[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 128 (Tuesday, July 5, 2011)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 39234-39236]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-16673]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

48 CFR Part 4

[FAC 2005-53; FAR Case 2009-023; Item II; Docket 2010-0094, Sequence 1]
RIN 9000-AL70


Federal Acquisition Regulation; Unique Procurement Instrument 
Identifier

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

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing a final rule amending the 
Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to standardize use of unique 
Procurement Instrument Identifiers (PIID) throughout the Government. 
The lack of consistent agency policies and procedures for PIIDs 
subjected users of contract data, including the Federal Government, 
contractors, and the public, to potential duplicate, overlapping, or 
conflicting information from the different Federal agencies.

DATES: Effective Date: August 4, 2011.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Karlos Morgan, Procurement 
Analyst, at (202) 501-2364 for clarification of content. For 
information pertaining to status or publication schedules, contact the 
Regulatory Secretariat at (202) 501-4755. Please cite FAC 2005-53, FAR 
Case 2009-023.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    DoD, GSA, and NASA published a proposed rule in the Federal 
Register at 75 FR 50731 on August 17, 2010, to standardize the use of 
unique PIIDs throughout the Government. Four respondents submitted 
comments on the proposed rule.

II. Discussion and Analysis of the Public Comments

    The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition 
Regulations Council (the Councils) reviewed the public comments in the 
development of the final rule. A discussion of the comments and the 
changes made to the rule as a result of those comments are provided as 
follows:

A. Agency and Office Identifier

    Comment: A respondent provided a suggestion that the prescribed 
identifiers include not only an agency identifier, but an office 
identifier as well.
    Response: At this time, not all agencies have an office-unique 
identifier. However, as data standardization efforts progress, this may 
be a future area of consideration.

B. Amendments

    Comment: A respondent suggested that the term ``amendments'' be 
removed from the proposed FAR 4.605, as ``amendments'' are not reported 
to the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS).
    Response: ``Amendments'' will be removed from the identified part, 
and replaced with ``solicitations'', because solicitation numbers are 
included in FPDS contract action reports.

C. Consistent Government Format

    Comment: Two respondents requested a consistent format for the 
PIIDs across the Government.
    Response: At this time it is not cost effective to transition all 
Federal agencies to a single PIID format across the Government.

[[Page 39235]]

D. Linkage of Old and New PIIDs

    Comment: A respondent suggested adding language to proposed FAR 
4.1601(f) to require linking any new PIID assigned to an award to the 
old originating PIID.
    Response: Language was added to FAR 4.1601(f) as suggested.

E. New Contractor Identification

    Comment: Two respondents suggested the creation of a new contractor 
identification system within the public domain.
    Response: This request is out of scope for this case.

III. Executive Orders 12866 and 13563

    Executive Orders (E.O.s) 12866 and 13563 direct agencies to assess 
all costs and benefits of available regulatory alternatives and, if 
regulation is necessary, to select regulatory approaches that maximize 
net benefits (including potential economic, environmental, public 
health and safety effects, distributive impacts, and equity). E.O. 
13563 emphasizes the importance of quantifying both costs and benefits, 
of reducing costs, of harmonizing rules, and of promoting flexibility. 
This is not a significant regulatory action and, therefore, was not 
subject to review under section 6(b) of E.O. 12866, Regulatory Planning 
and Review, dated September 30, 1993. This rule is not a major rule 
under 5 U.S.C. 804.

IV. Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The Department of Defense, the General Services Administration, and 
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration certify that this 
final rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial 
number of small entities within the meaning of the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601, et seq., because it will not impose new 
requirements on industry. It only provides internal Government policies 
and procedures.

V. Paperwork Reduction Act

    The final rule does not contain any information collection 
requirements that require the approval of the Office of Management and 
Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35).

List of Subjects in 48 CFR Part 4

    Government procurement.

    Dated: June 28, 2011.
Laura Auletta,
Acting Director, Office of Governmentwide Acquisition Policy, Office of 
Acquisition Policy.
    Therefore, DoD, GSA, and NASA amend 48 CFR part 4 as follows:

PART 4--ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS

0
1. The authority citation for 48 CFR part 4 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority:  40 U.S.C. 121(c); 10 U.S.C. chapter 137; and 42 
U.S.C. 2473(c).


0
2. Add section 4.001 to read as follows:


4.001  Definitions.

    As used in this part--
    Procurement Instrument Identifier (PIID) means the Government-
unique identifier for each solicitation, contract, agreement, or order. 
For example, an agency may use as its PIID for procurement actions, 
such as delivery and task orders or basic ordering agreements, the 
order or agreement number in conjunction with the contract number (see 
4.1602).
    Supplementary procurement instrument identifier means the non-
unique identifier for a procurement action that is used in conjunction 
with the Government-unique identifier. For example, an agency may use 
as its PIID for an amended solicitation, the Government-unique 
identifier for a solicitation number (e.g., N0002309R0009) in 
conjunction with a non-unique amendment number (e.g., 0001). The non-
unique amendment number represents the supplementary PIID.

0
3. Amend section 4.605 by revising paragraph (a) to read as follows:


4.605  Procedures.

    (a) Procurement Instrument Identifier (PIID). Agencies shall have 
in place a process that ensures that each PIID reported to FPDS is 
unique Governmentwide, for all solicitations, contracts, blanket 
purchase agreements, basic agreements, basic ordering agreements, or 
orders in accordance with 4.1601, and will remain so for at least 20 
years from the date of contract award. Other pertinent PIID 
instructions for FPDS reporting can be found at https://www.fpds.gov.
* * * * *

0
4. Add subpart 4.16 to read as follows:
Subpart 4.16--Unique Procurement Instrument Identifiers
Sec.
4.1600 Scope of subpart.
4.1601 Policy.
4.1602 Identifying the PIID and supplementary PIID.

Subpart 4.16--Unique Procurement Instrument Identifiers


4.1600  Scope of subpart.

    This subpart prescribes policies and procedures for assigning 
unique Procurement Instrument Identifiers (PIID) for each solicitation, 
contract, agreement, or order and related procurement instrument.


4.1601  Policy.

    (a) Procurement Instrument Identifier (PIID). Agencies shall have 
in place a process that ensures that each PIID used to identify a 
solicitation or contract action is unique Governmentwide, and will 
remain so for at least 20 years from the date of contract award.
    (b) Agencies must submit their proposed identifier format to the 
General Services Administration's Integrated Acquisition Environment 
Program Office, which maintains a registry of the agency-unique 
identifier schemes.
    (c) The PIID shall consist of alpha characters in the first 
positions to indicate the agency, followed by alpha-numeric characters 
according to agency procedures.
    (d) The PIID shall be used to identify all solicitation and 
contract actions. The PIID shall also be used to identify solicitation 
and contract actions in designated support and reporting systems (e.g., 
Federal Procurement Data System, Past Performance Information Retrieval 
System), in accordance with regulations, applicable authorities, and 
agency policies and procedures.
    (e) Agencies shall not change the PIID, unless the conditions in 
paragraph (f) of this section exist.
    (f) If continued use of a PIID is not possible or is not in the 
Government's best interest solely for administrative reasons (e.g., for 
implementations of new agency contracting systems), the contracting 
officer may assign a new PIID by issuing a modification. The 
modification shall clearly identify both the original and the newly 
assigned PIID.


4.1602  Identifying the PIID and supplementary PIID.

    (a) Identifying the PIID in solicitation and contract award 
documentation (including forms and electronic generated formats). 
Agencies shall include all PIIDs for all related procurement actions as 
identified in paragraphs (a)(1) through (5) of this section.
    (1) Solicitation. Identify the PIID for all solicitations. For 
amendments to

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solicitations, identify a supplementary PIID, in conjunction with the 
PIID for the solicitation.
    (2) Contracts and purchase orders. Identify the PIID for contracts 
and purchase orders.
    (3) Delivery and task orders. For delivery and task orders placed 
by an agency under a contract (e.g., indefinite delivery indefinite 
quantity (IDIQ) contracts, multi-agency contracts (MAC), Governmentwide 
acquisition contracts (GWACs), or Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) 
contracts), identify the PIID for the delivery and task order and the 
PIID for the contract.
    (4) Blanket purchase agreements and basic ordering agreements. 
Identify the PIID for blanket purchase agreements issued in accordance 
with 13.303, and for basic agreements and basic ordering agreements 
issued in accordance with subpart 16.7. For blanket purchase agreements 
issued in accordance with subpart 8.4 under a MAS contract, identify 
the PIID for the blanket purchase agreement and the PIID for the MAS 
contract.
    (i) Orders. For orders against basic ordering agreements or blanket 
purchase agreements issued in accordance with 13.303, identify the PIID 
for the order and the PIID for the blanket purchase agreement or basic 
ordering agreement.
    (ii) Orders under subpart 8.4. For orders against a blanket 
purchase agreement established under a MAS contract, identify the PIID 
for the order, the PIID for the blanket purchase agreement, and the 
PIID for the MAS contract.
    (5) Modifications. For modifications to actions described in 
paragraphs (a)(2) through (4) of this section, and in accordance with 
agency procedures, identify a supplementary PIID for the modification 
in conjunction with the PIID for the contract, order, or agreement 
being modified.
    (b) Placement of the PIID on forms. When the form (including 
electronic generated format) does not provide spaces or fields for the 
PIID or supplementary PIID required in paragraph (a) of this section, 
identify the PIID in accordance with agency procedures.
    (c) Additional agency specific identification information. If 
agency procedures require additional identification information in 
solicitations, contracts, or other related procurement instruments for 
administrative purposes, identify it in such a manner so as to separate 
it clearly from the PIID.

[FR Doc. 2011-16673 Filed 7-1-11; 8:45 am]
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