[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 40 (Thursday, February 28, 2013)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 13764]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-04595]



[[Page 13763]]

Vol. 78

Thursday,

No. 40

February 28, 2013

Part II





Department of Defense

General Services Administration

National Aeronautics and Space Administration





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48 CFR Chapter 1





Federal Acquisition Regulations; Final Rules

  Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 40 / Thursday, February 28, 2013 / 
Rules and Regulations  

[[Page 13764]]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

48 CFR Chapter 1

[Docket FAR 2013-0076, Sequence 2]


Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal Acquisition Circular 
2005-66; Introduction

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

ACTION: Summary presentation of final and interim rules.

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SUMMARY: This document summarizes the Federal Acquisition Regulation 
(FAR) rules agreed to by the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and 
the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) in this Federal 
Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-66. A companion document, the Small 
Entity Compliance Guide (SECG), follows this FAC. The FAC, including 
the SECG, is available via the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov.

DATES: For effective dates and comment dates see separate documents, 
which follow.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The analyst whose name appears in the 
table below in relation to each FAR case. Please cite FAC 2005-66 and 
the specific FAR case numbers. For information pertaining to status or 
publication schedules, contact the Regulatory Secretariat at 202-501-
4755.

                      List of Rules in FAC 2005-66
------------------------------------------------------------------------
       Item               Subject            FAR case         Analyst
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I................  Definition of                2013-003  Corrigan.
                    Contingency
                    Operation (Interim).
II...............  Changes to Time-and-         2011-025  Jackson.
                    Materials and Labor-
                    Hour Contracts and
                    Orders.
III..............  Extension of                 2013-007  Jackson.
                    Authority for Use of
                    Simplified
                    Acquisition
                    Procedures for
                    Certain Commercial
                    Items.
IV...............  Technical Amendments.
------------------------------------------------------------------------


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Summaries for each FAR rule follow. For the 
actual revisions and/or amendments made by these FAR cases, refer to 
the specific item numbers and subjects set forth in the documents 
following these item summaries. FAC 2005-66 amends the FAR as specified 
below:

Item I--Definition of Contingency Operation (FAR Case 2013-003) 
(Interim)

    This interim rule amends the definition of ``contingency 
operation'' in FAR 2.101 to address the statutory change to the 
definition made by paragraph (b) of section 515 of the National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (Pub. L. 112-081). Expanding the 
definition to include responding to a major disaster or emergency will 
increase the circumstances under which agencies may raise the micro-
purchase and simplified acquisition thresholds. This may increase 
opportunities for awarding contracts to small entities located at or 
near a major disaster area or emergency activities.

Item II--Changes to Time-and-Materials and Labor-Hour Contracts and 
Orders (FAR Case 2011-025)

    This rule adopts as final a proposed rule implementing a policy 
that provides additional guidance to address actions required when 
raising the ceiling price for a time-and-materials (T&M) or labor-hour 
(LH) contract or order or otherwise changing the general scope of a T&M 
or LH contract or order. The rule provides guidance to contracting 
officers to address this issue for the respective areas of the FAR 
addressing T&M and LH contracts or orders, such as FAR sections 8.404, 
12.207, and 16.601. This rule deals with the administration of T&M and 
LH contracts and orders and will have no direct effect on contractors. 
This rule will not affect how many small businesses are awarded this 
type of contract.

Item III--Extension of Authority for Use of Simplified Acquisition 
Procedures for Certain Commercial Items (FAR Case 2013-007)

    This final rule amends the FAR to implement section 822 of the 
National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013. 
Section 822 extends the authority of the Commercial Item Test Program 
at FAR subpart 13.5 to January 1, 2015. FAR subpart 13.5 authorizes as 
a test program, the use of simplified procedures for the acquisition of 
certain commercial items in amounts greater than the simplified 
acquisition threshold, but not exceeding $6.5 million ($12 million for 
acquisitions described in FAR 13.500(e)) including options, if the 
contracting officer can reasonably expect that offers will include only 
commercial items. This final rule extends the sunset date of the 
authority at FAR 13.500(d) from January 1, 2012, to January 1, 2015.

Item IV--Technical Amendments

    Editorial changes are made at FAR 5.601, 7.105, 10.002, and 52.229-
7.

    Dated: February 20, 2013.
Laura Auletta,
Director, Office of Governmentwide Acquisition Policy, Office of 
Acquisition Policy, Office of Governmentwide Policy.

    Dated: February 19, 2013.
Richard Ginman,
Director, Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy.

    Dated: February 20, 2013.
Joseph A. Neurauter,
Senior Procurement Executive/Deputy CAO, Office of Acquisition Policy, 
U.S. General Services Administration.

    Dated: February 19, 2013.
William P. McNally,
Assistant Administrator for Procurement, National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2013-04595 Filed 2-27-13; 8:45 am]
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