[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 12 (Wednesday, January 19, 2005)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 2976-2977]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-1035]


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SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

13 CFR Part 121

RIN 3245-AF22


Small Business Size Standards; Selected Size Standards Issues

AGENCY: Small Business Administration.

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking; extension of comment 
period.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is extending the 
deadline for comments on the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 
(ANPRM), which requested comments on issues related to SBA's effort to 
restructure its small business size standards, for 60 days because SBA 
agrees with the public's view that an extension is necessary to afford 
interested parties more time to thoroughly review the issues described 
in the ANPRM and prepare their comments. The previous deadline of 
February 1, 2005 is extended to April 3, 2005.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 3, 2005.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by RIN 3245-AF22, by any 
of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     E-mail: [email protected]">restructure.[email protected]. Include RIN 
3245-AF22 in the subject line of the message.
     Fax: (202) 205-6390.
     Mail: Gary M. Jackson, Assistant Administrator for Size 
Standards, 409 Third Street, SW., Washington, DC 20416.
     Hand Delivery/Courier: Gary M. Jackson, Assistant 
Administrator for Size Standards, 409 Third Street, SW., Washington, DC 
20416.
    Upon receipt of a written request, SBA will make available public 
comments to the requestor, subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: SBA's Office of Size Standards, (202) 
205-6618, or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On March 19, 2004, SBA published a proposed 
rule to restructure its small business size standards by establishing 
them based primarily on the number of employees of a business concern 
and by limiting to 10 the number of different size standard levels (69 
FR 13130). Although a majority of the more than 4,000 comments on the 
proposed changes expressed support for the proposal, SBA also received 
a large number of comments opposing various aspects of SBA's approach 
to simplifying size standards. As a result, SBA withdrew the proposal 
on July 1, 2004 (69 FR 39874).
    On December 3, 2004, SBA published an ANPRM seeking comments from 
the public on several issues that were raised during the public comment 
period for the proposed rule (69 FR 70197). Specifically, the ANPRM 
sought comments on the approach to simplify size standards, the 
calculation of number of employees (including how SBA defines an 
employee for size purposes), the use of receipts-based size standards, 
the designation of size standards for Federal procurements, the 
establishment of size standards for use solely in Federal procurement 
programs, the establishment of tiered size standards, the 
simplification of affiliation regulations, the simplification of small 
business joint venture eligibility regulations, the grandfathering of 
small business eligibility, and the impact of SBA size standards on the 
regulations of other Federal agencies. The deadline for comments on the 
ANPRM was February 1, 2005.
    SBA has received hundreds of comments on these issues. SBA has also 
received requests from the public for an extension of the comment 
period to afford interested parties more time to thoroughly review the 
issues described in the ANPRM and prepare their comments. Given the 
scope and nature of size standard issues, SBA agrees that it is in the 
public interest to provide additional time for preparation of comments, 
which SBA will consider as part of its deliberations on restructuring 
size standards. Therefore, SBA is extending the comment period for 60 
days, from February 1, 2005 to April 3, 2005.


[[Page 2977]]


    Dated: January 13, 2005.
Allegra F. McCullough,
Associate Deputy Administrator for Government Contracting and Business 
Development.
[FR Doc. 05-1035 Filed 1-18-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8025-01-P