[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 40 (Thursday, February 28, 2013)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 13769-13770]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-04604]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

48 CFR Chapter 1

[Docket FAR 2013-0078, Sequence 2]


Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal Acquisition Circular 
2005-66; Small Entity Compliance Guide

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

ACTION: Small Entity Compliance Guide.

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SUMMARY: This document is issued under the joint authority of DOD, GSA, 
and NASA. This Small Entity Compliance Guide has been prepared in 
accordance with section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory 
Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. It consists of a summary of the rule 
appearing in Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-66, which amends 
the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). An asterisk (*) next to a 
rule indicates that a regulatory flexibility analysis has been 
prepared. Interested parties may obtain further information regarding 
this rule by referring to FAC 2005-66, which precedes this document. 
These documents are also available via the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov.

DATES: February 28, 2013.

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

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

[[Page 13770]]

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.
[FR Doc. 2013-04604 Filed 2-27-13; 8:45 am]
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