[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 56 (Friday, March 22, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17671-17672]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-06584]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

[OMB Control No. 9000-0007; Docket 2012-0076; Sequence 59]


Federal Acquisition Regulation; Submission for OMB Review; 
Summary Subcontract Report

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

ACTION: Notice of request for comments regarding an extension to an 
existing OMB clearance.

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SUMMARY: Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, the 
Regulatory Secretariat will be submitting to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve an extension of a 
previously approved information collection requirement concerning 
summary subcontract reports (SF-295). A notice was published in the 
Federal Register at 77 FR 69483, on November 19, 2012. One comment was 
received.

DATES: Submit comments on or before April 22, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments identified by Information Collection 9000-
0007, Summary Subcontract Report, by any of the following methods:
     Regulations.gov: http://www.regulations.gov.
    Submit comments via the Federal eRulemaking portal by searching the 
OMB control number. Select the link ``Submit a Comment'' that 
corresponds with ``Information Collection 9000-0007, Summary 
Subcontract Report''. Follow the instructions provided at the ``Submit 
a Comment'' screen. Please include your name, company name (if any), 
and ``Information Collection 9000-0007, Summary Subcontract Report'', 
on your attached document.
     Fax: 202-501-4067.
     Mail: General Services Administration, Regulatory 
Secretariat (MVCB), 1275 First Street NE., Washington, DC 20417. ATTN: 
Hada Flowers/IC 9000-0007, Summary Subcontract Report.
    Instructions: Please submit comments only and cite Information 
Collection 9000-0007, Summary Subcontract Report, in all correspondence 
related to this collection. All comments received will be posted 
without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal 
and/or business confidential information provided.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Karlos Morgan, Procurement 
Analyst, Office of Governmentwide Acquisition Policy, GSA, (202) 501-
2364 or via email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Purpose

    In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 19.702, any 
contractor receiving a contract for more than the simplified 
acquisition threshold must agree in the contract that small business, 
small disadvantaged business, historically underutilized business zone 
(HUBZone) small business, veteran-owned small business, service-
disabled veteran-owned small business, and women-owned small business 
concerns will have the maximum practicable opportunity to participate 
in contract performance consistent with its efficient performance. 
Further, contractors receiving a contract or a modification to a 
contract expected to exceed $650,000 ($1,500,000 for construction) must 
submit a subcontracting plan that provides maximum practicable 
opportunities for the above named concerns. Specific elements required 
to be included in the plan are specified in section 8(d) of the Small 
Business Act and are implemented in FAR Subpart 19.7.
    In conjunction with the subcontracting plan requirements, 
contractors must submit an annual summary (semi-annual for DOD and 
NASA) of subcontracts awarded by prime and subcontractors for a 
specific Federal Government agency that required an Individual 
Subcontracting plan for the previous fiscal year. This is accomplished 
through the use of the Standard Form 295, Summary Subcontract Report, 
or the Summary Subcontract Report (SSR), the electronic equivalent of 
the of the Standard Form 295, submitted through the Electronic 
Subcontracting Reporting System (eSRS). The Electronic Subcontracting 
Reporting System streamlines the small business subcontracting program 
reporting process and provides the data to agencies in a manner that 
enables them to more effectively manage the program.
    Contractors must use the SSR in lieu of the SF 295, with the 
exception of those contracts noted in FAR 4.606(c)(5) which requires 
that actions, pursuant to other authority, will not be entered in 
Federal Procurement Data System (e.g., reporting of the information 
would compromise national security). Those contract actions noted in 
FAR 4.606(c)(5) will continue to use the Standard Form 295.

B. Discussion and Analysis

    One respondent submitted public comments on the extension of the 
previously approved information collection. The analysis of the public 
comments is summarized as follows:
    Comment: The respondent commented that the extension of the 
information collection would violate the fundamental purposes of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act because of the burden it puts on the entity 
submitting the information and the agency collecting the information.
    Response: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), 
agencies can request OMB approval an existing information collection. 
PRA requires that agencies use the Federal Register notice and comment 
process, to extend OMB's approval, least every three years. This 
extension, to a previously approved information collection, pertains to 
the use of the SSR to collect subcontract award data from prime or 
subcontractors that: (a) Hold

[[Page 17672]]

one or more contracts over $650,000 (over $1,500,000 for construction); 
and (b) are required to report subcontracts awarded to small business, 
small disadvantaged business, women-owned small business, historically 
underutilized business zone small business, veteran-owned small 
business, and service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns. 
The SSR is also used to collect subcontract award data from Alaskan 
Native Corporations and Indian Tribe concerns under a subcontracting 
plan with the Federal government. For the Department of Defense, the 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the United States 
Coast Guard, the SSR collects subcontract awards for Historically Black 
Colleges and Universities and Minority Institutions. Absent this 
information the suitability of the contractor to report subcontract 
award data could not be ascertained. Further, the contracting officer 
could not examine the subcontract award data to assess contractors' 
compliance with their subcontracting plans, the Small Business Act, and 
the FAR.
    Comment: The respondent commented that the agency did not 
accurately estimate the public burden challenging that the agency's 
methodology for calculating it is insufficient and inadequate and does 
not reflect the total burden. The respondent stated that the upward 
adjustment made to the number of respondents from 103,908 to 129,009 
was reasonable. However, the decrease in the average burden hours for 
reporting and recordkeeping per response from 12 hours in 2010 to 9 
hours is understated, and that the average burden on companies is 
somewhere in the range of 10 to 100 time greater that the estimate put 
forth in the Federal Register Notice. For this reason, the respondent 
provided that agency should reassess the estimated total burden hours 
and revise the estimate upwards to be more accurate, as was done in FAR 
Case 2007-006.
    Response: Serious consideration given, during the open comment 
period, to all comments received and adjustments are made to the 
paperwork burden estimate based on reasonable considerations provided 
by the public. This is evidenced, as the respondent notes, in FAR Case 
2007-006 where adjustment was made from the total preparation hours 
from three to sixty. This change was made considering particularly the 
hours that would be required for review within the company prior to 
release to the Government. The burden is prepared taking into 
consideration the necessary criteria OMB guidance for estimating the 
paperwork burden put on the entity submitting the information. For 
example, consideration is given to entity reviewing instructions; using 
technology to collect, process, and disclose information; adjusting 
existing practices to comply with requirements; searching data sources; 
completing reviewing the response; and transmitting or disclosing 
information. The estimated burden hours for a collection are based on 
an average between the hours that a simple disclosure by a very small 
business might require and the much higher numbers that might be 
required for a very complex disclosure by a major corporation. Also, 
the estimated burden hours should only include projected hours for 
those actions which a company would not undertake in the normal course 
of business.
    Careful consideration went into assessing the estimated burden 
hours for this collection. Given that many of the key data elements are 
pre-populated in eSRS from FPDS and SAM (e.g. basic contractual 
information and contractor information), combined with the system 
improvements to streamline user experience, the amount of training 
provided, the user guides and webinars available, and the sample 
reports provided, the length of time necessary for reporting 
subcontracting achievements into eSRS has been shortened. As a result, 
the estimate burden hours published in the Federal Register at 77 FR 
69483 on November 19, 2012 remains a valid estimate and an upward 
adjustment is not required at this time. However, at any point, members 
of the public may submit comments for further consideration, and are 
encouraged to provide data to support their request for an adjustment.
    Comment: The respondent commented that the collective burden of 
compliance with the information collection requirement greatly exceeds 
the agency's estimate and outweighs any potential utility of the 
extension.
    Response: The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) was designed to improve 
the quality and use of Federal information to strengthen decision-
making, accountability, and openness in government and society. Central 
to this process is the solicitation of comments from the public. This 
process incorporates and enumerated specification of targeted 
information and provides interested parties a meaningful opportunity 
for comment on the relevant compliance cost. This process has led to 
decreases in the overall collection requirement in regards to the 
public. Based on OMB estimates, in FY 2010, the public spent 8.8 
billion hours responding to information collections. This was a 
decrease of one billion hours, or ten percent from the previous fiscal 
year. In effect, the collective burden of compliance for the public is 
going down as the Government publishes rule that make the process less 
complex, more transparent, and reduces the cost of federal regulations 
to both the Contractor community and Government.

C. Annual Reporting Burden

    Based on information from eSRS and an estimate of the use of eSRS, 
an upward adjustment is being made to the number of respondents, but a 
downward adjustment is being made to the average burden hours for 
reporting and recordkeeping per response. As a result, a downward 
adjustment is being made to the estimated annual reporting burden since 
the notice regarding an extension to this clearance published in the 
Federal Register at 75 FR 9603, on March 3, 2010.
    Respondents: 129,009.
    Responses per Respondent: 1.
    Total Responses: 129,009.
    Average Burden Hours per Response: 9.0
    Total Burden Hours: 1,161,081.
    Obtaining Copies of Proposals: Requesters may obtain a copy of the 
information collection documents from the General Services 
Administration, Regulatory Secretariat (MVCB), 1275 First Street NE., 
Washington, DC 20417, telephone (202) 501-4755. Please cite OMB Control 
Number 9000-0007, Summary Subcontract Report, in all correspondence.

    Dated: March 18, 2013.
William Clark,
Acting Director, Federal Acquisition Policy Division, Office of 
Governmentwide Acquisition Policy, Office of Acquisition Policy, Office 
of Governmentwide Policy.
[FR Doc. 2013-06584 Filed 3-21-13; 8:45 am]
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