General Services Administration 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The General Services Administration (GSA) is amending the General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation (GSAR) to update Part 532, Contract Financing, of the regulation. This project is part of the GSAM rewrite Project, in which all parts of the regulation are being reviewed and updated to include new statutes, legislation, and policies.

This notice announces that GSA is posting online a proposed FTR bulletin on collection of relocation data, concurrent with a proposed rule. The proposed FTR Bulletin 10-XX provides the proposed data dictionary for both of these data collection processes. Proposed FTR Bulletin 10-XX may be viewed on GSA's Web site, at https:// www.gsa.gov/relopolicy, and the proposed rule appears elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register. By this Notice, GSA is seeking comment on the proposed bulletin. Among the questions for which GSA is seeking comment are:

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the General Services Administration will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve a revision to the reinstatement of a previously approved information collection requirement regarding GSA Forms 1364/ 1364A, Proposal to Lease Space (Not Required by Regulation). This form is used to obtain information about property being offered for lease to house Federal agencies. In the past, GSA also used a 1364A which requested information regarding how tenant improvements were financed by a prospective lessor. The new version of form combines the former 1364 and 1364A, and it also collects other financial aspects contained in an offer for analysis and negotiation into lease contracts (e.g., real estate taxes, adjustments for vacant space, offerors' design and construction fees).

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the General Services Administration will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve a reinstatement of a previously approved information collection requirement regarding industrial funding fee and sales reporting.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Regulatory Secretariat will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve an extension and revision of a previously approved information collection requirement concerning small business procurement credit programs. A request for public comments was published in the Federal Register at 74 FR 27800 on June 11, 2009. No comments were received.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) are issuing an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement section 866 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 which applies to Executive Agencies other than DoD. The DoD is subject to section 852 of the John Warner NDAA for FY 2007 which is also being implemented in this interim rule. Section 866 requires the Councils to amend the FAR and section 852 requires the Secretary of Defense to prescribe regulations to minimize excessive pass-through charges by contractors from subcontractors, or of tiers of subcontractors, that add no or negligible value, and to ensure that neither a contractor nor a subcontractor receives indirect costs or profit/fee (i.e., pass-through charges) on work performed by a lower- tier subcontractor to which the higher-tier contractor or subcontractor

This document makes amendments to the Federal Acquisition Regulation in order to make editorial changes.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) are issuing an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement section 814 of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, section 867 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009, and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy guidance memorandum dated December 4, 2007, entitled Appropriate Use of Incentive Contracts.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have adopted as final, without change, an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement section 871 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (NDAA) which allows the Government Accountability Office to interview current contractor employees during the audit of the contractor's records.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) are issuing an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement Section 697, Registry of Disaster Response Contractors (Pub. L. 109-295), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Act, 2007 (6 U.S.C. 796). The Act requires that the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a component of DHS, establish and maintain a registry of contractors, which are willing to perform debris removal, distribution of supplies, reconstruction, and other disaster or emergency relief activities. In addition, the Act requires contracting officers to consult the Registry during market research and acquisition planning.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), this document announces that GSA is planning to submit a request to replace an emergency Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Before submitting this ICR to OMB for review and approval, GSA is soliciting comments on specific aspects of the proposed information collection as described below.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the General Services Administration will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve a reinstatement of a previously approved information collection requirement regarding Environmental Conservation, Occupational Safety, and Drug-Free Workplace. A request for public comments was published at 74 FR 11889, March 20, 2009. No comments were received.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement Section 872 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009. The Councils have agreed to delay the public comment due date. The comment period is being extended to provide additional time for interested parties to review the proposed FAR changes of FAR Case 2008- 027, Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System, to November 5, 2009.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (the Councils) are issuing this notice to provide information to Federal contractors who have contracts funded, in whole or in part, by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (``Recovery Act''), and include the FAR clause 52.204-11. This notice is being provided to offer assistance to Federal contractors in understanding the FederalReporting.gov centralized reporting tool.

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 a reinstatement of a previously approved information collection requirement concerning Make-or-Buy Program. Requests for public comments were published in the Federal Register at 74 FR 32164, July 7, 2007. No comments were received.

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 extraordinary contractual action requests. A request for public comments was published at 74 FR 32165, July 7, 2009. No comments were received.

In furtherance of Federal Management Regulation (FMR) Bulletin 2008-B7, this notice announces the release of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 edition of the Federal Real Property Report, which provides an overview of the U.S. Government's owned and leased real property as of September 30, 2008. The FY 2008 Federal Real Property Report is now available.

Pursuant to the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 United States Code (U.S.C.) 4321-4347; the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations (Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Title 40, chapter V, parts 1500-1508); GSA Order PBS P 1095.1F (Environmental considerations in decision-making, dated October 19, 1999); and the GSA Public Buildings Service NEPA Desk Guide, dated October 1999, GSA plans to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the amended Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Consolidation Master Plan at St. Elizabeths in Southeast Washington, DC. GSA will be initiating related consultation under Sections 106 and 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470(f) and 470(h-2)), for the amended Master Plan consistent with the Programmatic Agreement concluded on December 9, 2008.

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 quality assurance requirements. A request for public comments was published at 74 FR 32166 on July 7, 2009. No comments were received.

GSA reviewed its Privacy Act systems to ensure that they are relevant, necessary, accurate, up-to-date, covered by the appropriate legal or regulatory authority, and compliant with OMB M-07-16. This notice is an updated Privacy Act system of records notice.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to establish procedures for contracting officers to provide contractor information into the Past Performance Information System (PPIRS). This case sets forth requirements for reporting defective cost or pricing data and terminations for cause or default. Evaluation of past performance information, especially terminations, manages risks associated with timely, effective and cost efficient completion of contracts, a key objective of the President's March 4, 2009, Memorandum on Government Contracting.

The General Services Administration (GSA) announces its intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 to analyze the potential impacts of the construction of a new Land Port of Entry (LPOE) facility in International Falls, Minnesota (the ``Proposed Action''). At the request of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the GSA is proposing to construct a new LPOE that meets U.S. Department of Homeland Security needs and the design requirements of the GSA. The existing LPOE, which was built in 1993, no longer meets the space and operational requirements of CBP or the Food and Drug Administration, a new tenant.

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 10-01 updates the maximum per diem amounts in existing per diem localities. The CONUS per diem rates prescribed in Bulletin 10-01 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 conjunction with the annual lodging study, GSA identified three new non-standard areas (NSAs): Jefferson City (Cole County) and St. Robert (Pulaski County), Missouri; and Middlebury (Addison County), Vermont. The meals and incidental expense rates for all NSAs and for standard CONUS will also be updated.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement Executive Order (E.O.) 13502, Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects. The comment period is being reopened for an additional 30 days to provide additional time for interested parties to review the proposed FAR changes.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to revise procedures for closing out contract files. This case revises procedures for clearing final patent reports and quick-closeout procedure, and sets forth a description of an adequate final indirect cost rate proposal and supporting data.