[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 88 (Thursday, May 7, 2015)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 26429-26430]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-11032]



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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

48 CFR Chapter 1

[Docket No. FAR 2015-0051, Sequence No. 2]


Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal Acquisition Circular 
2005-82; 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) 2005-82, 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 2005-82, which precedes this document. 
These documents are also available via the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov.

DATES: May 7, 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For clarification of content, contact 
the analyst whose name appears in the table below. Please cite FAC 
2005-82 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 2005-82
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                  List                             Subject              FAR Case               Analyst
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* I....................................  Equal Employment and              2014-013  Loeb.
                                          Affirmative Action for
                                          Veterans and Individuals
                                          with Disabilities.
II.....................................  Review and Justification          2013-012  Hopkins.
                                          of Pass-Through Contracts.
III....................................  Enhancements to Past              2014-010  Glover.
                                          Performance Evaluation
                                          Systems.
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 2005-82 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 a final rule adopting the interim 
rule published July 25, 2014, without change. The interim rule amended 
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 were restructured in the 
interim rule to provide a citation to the applicable clause in the DOL 
regulations and include a statement that summarizes contractors' top 
level obligations under each clause. There is no significant impact on 
small entities imposed by the FAR rule.

Item II--Review and Justification of Pass-Through Contracts (FAR Case 
2013-012)

    This final rule amends the FAR to implement section 802 of the 
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (Pub. L. 112-
239), which provided for additional requirements relative to the review 
and justification of pass-through contracts. In those instances where 
an offeror for a contract, task order, or delivery order informs the 
agency pursuant to FAR 52.215-22 of their intention to award 
subcontracts for more than 70 percent of the total cost of work to be 
performed under the contract, task order, or delivery order, section 
802 requires the contracting officer to (1) consider the availability 
of alternative contract vehicles and the feasibility of contracting 
directly with a subcontractor or subcontractors that will perform the 
bulk of the work; (2) make a written determination that the contracting 
approach selected is in the best interest of the Government; and (3) 
document the basis for such determination. These statutory requirements 
are being implemented in FAR 15.404-1(h) and for consistency purposes 
are applicable to all of the agencies subject to the FAR even though 
section 802 only applied to the Department of Defense, the Department 
of State, and the United States Agency for International Development.
    Because the rule augments the current responsibilities of 
contracting officers relative to the review and justification of pass-
through contracts and does not initiate or impose any new 
administrative or performance requirements on contractors, and 
specifically exempts contract actions awarded pursuant to FAR subparts 
19.5, 19.8, 19.13, 19.14, or 19.15, there is no impact on small 
businesses.

Item III--Enhancements to Past Performance Evaluation Systems (FAR Case 
2014-010)

    This final rule changes the language at FAR 42.1502 to accommodate 
the recent merger of the Architect-Engineer Contract Administration 
Support System (ACASS) and the Construction Contractor Appraisal 
Support System (CCASS) as modules within the Contractor Performance 
Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) database. This action will 
standardize the past performance reporting requirements under the CPARS 
database. The ACASS and CCASS modules were merged into CPARS on July 1, 
2014.
    This change does not place any new requirements on small entities.

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Item IV--Technical Amendments

    Editorial changes are made at FAR 4.905(a), 22.102-2(a), 
39.101(a)(1)(ii), 52.212-4(v), 52.212-5(b)(36)(i), (b)(36)(ii), 
(b)(39)(ii), and (e)(1)(v), 52.213-4(a) and (b), and 52.223-16.

    Dated: April 30, 2015.
William Clark,
Director, Office of Government-wide Acquisition Policy, Office of 
Acquisition Policy, Office of Government-wide Policy.
[FR Doc. 2015-11032 Filed 5-6-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6820-EP-P