[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 9 (Friday, January 13, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3196-3198]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-926]



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[[Page 3197]]

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

[OMB Control No. 9000-0090]


Clearance Request for Rights in Data and Copyrights

AGENCIES: Department of Defense (DOD), General Services Administration 
(GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

ACTION: Notice of request for an extension to an existing OMB clearance 
(9000-0090).

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SUMMARY: Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 
(44 U.S.C. 3501), the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Secretariat 
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 concerning Rights in Data and Copyrights.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Beverly Fayson, Office of Federal Acquisition Policy, GSA (202) 501-
4755.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Purpose

    Rights in data is a regulation which concerns the rights of the 
Government, and organizations with which the Government contracts, to 
information developed under such contracts. The delineation of such 
rights is necessary in order to protect the contractor's rights to not 
disclose proprietary data and to insure that data developed with public 
funds is available to the public.
    The information collection burdens and recordkeeping requirements 
included in this regulation fall into the following four categories.
    (a) A provision which is to be included in solicitations where the 
proposer would identify any proprietary data he would use during 
contract performance in order that the contracting officer might 
ascertain if such proprietary data should be delivered.
    (b) Contract provisions which, in unusual circumstances, would be 
included in a contract and require a contractor to deliver proprietary 
data to the Government for use in evaluation of work results, or is 
software to be used in a Government computer. These situations would 
arise only when the very nature of the contractor's work is comprised 
of limited rights data or restricted computer software and if the 
Government would need to see that data in order to determine the extent 
of the work.
    (c) A technical data certification for major systems, which 
requires the contractor to certify that the data delivered under the 
contract is complete, accurate and compliant with the requirements of 
the contract. As this provision is for major systems only, and few 
civilian agencies have such major systems, only about 30 contracts will 
involve this certification.
    (d) The Additional Data Requirements clause, which is to be 
included in all contracts for experimental, developmental, research, or 
demonstration work (other than basic or applied research to be 
performed solely by a university or college where the contract amount 
will be $500,000 or less). The clause requires that a contractor keep 
all data first produced in the performance of the contract for a period 
of three years from the final acceptance of all items delivered under 
the contract. Much of this data will be in the form of the deliverables 
provided to the Government under the contract (final report, drawings, 
specifications, etc.). Some data, however, will be in the form of 
computations, preliminary data, records of experiments, etc., and these 
will be the data that will be required to be kept over and above the 
deliverables. The purpose of such recordkeeping requirements is to 
insure that the Government can fully evaluate the research in order to 
ascertain future activities and to insure that the research was 
completed and fully reported, as well as to give the public an 
opportunity to assess the research results and secure any additional 
information. All data covered by this clause is unlimited rights data 
paid for by the Government.
    Paragraph (d) of the Rights in Data--General clause outlines a 
procedure whereby a contracting officer can challenge restrictive 
markings on data delivered. Under civilian agency contracts, limited 
rights data or restricted computer software is rarely, if ever, 
delivered to the Government. Therefore, there will rarely be any 
challenges. Thus, there is no burden on the public.
    Under the procedures established for development of the FAR, agency 
and public comments were solicited and each comment was addressed 
before finalization of the text. The comments which were received were 
for the most part from educational institutions, which stated that 
requiring their investigators to keep records of unlimited rights data 
for three years after acceptance of deliverables was unreasonable, in 
that such investigators in reality do not segregate their research by 
contract, but rather combine it with other data in order to continue 
their research. In light of this, the proposed rule was changed to 
state that the Additional Data Requirements clause would not be placed 
in contracts for basic or applied research with educational 
institutions where the value was $500,000 or less. The $500,000 
threshold was adopted after surveying the major civilian research and 
development (R&D) agencies, whose data suggested that an average R&D 
contract was $250,000 to $300,000; commensurate with other clause 
thresholds (e.g., small business subcontracting), the $500,000 
threshold was chosen. Thus, for most R&D contracts with universities, 
no recordkeeping is required.

B. Annual Reporting Burden

    Public reporting burden for this collection of information is 
estimated to average 2.7 hours per response, including the time for 
reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and 
maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the 
collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate 
or any other aspect of this collection of information, including 
suggestions for reducing this burden, to General Services 
Administration, FAR Secretariat, 18th & F Streets, NW., Room 4037, 
Washington, DC 20405, and to the FAR Desk Officer, Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 
Washington, DC 20503.
    The annual reporting burden is estimated as follows: Respondents, 
1,100; responses per respondent, 1; total annual responses, 1,100; 
preparation hours per response, 2.7; and total response burden hours, 
2,970.

C. Annual Recordkeeping Burden

    The annual recordkeeping burden is estimated as follows: 
Recordkeepers, 9,000; hours per recordkeeper, 3; and total 
recordkeeping burden hours, 27,000.
    Obtaining Copies of Proposals: Requester may obtain copies of OMB 
applications or justifications from the General Services 
Administration, FAR Secretariat (VRS), Room 4037, Washington, DC 20405, 
telephone (202) 501-4755. Please cite OMB Control No. 9000-0090, Rights 
in Data and Copyrights, in all correspondence.

    [[Page 3198]] Dated: December 16, 1994.
Beverly Fayson,
FAR Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 95-926 Filed 1-12-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820-34-M