General Services Administration August 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

GSA is amending the Freight Management Program (FMP), Standard Tender of Service (STOS), to incorporate a 4% transaction fee for transportation services provided for the GSA, Office of Global Supply. Transportation Service Providers (TSPs) will be required to remit a 4% transaction fee to GSA on a quarterly basis.

The General Services Administration (GSA) is amending the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR), by adding new requirements that address the use of other-than contract city pair airfares, the handling of receipts under the E-Gov Travel Service (ETS) environment, and new responsibilities for reviewing officials. This final rule also introduces and defines the term ``online self-service booking tool'' and provides for exceptions under certain circumstances to the required use of an agency's current Travel Management Service (TMS) or ETS once the agency has fully deployed ETS. Finally, this final rule requires agencies to develop and submit upon request to the ETS Program Management Office, a plan for maximizing the agency's adoption rate (i.e., achieving the highest possible rate of use of the agency's online self-service booking tool) once the agency has fully deployed ETS. The explanation of changes is addressed in the supplementary information below. The FTR and any corresponding documents may be accessed at GSA's Web site at https://www.gsa.gov/ftr.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the General Services Administration has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve an extension of a currently approved information collection requirement regarding the National Contact Center Customer Evaluation Survey. This OMB clearance expires on September 30, 2006. Public comments are particularly invited on: Whether this collection of information is necessary 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.

The General Services Administration (GSA) announces its intent to distribute a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 4321 - 4347 (NEPA) to assess the potential impacts of the construction of a New Border Station Facility in Madawaska, Maine (the ``Proposed Action''). At the request of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the GSA is proposing to construct a new border station facility which meets their needs, and the design requirements of the GSA. The existing facilities are undersized and obsolete, and consequently incapable of providing the level of security now required. The Proposed Action has been defined and will likely include: (a) Identification of land requirements, including acquisition of adjoining land; (b) demolition of existing government structures at the border station; (c) construction of a main administration building and ancillary support buildings; and (d) consequent potential alterations to secondary roads. Alternatives to be studied will identify alternative locations for the components of the border station including the main administration and ancillary support buildings, the associated roadway network and parking. A No Action alternative will also be studied that will evaluate the consequences of not constructing the new border station facility. This alternative is included to provide a basis for comparison to the action alternatives described above as required by NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1002.14(d)). GSA invites individuals, organizations and agencies to submit comments concerning the scope of the Draft EIS. The public scoping period starts with the publication of this notice in the Federal Register and will continue for forty five (45) days from the date of this notice. GSA will consider all comments received or postmarked by that date in defining the scope of the EIS. GSA expects to issue a Final EIS by September 2006 at which time its availability will be announced in the Federal Register and local media. A public comment period will commence upon publication of the Notice of Availability. The GSA will consider and respond to comments received on the Draft EIS in preparing the Final EIS. COMMENTS: Written comments or suggestions concerning the scope of the EIS should be sent to David M. Drevinsky P.E., PMP, Regional Environmental Quality Advocate (REQA), U.S. General Services Administration, 10 Causeway Street, Room 975, Boston, MA 02222; Fax (617) 565-5967.

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 implement the Local Community Recovery Act of 2006. The Local Community Recovery Act of 2006 amended the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to authorize set-asides for major disaster or emergency assistance acquisitions to businesses that reside or primarily do business in the geographic area affected by the disaster or emergency.

The General Services Administration's (GSA's) annual per diem review has resulted in lodging and meal allowance changes for locations within the continental United States (CONUS) to provide for the reimbursement of Federal employees' expenses covered by per diem. Per Diem Bulletin 07-1 updates the maximum per diem amounts in existing per diem localities. The standard CONUS lodging rate of $60 is unchanged. The CONUS per diem rates prescribed in Bulletin 07-1 may be found at https://www.gsa.gov/perdiem. GSA based the lodging per diem rates on the average daily rate that the lodging industry reports. The use of such data in the per diem rate setting process enhances the Government's ability to obtain policy compliant lodging where it is needed. In addition to the annual lodging study, GSA identified 26 new or redefined non-standard areas (NSA's). In order to base its per diem recommendations for those areas on accurate meal cost data, GSA commissioned an out of cycle meal survey in each of the 26 areas. For a complete listing of pertinent information that must be submitted through a Federal executive agency for GSA to restudy a location if a CONUS or standard CONUS per diem rate is insufficient to meet necessary expenses, please review numbers 4 and 5 of our per diem Frequently Asked Questions at (www.gsa.gov/perdiemfaqs).