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

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 February 28, 2005 at 9 a.m., eastern time. Location for the meeting will be the Rachel Carson Room in the basement of the Department of Interior, 1849 C Street, NW., Washington, DC 20240. While the meeting is open to the public, building security and limited seating require you to provide your name to the Designated Federal Officer (DFO) (contact information listed below) by Thursday, February 24, 2005. You will need a photo identification to enter the building. The public entrance to the building is the C Street entrance. However, the E Street entrance is reserved for individuals with disabilities requiring an accessible entrance to the building. Please let the DFO know in advance if you will require the accessible entrance. The panel's statutory charter is to review Federal contracting laws, regulations, and government-wide policies, including the use of commercial practices, performance-based contracting, performance of acquisition functions across agency lines of responsibility, and government-wide contracts. Since this meeting will be the first time the panel members discuss substantive procurement- related issues, it is anticipated that a broad range of topics falling under their statutory charter will be discussed. Subgroups or working groups, as referenced in the Panel's Bylaws and operating procedures, may be established to research specific procurement-related areas in order to eventually make a recommendation to the panel. A draft agenda will be available from the DFO, upon request, in advance of the meeting.

In compliance with section 203(f) of the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) (19 U.S.C. 3201), as amended by the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act , the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is requesting the views of interested parties on whether the countries designated as ATPA beneficiary countries in Presidential Proclamation 7616 of October 31, 2002, are meeting the eligibility criteria provided for in section 204(b)(6)(B) of the ATPA. This information will be used in the preparation of a report to the U.S. Congress on the operation of the program.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, as amended (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that eight information collection renewal requests were submitted to the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for processing under 5 CFR 1320.10. The first notice of these information collection renewals was published in the Federal Register, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act, on October 29, 2004 [69 FR 63186], and invited the general public and Federal agencies to comment on the renewal without change of eight (8) standard forms: the SF-269, Financial Status Report (long form); SF-269A, Financial Status Report (short form); SF-272, Federal Cash Transactions Report; SF-272A, Federal Cash Transactions Report (continuation); SF-424A, Budget InformationNonconstruction Programs; SF-424B, AssurancesNon- construction Programs; SF-424C, Budget InformationConstruction Programs; and SF-424D, AssurancesConstruction Programs. These forms are currently required by OMB Circular A-102, ``Grants and Cooperative Agreements with State and Local Governments,'' and Title 2 Code of Federal Regulations Part 215 (OMB Circular A-110, ``Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Agreements with Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals, and Other Non-Profit Organizations.'' These eight forms will continue to be used while interagency teams working under two streamlining initiatives (the Grants.gov E-Gov effort and the P.L.106-107 implementation work groups) complete the final consolidated data standards.

A public forum sponsored by the Manufacturing Research and Development Interagency Working Group (IWG) of the Committee on Technology, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) will be held to review the current state of manufacturing research and development in three priority areas: nanomanufacturing, manufacturing for the hydrogen economy, and intelligent and integrated manufacturing systems.

The Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP), a streamlining initiative of ten Federal awarding offices and 92 academic and nonprofit research institutions, developed a core set of FDP terms and conditions that it has been using for several years for the implementation of OMB Circular A-110, ``Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Agreements With Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals, and Other Non-Profit Organizations,'' (2 CFR part 215). The OSTP and OFFM request comment on making the FDP terms and conditions a government-wide standard, and broadening their use to all academic and nonprofit grantees, under Federal research and research- related programs. The proposed policy directive also instructs Federal agencies to minimize the degree to which they supplement the core set with agency- specific, program-specific, or award-specific terms and conditions. The directive should therefore result in the near term in the use of more uniform terms and conditions for Federal research and research-related grants. In parallel with the establishment of this standard for research and research-related grants, an interagency group helping to implement the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act of 1999 (Public Law 106-107) will continue working toward the longer- term objective of standard award format and content for all Federal grants and cooperative agreements, including government-wide standard terms and conditions.

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 February 9, 2005 at 9 a.m., eastern time. Location for the meeting will be the Truman Room of the White House Conference Center, 726 Jackson Place, NW., Washington, DC 20503. The meeting is open to the public and written statements may be filed with the panel. Due to limited availability of seating, members of the public will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis. This is the first meeting of the panel, and will be organizational in nature. Discussion of substantive procurement-related topics is not anticipated.

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 second 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.

The Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction (``Commission'') will meet in closed session twice in February. The first meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 2, 2005, and Thursday, February 3, 2005, in its offices in Arlington, Virginia. The second meeting will be held in the same location on Wednesday, February 16, 2005, and Thursday, February 17, 2005. 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 both February meetings 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 Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) is requesting written public comments on the scope of the environmental review of the multilateral negotiations of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) conducted under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The TPSC is seeking to supplement and further inform its consideration of reasonably foreseeable significant environmental effects that might flow from economic changes attributable to the negotiations, in the light of progress to date in the negotiations, notably, the Decision Adopted by the WTO General Council on 1 August 2004 on the Doha Work Program.

In compliance with the requirement of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Executive Office of the President, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Drug Free Communities Support Program is publishing the following summary of proposed information collections for public comment. Interested persons are invited to send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including any of the following subjects: (1) The necessity and utility of the proposed information collection for the proper performance of the program's functions; (2) the accuracy of the estimated burden; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology to minimize the information collection burden. Executive Office of the President, Office of National Drug Control Policy is requesting OMB review and approval of this information collection. Written comments and/or recommendations will be accepted from the public if received by the individuals designated below within 60 days from the date of publication. Type of Information Collection Request: New collection; Title: Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program National Evaluation; Use: The DFC Support Program is an integral component of the National Drug Control Strategy and a requirement of Healthy People 2010 supporting the President's pledge to reduce America's drug use by 25 percent in five years through building community capacity to prevent substance abuse among our nation's youth. The DFC has two primary goals: (1) Reduce substance abuse among youth by addressing local risk and protective factors to minimize the likelihood of subsequent substance abuse in the community; and (2) support community anti-drug coalitions in becoming self-sufficient by establishing, strengthening, and fostering collaboration among public and private nonprofit agencies, as well as federal, state, local, and tribal governments to prevent and reduce substance abuse. A National Evaluation of the DFC Support Program commenced in September 2004 to assess the program's implementation and effectiveness. The major purpose of the DFC Support Program National Evaluation is to design and implement a rigorous evaluation and to support an effective grant monitoring and tracking system. The National Evaluation will make use of three separate collection instruments to gather information. The Monitoring and Tracking Questionnaire will serve as a quarterly report for the DFC grantees, and will provide information for both ONDCP and the National Evaluation. The Evaluation Questionnaire will be used on an annual basis and will answer evaluation questions that are not appropriate for the Monitoring and Tracking instrument. The Typology Classification Questionnaire will be used on an annual basis to classify respondents into a coalition typology developed by the evaluation contractor. Frequency: Quarterly and annually; Affected Public: Anti-Drug Coalitions; Type of Respondents: Directors of Anti-Drug Coalitions or their designees; Estimated annual burden is as follows:

Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974 (Trade Act) (19 U.S.C. 2242), requires the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to identify countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on intellectual property protection. (Section 182 is commonly referred to as the ``Special 301'' provision of the Trade Act.) In addition, USTR is required to determine which of those countries should be identified as Priority Foreign Countries. Acts, policies, or practices that are the basis of a country's identification as a priority foreign country are normally the subject of an investigation under the Section 301 provisions of the Trade Act. Section 182 of the Trade Act contains a special rule for the identification of actions by Canada affecting United States cultural industries. USTR requests written submissions from the public concerning foreign countries' acts, policies, and practices that are relevant to the decision whether to identify particular trading partners under Section 182 of the Trade Act.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (``USTR'') is providing notice that the European Communities has requested dispute settlement consultations under the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (``WTO Agreement''). That request may be found at https://www.wto.org contained in a document designated as WT/DS108/27. USTR invites written comments from the public concerning the issues raised in this dispute.