[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 190 (Wednesday, October 1, 2003)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 56689-56690]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-24591]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

48 CFR Chapter 1


Federal Acquisition Regulation; Small Entity Compliance Guide

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

ACTION: Small Entity Compliance Guide.

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SUMMARY: This document is issued under the joint authority of the 
Secretary of Defense, the Administrator of General Services and the 
Administrator for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 
This Small Entity Compliance Guide has been prepared in accordance with 
Section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act 
of 1996. It consists of a summary of rules appearing in Federal 
Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2001-16 which amends the FAR. An asterisk 
(*) next to a rule indicates that a regulatory flexibility analysis has 
been prepared. Interested parties may obtain further information 
regarding these rules by referring to FAC 2001-16 which precedes this 
document. These documents are also available via the Internet at http://www.arnet.gov/far.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laurie Duarte, FAR Secretariat, (202) 
501-4225. For clarification of content, contact the analyst whose name 
appears in the table below.

                                          List of Rules in FAC 2001-16
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  Item                                Subject                 FAR case            Analyst
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* 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               2002-026  Zaffos.
                                           Against or Recovery From              2002-003
                                           Terrorism or Nuclear,
                                           Biological, Chemical or
                                           Radiological Attack; and
                                           Temporary Emergency
                                           Procurement Authority.
V.......................................  Notification of Overpayment,           2001-005  Parnel.l
                                           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...........
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

[[Page 56690]]

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 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.
[FR Doc. 03-24591 Filed 9-30-03; 8:45 am]
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