[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 190 (Wednesday, October 1, 2003)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 56668-56669]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-24581]



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Part II





Department of Defense

General Services Administration

National Aeronautics and Space Administration





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48 CFR Parts 1, 2, et al.



Federal Acquisition Regulations; Final and Interim Rules

  Federal Register / Vol. 68, No. 190 / Wednesday, October 1, 2003 / 
Rules and Regulations  

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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

48 CFR Chapter 1


Federal Acquisition Circular 2001-16; Introduction

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

ACTION: Summary presentation of final and interim rules, and technical 
amendments and corrections.

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SUMMARY: This document summarizes the Federal Acquisition Regulation 
(FAR) rules agreed to by the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and 
the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council in this Federal Acquisition 
Circular (FAC) 2001-16. A companion document, the Small Entity 
Compliance Guide (SECG), follows this FAC. The FAC, including the SECG, 
is available via the Internet at http://www.arnet.gov/far.

DATES: For effective dates and comment dates, see separate documents 
which follow.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The FAR Secretariat, Room 4035, GS 
Building, Washington, DC 20405, (202) 501-4755, for information 
pertaining to status or publication schedules. For clarification of 
content, contact the analyst whose name appears in the table below in 
relation to each FAR case or subject area. Please cite FAC 2001-16 and 
specific FAR case number(s). Interested parties may also visit our Web 
site at http://www.arnet.gov/far.

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                   Item                                 Subject                FAR case           Analyst
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I........................................  Central Contractor Registration.     2002-018  Parnell.
II.......................................  Electronic Commerce in Federal       1997-304  Davis.
                                            Procurement.
III......................................  Unique Contract and Order            2002-025  Zaffos.
                                            Identifier Numbers (Interim).
IV.......................................  Procurements for Defense Against     2002-026  Zaffos.
                                            or Recovery From Terrorism or       2002-003
                                            Nuclear, Biological, Chemical
                                            or Radiological Attack; and
                                            Temporary Emergency Procurement
                                            Authority.
V........................................  Notification of Overpayment,         2001-005  Parnell.
                                            Contract Financing Payments.
VI.......................................  Caribbean Basin Country--            2003-006  Davis.
                                            Dominican Republic.
VII......................................  Prohibited Sources..............     2001-015  Davis.
VIII.....................................  Economic Planning, Employee          2002-001  Loeb.
                                            Morale, and Travel Cost
                                            Principles.
IX.......................................  Technical Amendments............
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SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Summaries for each FAR rule follow. For the 
actual revisions and/or amendments to these FAR cases, refer to the 
specific item number and subject set forth in the documents following 
these item summaries.
    FAC 2001-16 amends the FAR as specified below:

Item I--Central Contractor Registration (FAR Case 2002-018)

    This final rule amends FAR parts 1, 2, 4, 13, 32, and 52 to require 
contractor registration in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) 
database prior to award of any contract, basic agreement, basic 
ordering agreement, or blanket purchase agreement on or after October 
1, 2003. In addition, the rule requires contracting officers to modify 
existing contracts whose period of performance extends beyond December 
31, 2003, to require contractors to register in the CCR database by 
December 31, 2003.

Item II--Electronic Commerce in Federal Procurement (FAR Case 1997-304)

    This final rule implements section 850 of the National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998, Public Law 105-85, and section 
810 of the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for 
Fiscal Year 2001, Public Law 106-398. Section 850 amends titles 10, 15, 
40, and 41 of the United States Code to eliminate the preference for 
electronic commerce within Federal agencies to be conducted on the 
Federal Acquisition Computer Network (FACNET) computer architecture. 
Section 810 amends 41 U.S.C. 416 and 15 U.S.C. 637 to allow 
solicitation notices to be published via a single Governmentwide point 
of entry on the Internet designated in the FAR or via the Commerce 
Business Daily (CBD). The objectives of the rule are (1) to designate a 
single Governmentwide point of entry on the Internet, http://www.fedbizopps.gov, where agencies are required to provide convenient 
and universal public access to information on their procurement 
opportunities, and (2) to require electronic access to notices of 
solicitation through the single Governmentwide point of entry as a 
replacement for paper (or electronic) publication in the CBD.

Item III--Unique Contract and Order Identifier Numbers (FAR Case 2002-
025)

    This interim rule amends the FAR to require each reporting agency 
to assign a unique procurement instrument identifier (PIID) for every 
contract, purchase order, BOA, Basic Agreement, and BPA reported to the 
Federal Procurement Data System; and to have in place, no later than 
October 1, 2003, a process that will ensure that each PIID reported to 
FPDS is unique, Governmentwide, and will remain so for at least 20 
years from the date of contract award.

Item IV--Procurements for Defense Against or Recovery From Terrorism or 
Nuclear, Biological, Chemical or Radiological Attack, and Temporary 
Emergency Procurement Authority (FAR Cases 2002-026 and 2002-003)

    This rule finalizes interim rules 2002-026 and 2002-003, which 
increased the amount of the micro-purchase threshold and the simplified 
acquisition threshold and provide expanded access to streamlined 
procedures for procurements of supplies or services by or for an 
executive agency that are to be used to facilitate defense against or 
recovery from terrorism or nuclear, biological, chemical, or 
radiological attack.
    This final rule also amends the FAR to add the querying of 
commercial databases that provide information relevant to the agency 
acquisition as a technique for conducting market research.

Item V--Notification of Overpayment, Contract Financing Payments (FAR 
Case 2001-005)

    This final rule amends FAR parts 12, 32, and 52 to require the 
contractor to notify the contracting officer if the Government overpays 
when making an invoice payment or a contract financing

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payment under either a commercial item or a noncommercial item 
contract.

Item VI--Caribbean Basin Country--Dominican Republic (FAR Case 2003-
006)

    This final rule amends FAR 25.003, 25.400, and the clauses at FAR 
52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes 
or Executive Orders Commercial Items, and FAR 52.225-5, Trade 
Agreements, to implement the direction of the USTR to reinstate the 
treatment of certain products of the Dominican Republic as eligible 
products under acquisitions subject to the Trade Agreements Act, as 
published by the USTR in the Federal Register at 68 FR 27883, May 21, 
2003. This change will allow Government purchase of products 
originating in the Dominican Republic that are not excluded from duty-
free treatment under 19 U.S.C. 2703(b), unless otherwise restricted by 
law.

Item VII--Prohibited Sources (FAR Case 2001-015)

    This final rule removes Serbia, the Taliban-controlled regions of 
Afghanistan, and Iraq from the list of prohibited sources and points 
the contracting officer to lists of entities and individuals subject to 
economic sanctions that are available at http://www.epls.gov/TerList1.html. The contracting officer is no longer authorized in 
unusual circumstances to acquire for use outside the United States 
supplies or services restricted by this section, unless specifically 
authorized by the OFAC. However, OFAC has granted authority to 
Department of Defense personnel to make emergency acquisitions in 
direct support of U.S. or allied forces deployed in military 
contingency, humanitarian, or peacekeeping operations in a country or 
region subject to economic sanctions administered by OFAC.

Item VIII--Economic Planning, Employee Morale, and Travel Costs 
Principles (FAR Case 2002-001)

    This final rule amends the FAR to revise three cost principles: (1) 
FAR 31.205-12, Economic planning costs; (2) FAR 31.205-13, Employee 
morale, health, welfare, food service, and dormitory costs and credits; 
and (3) FAR 31.205-46, Travel costs. The changes restructure the 
paragraphs and remove unnecessary and duplicative language to increase 
clarity and readability. The rule does not change the allowability of 
costs. The case was initiated to consider suggestions made at a series 
of public meetings. This rule is of particular interest to contractors 
and contracting officers who use cost analysis to price contracts and 
modifications, and who determine or negotiate reasonable costs in 
accordance with a clause of a contract, e.g., price revision of fixed-
price incentive contracts, terminated contracts, or indirect cost 
rates.

Item IX--Technical Amendments

    This amendment makes editorial changes at FAR 8.404(b)(6) and 
24.202(a).

    Dated: September 24, 2003.
Laura G. Auletta,
Director, Acquisition Policy Division.

Federal Acquisition Circular

    Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2001-16 is issued under the 
authority of the Secretary of Defense, the Administrator of General 
Services, and the Administrator for the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration.
    Unless otherwise specified, all Federal Acquisition Regulation 
(FAR) and other directive material contained in FAC 2001-16 are 
effective October 31, 2003, except for Items I, II, III, IV, and IX, 
which are effective October 1, 2003.

    Dated: September 22, 2003.
Deidre A. Lee,
Director, Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy.
    Dated: September 23, 2003.
David A. Drabkin,
Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Acquisition Policy, General 
Services Administration.
    Dated: September 15, 2003.
Tom Luedtke,
Assistant Administrator for Procurement, National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 03-24581 Filed 9-30-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820-EP-P