[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 96 (Tuesday, May 18, 2004)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 28104-28105]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-11209]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

48 CFR Part 25

[FAR Notice 2004-N1]


Federal Acquisition Regulation; List of Nonavailable Articles 
Under the Buy American Act

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

ACTION: Request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense 
Acquisition Regulations Council (the Councils) are seeking information 
that will assist in identifying domestic capabilities and for 
evaluating whether some articles on the list of nonavailable articles 
at FAR part 25 are now mined, produced, or manufactured in the United 
States in sufficient and reasonably available commercial quantities and 
of a satisfactory quality.

DATES: Interested parties should submit comments in writing to the FAR 
Secretariat at the address shown below on or before July 19, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Submit printed comments to General Services Administration, 
FAR Secretariat (MVA), 1800 F Street, NW, Room 4035, ATTN: Laurie 
Duarte, Washington, DC 20405. Submit electronic comments via the 
Internet to the U.S. Government's Web site at http://www.regulations.gov, or to GSA's e-mailbox at [email protected].

    Please submit comments only and cite ``FAR Notice 2004-N01'' in all 
correspondence related to this case.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The FAR Secretariat, Room 4035, GS 
Building, Washington, DC, 20405, at (202) 501-4755 for information 
pertaining to status or publication schedules. The TTY Federal Relay 
Number for further information is 1-800-877-8973. For clarification of 
content, contact Ms. Cecelia Davis, Procurement Analyst, at (202) 219-
0202. Please cite ``FAR Notice 2004-N1.''

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    A. The Buy American Act (41 U.S.C. 10a-10d) generally requires that 
only domestically mined, produced, or

[[Page 28105]]

manufactured articles be procured for public use in the United States. 
The Buy American Act provides an exception for articles not mined, 
produced, or manufactured in the United States in sufficient and 
reasonably available commercial quantities and of a satisfactory 
quality. FAR 25.103(b)(1) provides a determination that articles listed 
at FAR 25.104(a) meet the conditions of this exception.
    The established list of articles identified in FAR 25.104(a) is a 
comprehensive and wide-ranging mix of natural resources, compounds, 
materials, and other items of supply. Although some articles on the 
list have no known domestic production sources (e.g., quartz crystals 
or vanilla beans), many of the articles are known to have some domestic 
production sources, but those sources have been determined in the past 
to be inadequate to meet U.S. demand. Examples of such articles range 
from goat and kidskins (negligible domestic production), to crude 
iodine (5 percent of U.S. Government and nongovernment demand), to 
bismuth (not in excess of 50 percent of U.S. Government and 
nongovernment demand). The list has not been subjected to a thorough 
review since 1957. Currently, the procedures for updating articles on 
the list rely on a contracting officer's notice to the Defense 
Acquisition Regulations (DAR) Council or the Civilian Agency 
Acquisition Council (CAAC) (in accordance with agency procedures) for 
possible addition or removal of an article from the list (FAR 
25.103(b)(2)(ii) and FAR 25.104(b)). With constantly changing market 
conditions, the Councils are seeking information to determine whether 
some articles should be removed from the list because they are now 
mined, produced, or manufactured in the United States in sufficient and 
reasonably available commercial quantities and of a satisfactory 
quality. Specific information with regard to domestic production 
capacity in relation to U.S. Government and nongovernment damand and 
the quality of domestically produced items would be most helpful in 
determining whether articles should remain on or be removed from the 
list. A sources-sought notice will be published in FedBizOpps in an 
effort to increase the awareness of this request and to receive greater 
responses from interested parties on the nonavailable articles listing.
    B. The FAR's current nonavailable listing is as follow:

Acetylene, black.
Agar, bulk.
Anise.
Antimony, as metal or oxide.
Asbestos, amosite, chrysotile, and crocidolite.
Bananas.
Bauxite.
Beef, corned, canned.
Beef extract.
Bephenium hydroxynapthoate.
Bismuth.
Books, trade, text, technical, or scientific; newspapers; pamphlets; 
magazines; periodicals; printed briefs and films; not printed in the 
United States and for which domestic editions are not available.
Brazil nuts, unroasted.
Cadmium, ores and flue dust.
Calcium cyanamide.
Capers.
 Cashew nuts.
Castor beans and castor oil.
Chalk, English.
Chestnuts.
Chicle.
Chrome ore or chromite.
Cinchona bark.
Cobalt, in cathodes, rondelles, or other primary ore and metal 
forms.
Cocoa beans.
Coconut and coconut meat, unsweetened, in shredded, desiccated, or 
similarly prepared form.
Coffee, raw or green bean.
Colchicine alkaloid, raw.
Copra.
Cork, wood or bark and waste.
Cover glass, microscope slide,
Crane rail (85-pounds per foot).
Cryolite, natural.
Dammar gum.
Diamonds, Industrial, stones and abrasives.
Emetine, bulk.
Ergot, crude.
Erythrityl tetranitrate.
Fair linen, altar.
Fibers of the following types: abaca, abace, agave, coir, flax, 
jute, jute burlaps, palmyra, and sisal.
Goat and kidskins.
Graphite, natural, crystalline, crucible grade.
Hand file sets (Swiss pattern).
Handsewing needles.
Hemp yarn.
Hog bristles for brushes.
Hyoscine, bulk.
Ipecac, root.
Iodine, crude.
Kaurigum.
Lac.
Leather, sheepskin, hair type.
Lavender oil.
Manganese.
Menthol, natural bulk.
Mica.
Microprocessor chips (brought onto a Government construction site as 
separate units for incorporation into building systems during 
construction or repair and alteration of real property).
Nickel, primary, in ingots, pigs, shots, cathodes, or similar forms; 
nickel oxide and nickel salts.
Nitroguanidine (also known as picrite).
Nux vomica, crude.
Oiticica oil.
Olive oil.
Olives (green), pitted or unpitted, or stuffed, in bulk.
Opium, crude.
Oranges, mandarin, canned.
Petroleum, crude oil, unfinished oils, and finished products.
Pine needle oil.
Platinum and related group metals, refined, as sponge, powder, 
ingots, or cast bars.
Pyrethrum flowers.
Quartz crystals.
Quebracho.
Quinidine.
Quinine.
Rabbit fur felt.
Radium salts, source and special nuclear materials.
Rosettes.
Rubber, crude and latex.
Rutile.
Santonin, crude.
Secretin.
Shellac.
Silk, raw and unmanufactured.
Spare and replacement parts for equipment of foreign manufacture, 
and for which domestic parts are not available.
Spices and herbs, in bulk.
Sugars, raw.
Swords and scabbards.
Talc, block, steatite.
Tantalum.
Tapioca flour and cassava.
Tartar, crude; tartaric acid and cream of tartar in bulk.
Tea in bulk.
Thread, metallic (gold).
Thyme oil.
Tin in bars, blocks, and pigs.
Triprolidine hydrochloride.
Tungsten.
Vanilla beans.
Venom, cobra.
Wax, carnauba.
Wire glass.
Woods; logs, veneer, and lumber of the following species: Alaskan 
yellow cedar, angelique, balsa, ekki, greenheart, lignum vitae, 
mahogany, and teak.
Yarn, 50 Denier rayon.

    C. The nonavailable listing will be amended to include the 
following articles below once FAR case 2003-007 is published in the 
Federal Register as a final rule. The articles are as follows:

Bamboo shoots.
Goat hair canvas.
Grapefruit sections, canned.
Modacrylic fur ruff.
Water chestnuts.

List of Subjects in 48 CFR Part 25

    Government procurement.

    Dated: May 12, 2004.
Laura Auletta,
Acting Director, Acquisition Policy Division.
[FR Doc. 04-11209 Filed 5-17-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820-EP-M