[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 7 (Monday, January 12, 2009)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 1153]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-407]


 ========================================================================
 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
 the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
 notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
 the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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  Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 7 / Monday, January 12, 2009 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 1153]]



SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

13 CFR Parts 121, 125, 127 and 134

RIN 3245-AF80


The Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Assistance 
Procedures--Eligible Industries

AGENCY: U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

ACTION: Proposed rule, notice of reopening of comment period.

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SUMMARY: SBA is reopening the comment period for an additional 60 days.

DATES: Comments on the proposed rule on The Women-Owned Small Business 
Federal Contract Assistance Procedures--Eligible Industries, must be 
received on or before March 13, 2009.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by 3245-AF80, by any of 
the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail, Hand Delivery/Courier: Dean Koppel, Assistant 
Director, Policy, Planning and Research, Office of Government 
Contracting, (202) 205-6460, U.S. Small Business Administration, 409 
3rd Street, SW., Washington, DC 20416.
     All comments will be posted on http://www.regulations.gov. 
If you wish to submit confidential business information (CBI) as 
defined in the User Notice at http://www.regulations.gov, please submit 
the comments to Dean Koppel and highlight the information that you 
consider to be CBI and explain why you believe this information should 
be held confidential. SBA will make a final determination as to whether 
the comments will be published or not.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dean Koppel, Assistant Director, 
Policy, Planning and Research, Office of Government Contracting, (202) 
205-6460.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On October 1, 2008, SBA published in the 
Federal Register a proposed rule on The Women-Owned Small Business 
Federal Contract Assistance Procedures--Eligible Industries (73 FR 
57014). The proposed rule sought comments from the public on a data 
issue involving the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contract 
Assistance Procedures, which were finalized on October 1, 2008 (73 FR 
56940). Specifically, SBA was seeking comments on two data sets: (1) 
The Central Contractor Registration (CCR) data set which was used in 
the RAND report to determine the representation of WOSBs in Federal 
procurement in the various industries, and (2) a non-public Survey of 
Business Owners (SBO) data set from the Economic Census, which was not 
previously used in the RAND report to determine the representation of 
WOSBs in Federal procurement in the various industries. This request 
for comments was intended to stimulate dialogue on available data sets 
and would be evaluated to determine which data set will provide the 
soundest basis to identify industries in which WOSBs are 
underrepresented in Federal procurement.
    The original comment period was from October 1, 2008, through 
October 31, 2008. There is significant Congressional and public 
interest in extending the comment period. In addition, SBA is reviewing 
the relevance of the standard for disparity studies discussed in the 
Federal Circuit's decision in Rothe Development Corporation v. 
Department of Defense. Therefore, SBA is reopening the comment period 
until March 13, 2009. SBA believes that all affected parties would find 
it beneficial to have more time to review the proposed rule and prepare 
their comments.

    Authority: 15 U.S.C. 634.

Calvin Jenkins,
Acting Associate Administrator for Government Contracting and Business 
Development.
[FR Doc. E9-407 Filed 1-9-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8025-01-P