington, Virginia. Executive Order 13328 established the Commission for the purpose of assessing whether the Intelligence Community is sufficiently authorized, organized, equipped, trained, and resourced to identify and warn in a timely manner of, and to support the United States Government's efforts to respond to, the development of Weapons of Mass Destruction, related means of delivery, and other related threats of the 21st Century. This meeting will consist of briefings and discussions involving classified matters of national security, including classified briefings from representatives of agencies within the Intelligence Community; Commission discussions based upon the content of classified intelligence documents the Commission has received from agencies within the Intelligence Community; and presentations concerning the United States' intelligence capabilities that are based upon classified information. While the Commission does not concede that it is subject to the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 United States Code Appendix 2, it has been determined that the March 9-10, 2005, meeting would fall within the scope of exceptions (c)(1) and (c)(9)(B) of the Sunshine Act, 5 United States Code, Sections 552b(c)(1) & (c)(9)(B), and thus could be closed to the public if FACA did apply to the Commission.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is providing notice that on January 14, 2005, at the request of Canada, the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) established a dispute settlement panel under the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the WTO. The panel is to examine whether the United States has implemented the recommendations and rulings of the DSB in a dispute involving a U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) countervailing duty investigation of certain softwood lumber products from Canada. On February 17, 2004, the DSB adopted its findings in that dispute, which rejected most of Canada's claims but found that, consistent with the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM Agreement) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994), Commerce should have conducted an analysis of whether subsidies ``pass through'' from certain producers to others with respect to certain log sales. In response to the DSB's recommendations and rulings, Commerce conducted a pass-through analysis and issued a new determination revising the subsidy rate for the investigation from 18.79% to 18.62%. Canada subsequently requested the establishment of a dispute settlement panel, alleging that the United States had failed to implement the DSB's recommendations and rulings. The panel was established on January 14, 2005. USTR invites written comments from the public concerning the issues raised in this dispute.