[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 104 (Friday, May 30, 2014)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 31203-31204]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-12404]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

48 CFR Chapter 1

[Docket No. FAR 2014-0052, Sequence No. 2]


Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal Acquisition Circular 
2005-74; Small Entity Compliance Guide

AGENCIES: 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 rules 
appearing in Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-74, 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 
these rules by referring to FAC 2005-74, which precedes this document. 
These documents are also available via the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov.

DATES: May 30, 2014.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For clarification of content, contact 
the analyst whose name appears in the table below. Please cite FAC 
2005-74 and the FAR case number. For information pertaining to status 
or publication schedules, contact the Regulatory Secretariat at 202-
501-4755.

                       Rules Listed in FAC 2005-74
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      Item               Subject           FAR case          Analyst
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*I..............  Commercial and              2012-024  Loeb.
                   Government Entity
                   Code.
*II.............  Repeal of the               2014-016  Glover.
                   Recovery Act
                   Reporting
                   Requirements.
*III............  Expansion of                2012-017  Chambers.
                   Applicability of
                   the Senior
                   Executive
                   Compensation
                   Benchmark.
*IV.............  Contractor Comment          2012-028  Glover.
                   Period, Past
                   Performance
                   Evaluations.
*V..............  Defense Base Act....        2012-016  Chambers.
------------------------------------------------------------------------


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Summaries for each FAR rule follow. For the 
actual revisions and/or amendments made by these rules, refer to the 
specific item numbers and subjects set forth in the documents following 
these item summaries. FAC 2005-74 amends the FAR as specified below:

Item I--Commercial and Government Entity Code (FAR Case 2012-024)

    This final rule adds subpart 4.18, ``Commercial and Government 
Entity Code,'' and related provisions and clauses, to the FAR. The new 
subpart requires the use of Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) 
codes, including North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Cage (NCAGE) 
codes for foreign entities, for awards valued above the micro-purchase 
threshold. The final rule also requires offerors, if owned by another 
entity, to identify that entity during System for Award Management 
(SAM) registration. The rule effective date is November 1, 2014.

Item II--Repeal of the Recovery Act Reporting Requirements (FAR Case 
2014-016)

    This final rule adopts as final, with changes, two interim rules 
published on March 31, 2009, and July 2, 2010, under FAR case numbers 
2009-009 and 2010-008. The interim rules amended the FAR to implement 
reporting requirements of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 
subpart 4.15, 42.15, and clause 52.204-11, American Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act-Reporting Requirements. Future reporting requirements 
after January 31, 2014, were repealed by section 627 of Division E of 
the Consolidated Appropriations Act, FY 2014 (Pub. L. 113-76). The 
reporting Web site has closed for future reporting. This rule does not 
change the reporting required by the Federal Funding Accountability and 
Transparency Act of 2006 (FFATA) on existing contracts, as implemented 
in FAR subpart 4.14 and clause 52.204-10, Reporting Executive 
Compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards. Therefore, contractors 
and agencies are still required to continue their FFATA reporting on 
existing contracts, as implemented in FAR subpart 4.14 and clause 
52.204-10, Reporting Executive

[[Page 31204]]

Compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards.

Item III--Expansion of Applicability of the Senior Executive 
Compensation Benchmark (FAR Case 2012-017)

    This final rule adopts, without change, the interim rule published 
on June 26, 2013, at 78 FR 38535. The interim final rule amended the 
FAR by expanding the reach of the limitation on allowability of 
compensation for certain contractor personnel from a contractor's five 
most highly paid executives to all employees, but only for contracts 
with the Department of Defense (DoD), the National Aeronautical and 
Space Administration (NASA), and Coast Guard. The interim rule 
implemented section 803 of the National Defense Authorization Act for 
Fiscal Year 2012 (Pub. L. 112-81). Prior to the interim rule, this 
limitation on the allowability of compensation, which is an amount set 
annually by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, applied only to a 
contractor's five most highly paid executives at each of their home 
office(s) and any segments that report directly to the contractors 
headquarters, and covered all Federal agencies. Under the interim and 
this final rule, the application of this limitation to a contractor's 
five most highly paid executives continues for agencies other than DoD, 
NASA, and the Coast Guard. Because most contracts awarded to small 
businesses are awarded on a competitive, fixed-price basis, the impact 
of this compensation limitation on small businesses will be minimal.

Item IV--Contractor Comment Period, Past Performance Evaluations (FAR 
Case 2012-028)

    This final rule implements sections 853 of the National Defense 
Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 (Pub. L. 112-239, 
enacted January 2, 2013) and 806 of the NDAA for FY 2012 (Pub. L. 112-
81, enacted December 31, 2011; 10 U.S.C. 2302 Note). These statutes 
require the Government to provide past performance information to 
source selection officials more quickly and to give contractors 14 
calendar days from the date of delivery of past performance evaluations 
to submit comments, rebuttals, or additional information for inclusion 
in the past performance database. The evaluations will be posted to the 
database no later than 14 days after the evaluations are provided to 
the contractor. If a contractor has submitted comments to the 
Government and the Government has not closed the evaluation (i.e., 
reconciled the comments), the evaluation as well as any contractor 
comment will be posted to the database automatically 14 days after the 
evaluations are provided to the contractor. In this case, the database 
will apply a ``Contractor Comment Pending Government Review'' 
notification to the evaluation. Once the Government completes the 
evaluation, the database will be updated the following day and remove 
this notification. Contractors will also still be allowed to submit 
comments after the 14-day period.

Item V--Defense Base Act (FAR Case 2012-016)

    This final rule amends the FAR to clarify contractor and 
subcontractor responsibilities to obtain workers' compensation 
insurance or to qualify as a self-insurer, and other requirements, 
under the terms of the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act 
(33 U.S.C. 901, et seq.) as extended by the Defense Base Act (42 U.S.C. 
1651, et seq.). This Act provides disability compensation, medical 
benefits, and death benefits, for certain employment outside of the 
United States. The rule only clarifies the current responsibilities of 
contractors under the Defense Base Act and Department of Labor (DOL) 
regulations, and does not initiate or impose any new administrative or 
performance requirements. This final rule has no impact on small 
business entities since it is merely clarifying already existing 
statutory and DOL regulatory requirements, and imposes no new 
requirements.

    Dated: May 22, 2014.
William Clark,
Acting Director, Office of Government-wide Acquisition Policy, Office 
of Acquisition Policy, Office of Government-wide Policy.
[FR Doc. 2014-12404 Filed 5-29-14; 8:45 am]
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