[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 143 (Friday, July 25, 2014)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 43591-43592]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-17502]
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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. 4]
Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal Acquisition Circular
2005-76; 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) 2005-76, 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 2005-76, which precedes this document.
These documents are also available via the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov.
DATES: July 25, 2014.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For clarification of content, contact
the analyst whose name appears in the table below. Please cite FAC
2005-76 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 2005-76
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Item Subject FAR case Analyst
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* I.................................... Equal Employment and 2014-013 Loeb.
Affirmative Action for
Veterans and Individuals with
Disabilities (Interim).
* II................................... Small Business Protests and 2012-014 Morgan.
Appeals.
* III.................................. Allowability of Legal Costs 2013-017 Chambers.
for Whistleblower Proceedings.
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 rules, refer to the
specific item numbers and subjects set forth in the documents following
these item summaries. FAC 2005-76 amends the FAR as specified below:
Item I--Equal Employment and Affirmative Action for Veterans and
Individuals With Disabilities (FAR Case 2014-013)
DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing an interim rule amending the FAR to
implement final rules issued on September 24, 2013, by the Office of
Federal Contract Compliance Programs at the Department of Labor (DOL)
relating to equal opportunity and affirmative action for veterans and
individuals with disabilities. The DOL rules provide clarification of
mandatory listing of employment openings, the posting of notices,
making notices accessible to persons with disabilities, and requiring
nondiscrimination statements in contractor solicitations or
advertisements for employees. The FAR clauses have been restructured to
provide a citation to the applicable clause in the DOL regulations and
include a statement that summarizes the contractors' top level
obligations under each clause. There is no significant impact on small
entities imposed by the FAR rules.
Item II--Small Business Protests and Appeals (FAR Case 2012-014)
This final rule amends the FAR to provide revised regulatory
coverage for small business size and small business status protest and
appeal procedures and to ensure that the FAR contains consistent and
coherent protest and appeal procedures that are congruent with Small
Business Administration regulations.
This final rule will have no direct negative impact on any small
business concern, since it is aimed at preventing other than small
business concerns from receiving or performing contracts set aside for
small business concerns. This rule will indirectly benefit small
business concerns by preventing awards to ineligible concerns, or
shortening the length of time other than small business concerns
perform small business set-aside contracts.
Item III--Allowability of Legal Costs for Whistleblower Proceedings
(FAR Case 2013-017)
This finalizes an interim rule that revised the cost principle at
FAR 31.205-47 to implement sections 827(g) and 828(d) of the National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (Pub. L. 112-239). The
cost principle addresses the allowability of legal costs incurred by a
contractor or subcontractor in connection with a whistleblower
protection proceeding commenced by a contractor or subcontractor
employee submitting a complaint of reprisal under the applicable
whistleblower statute. The cost principle is revised in the final rule
to allow reasonable legal proceeding costs in certain settlements.
Because most contracts awarded to small businesses are awarded on a
competitive, fixed-price basis, thus limiting their exposure to the
cost principles, the impact of this interim rule on small businesses
will be minimal.
Item IV--Technical Amendments
Editorial changes are made at FAR 4.605, 4.1601, and 32.009-1. The
change at 32.009-1 shows the recent extension
[[Page 43592]]
of the policy to provide accelerated payment to small business
subcontractors.
Dated: July 18, 2014.
William Clark,
Acting Director, Office of Government-Wide Acquisition Policy, Office
of Acquisition Policy, Office of Government-Wide Policy.
[FR Doc. 2014-17502 Filed 7-24-14; 8:45 am]
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