Office of Federal Procurement Policy – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Cost Accounting Standards Board (CAS Board or the Board), is releasing this advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) to elicit public comments on proposed changes to the Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) on conformance to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) related to CAS 408, Accounting for costs of compensated personal absence, and CAS 409, Cost accounting standard depreciation of tangible capital assets, to GAAP. This ANPRM follows issuance of an SDP 84 FR 9143 (March 13, 2019).

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is issuing a Circular entitled "Strategic Management of Acquisition Data and Information." This Circular will improve agency access to reliable data and information at the point of need throughout the acquisition lifecycle to ensure successful contracting outcomes without duplicating data, tools, or effort. The Circular establishes a centralized data management strategy to allow for the creation of more comprehensive knowledge and data banks, the development of standard data sharing processes, and improved access to tools and resources for acquisition-related decision-making in a Hi-Definition Intelligent Acquisition Data Environment.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Cost Accounting Standards Board (CAS Board) is publishing this notice to advise the public of its recent and upcoming meetings. The meetings are closed to the public.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is proposing a new OMB Circular, Strategic Management of Acquisition Data and Information. The purpose of this Circular is to improve agency access to reliable data and information. Using relevant acquisition data throughout the acquisition lifecycle facilitates successful contracting outcomes. This Circular establishes a centralized data management strategy to create robust knowledge and data banks, develop standard data sharing processes, and improve agency access to tools and resources for acquisition-related decision-making.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Cost Accounting Standards Board (CAS Board) is publishing this notice to advise the public of its winter meetings. The notice is published pursuant to section 820(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017, which requires the CAS Board to publish agendas of its meetings in the Federal Register. The meetings are closed to the public.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Cost Accounting Standards Board (CAS Board) is publishing this notice to advise the public of its fall meetings. The notice is published pursuant to section 820(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017, which requires the CAS Board to publish agendas of its meetings in the Federal Register. The meetings are closed to the public.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Board, is publishing a final rule revising the exemption for contracts or subcontracts for the acquisition of commercial items. This final rule clarifies the types of contracts that are exempt from the application of Cost Accounting Standards when acquiring commercial items.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Board, is publishing, without change from the proposed rule, a final rule revising the exemption from CAS for firm-fixed-price (FFP) contracts and subcontracts awarded on the basis of adequate price competition without submission of cost or pricing data. This final rule clarifies that the exemption applies to FFP contracts and subcontracts awarded on the basis of adequate price competition without submission of certified cost or pricing data.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is proposing to revise OMB Circular A- 126 ``Improving the Management and Use of Government Aircraft'' to update policies associated with the management and use of Government aircraft, including General Services Administration (GSA) and agency roles in regulating and managing the Federal aviation programs that have evolved since the Circular was last revised in 1992. The proposed changes also address recommendations from the Interagency Committee for Aviation Policy (ICAP) to make a clearer distinction between polices that apply to the management of aircraft and policies that apply to travel on Government aircraft.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is publishing final revisions to OMB Circular A-131, Value Engineering, to update and reinforce policies associated with the consideration and use of value engineering (VE). VE is a well-established commercial practice for cutting waste and inefficiency that can help Federal agencies reduce program and acquisition costs, improve the quality and timeliness of performance, and take greater advantage of innovation to meet 21st century expectations and demands. The revisions are designed to ensure that the Federal Government has the capabilities and tools to consider the use of VE for new and ongoing projects, whenever appropriate.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Board, is conducting fact-finding for the development of a Staff Discussion Paper (SDP) on CAS 413 Pension Adjustments for Extraordinary Events. This is the first step in a four- step process that may result in a final rule. As part of these efforts, the public is invited to attend two public meetings that are scheduled for July 31, 2013 and August 14, 2013. To facilitate fact-finding, the CAS Board encourages the submission of written comments for consideration in the drafting of the SDP.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Cost Accounting Standards Board (Board), is publishing technical corrections to the final rule that revised Cost Accounting Standard (CAS) 412, ``Composition and Measurement of Pension Cost,'' and CAS 413, ``Adjustment and Allocation of Pension Cost'' for the CAS Pension Harmonization Rule, published on December 27, 2011. Some illustrations in that document are not consistent with their corresponding Table or text, or the text used in the two effective date provisions is not consistent with each other in the amendment language. This document corrects the final regulations by revising the applicable sections accordingly.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is proposing to revise OMB Circular A- 131, Value Engineering, to update and reinforce policies associated with the consideration and use of Value Engineering (VE). VE is an effective technique for cutting waste and inefficiencyhelping Federal agencies save billions of dollars in program and acquisition costs, improve performance, enhance quality, and foster the use of innovation. The proposed revisions are designed to ensure that the Federal Government has the capabilities and tools to consider and apply VE techniques to the maximum extent appropriate.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is making a correction to the Final Policy Letter ``Performance of Inherently Governmental and Critical Functions'' (76 FR 56227-56242, September 12, 2011) to clarify that the Policy Letter applies to both Civilian and Defense Executive Branch Departments and Agencies. The original publication of the policy letter was inadvertently addressed only to the Heads of The Civilian Executive Departments and Agencies. Also, OFPP has corrected the citation for additional guidance about conduct of Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), because the original notice referenced an incorrect Part of the Federal Acquisition Regulation. The corrections below should be used in place of text previously published in the September 12, 2011 notice. All other information from the published Final Policy remains unchanged. The full text of the original notice is available at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-09-12/pdf/2011- 23165.pdf.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Board (Board), has adopted, without change from the interim rule, a final rule revising the threshold for the application of CAS from ``$650,000'' to ``the Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA) threshold, as adjusted for inflation.'' The change is being made because the CAS applicability threshold is statutorily tied to TINA threshold. The TINA threshold for obtaining cost or pricing data was recently adjusted for inflation to $700,000 in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), as required by the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005. Until the interim change for this final rule, the CAS applicability threshold was a stated dollar amount ($650,000) in the Code of Federal Regulations. This wording change effectively revised the CAS threshold to $700,000 and will cause future changes to the CAS applicability threshold to self-execute upon any changes to the TINA threshold as they are implemented in the FAR.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is issuing a policy letter to provide to Executive Departments and agencies guidance on managing the performance of inherently governmental and critical functions. The guidance addresses direction to OMB in the Presidential Memorandum on Government Contracting, issued on March 4, 2009, to clarify when governmental outsourcing of services is, and is not, appropriate, consistent with section 321 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2009 (Pub. L. 110-417). Section 321 requires OMB to: (i) Create a single definition for the term ``inherently governmental function'' that addresses any deficiencies in the existing definitions and reasonably applies to all agencies; (ii) establish criteria to be used by agencies to identify ``critical'' functions and positions that should only be performed by Federal employees; and (iii) provide guidance to improve internal agency management of functions that are inherently governmental or critical. The Presidential Memorandum is available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/thepress office/Memorandum-for-the-Heads-of-Executive-Departments-and- Agencies- Subject-Government/. Section 321 may be found at https://www.dod.gov/ dodgc/olc/docs/2009NDAA_PL110-417.pdf.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Board, is providing public notification of the decision to discontinue the rulemaking in the review of the CAS 403 thresholds at 48 CFR 9904.403-40(c)(2) that require use of the three factor formula described at 48 CFR 9904.403-50(c)(1) for allocating residual home office expenses.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Board (Board), invites public comments concerning this interim rule revising the threshold for the application of CAS from ``$650,000'' to ``the Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA) threshold, as adjusted for inflation.'' The change is being made because the CAS applicability threshold is statutorily tied to TINA. The TINA threshold for obtaining cost or pricing data was recently adjusted for inflation to $700,000 in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), as required by the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005. Until this interim change, the CAS applicability threshold was a stated dollar amount ($650,000) in the Code of Federal Regulations. This wording change will effectively revise the CAS threshold to $700,000 and cause future changes to the CAS applicability threshold to self-execute upon any changes to the TINA threshold as they are implemented in the FAR.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Cost Accounting Standards Board (Board), invites public comments concerning the harmonization of Cost Accounting Standards 412 and 413 with the Pension Protection Act (PPA) of 2006. The PPA amended the minimum funding requirements for defined benefit pension plans. The PPA required the Board to harmonize with PPA the CAS applicable to the Government reimbursement of the contractor's pension costs. The Board has proposed several changes to harmonize CAS with PPA, including the recognition of a ``minimum actuarial liability'' consistent with the PPA minimum required contribution. The proposed CAS changes will lessen the difference between the amount of pension cost reimbursable to the contractor in accordance with CAS and the amount of pension contribution required to be made by the contractor as the plan sponsor by PPA.

The Office of Management and Budget is publishing the attached memorandum to the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies concerning the determination of the maximum benchmark compensation amount that will be allowable under government contracts during contractors' fiscal year 2009$684,181. This determination is required under Section 39 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) Act (41 U.S.C. 435) as amended. The benchmark compensation amount applies equally to both defense and civilian procurement agencies.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Cost Accounting Standards Board (Board), is today announcing an extension of time to submit public comments regarding the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) (73 FR 51261, September 2, 2008) on the harmonization of Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) 412 and 413 with the Pension Protection Act (PPA) of 2006 (Pub. L. 109-280, 120 Stat.780). Many of the public comments received as of November 3, 2008 noted that the ANPRM addressed complex and technical accounting issues. Some of the commenters noted that they were still actively performing actuarial modeling of the ANPRM and alternative approaches. These commenters asked that the Board consider promulgating a second ANPRM or accepting public comments submitted after the original due date of November 3, 2008. Because the Final Rule must be published within the statutory time requirements of Section 106 of the PPA, the Board is concerned that the promulgation of a second ANPRM might not be feasible. Therefore to permit fuller consideration of the continuing efforts by the public, and to mitigate the need for a second ANPRM, the Board is extending the comment period to the date specified below. Public comments already received in response to the ANPRM are available in their entirety at https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/ procurement/index_casb.htm and at https://www.regulations.gov.

The Cost Accounting Standards Board (the Board), Office of Federal Procurement Policy, has adopted a final rule to amend Cost Accounting Standard (CAS) 412, ``Cost Accounting Standard for composition and measurement of pension cost,'' and CAS 415, ``Accounting for the cost of deferred compensation.'' These amendments address issues concerning the recognition of the costs of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) under Government cost-based contracts and subcontracts. These amendments provide criteria for measuring the costs of ESOPs and their assignment to cost accounting periods. The allocation of a contractor's assigned ESOP costs to contracts and subcontracts is addressed in other Standards. The amendments also specify that accounting for the costs of ESOPs will be covered by the provisions of CAS 415, ``Accounting for the cost of deferred compensation,'' and not by any other Standard. This rulemaking is authorized pursuant to Section 26 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) Act.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is publishing the attached memorandum to the heads of executive departments and agencies concerning the determination of the maximum benchmark compensation amount that will be allowable under government contracts during contractors' fiscal year 2008$612,196. This determination is required under Section 39 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) Act (41 U.S.C. 435), as amended. The benchmark compensation amount applies equally to both defense and civilian procurement agencies.

The Cost Accounting Standards Board (the Board), Office of Federal Procurement Policy, invites public comments on a staff discussion paper (SDP) addressing potential revisions to Cost Accounting Standard (CAS) 403, ``Allocation of Home Office Expenses to Segments.'' This SDP addresses whether the current thresholds that require use of the three factor formula for allocating residual home office expenses require revision.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Cost Accounting Standards Board, invites public comments concerning a Staff Discussion Paper on the harmonization of Cost Accounting Standards 412 and 413 with the Pension Protection Act of 2006.