[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 1, 2018)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 19144-19145]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-09162]



[[Page 19143]]

Vol. 83

Tuesday,

No. 84

May 1, 2018

Part II





Department of Defense

General Services Administration

National Aeronautics and Space Administration





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48 CFR Chapter 1





Federal Acquisition Regulation: Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-98; 
Introduction; Task- and Delivery-Order Protests; Duties of Office of 
Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization; Liquidated Damages Rate 
Adjustment; Audit of Settlement Proposals; and Federal Acquisition 
Circular 2005-98; Small Entity Compliance Guide; Final Rules

  Federal Register / Vol. 83 , No. 84 / Tuesday, May 1, 2018 / Rules 
and Regulations  

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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

48 CFR Chapter 1

[Docket No. FAR 2018-0001, Sequence No. 2]


Federal Acquisition Regulation: Federal Acquisition Circular 
2005-98; Introduction

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

ACTION: Summary presentation of final rules.

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SUMMARY: This document summarizes the Federal Acquisition Regulation 
(FAR) rules agreed to by the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and 
the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) in this Federal 
Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-98. A companion document, the Small 
Entity Compliance Guide (SECG), follows this FAC. The FAC, including 
the SECG, is available via the internet at http://www.regulations.gov.

DATES: For effective dates see the separate documents, which follow.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The analyst whose name appears in the 
table below in relation to the FAR case. Please cite FAC 2005-98 and 
the specific FAR case number. For information pertaining to status or 
publication schedules, contact the Regulatory Secretariat Division at 
202-501-4755.

                                           Rules Listed in FAC 2005-98
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  Item                              Subject               FAR case              Analyst
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I.......................................  Task- and Delivery-Order           2017-007  Gray.
                                           Protests.
II......................................  Duties of Office of Small          2017-008  Fry.
                                           and Disadvantaged Business
                                           Utilization.
III.....................................  Liquidated Damages Rate            2017-004  Delgado.
                                           Adjustment.
IV......................................  Audit of Settlement                2015-039  Delgado.
                                           Proposals.
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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 2005-98 amends the FAR as follows:

Item I--Task- and Delivery-Order Protests (FAR Case 2017-007)

    This final rule amends the FAR to implement section 835 of the 
National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 
(Pub. L. 114-328). Section 835 amends 10 U.S.C. 2304c(e)(1)(B) to raise 
the threshold for task- and delivery-order protests from $10 million to 
$25 million (applicable to DoD, NASA, and the Coast Guard). The section 
also amends 41 U.S.C. 4106(f) to repeal the sunset date, which was also 
previously repealed by the GAO Civilian Task and Delivery Order Protest 
Authority Act of 2016 (Pub. L. 114-260). There will be an 
unquantifiable impact on offerors (including small businesses) that 
lose the right to protest awards of task or delivery orders valued 
between $10 million and $25 million, but the impact is expected to be 
de minimis, because there are very few protests of procurements in that 
dollar range.

Item II--Duties of Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business 
Utilization (FAR Case 2017-008)

    This final rule amends the FAR to reflect additional duties for 
agencies' Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, or 
for DoD's Office of Small Business Programs, which were added to 
section 15(k) of the Small Business Act by the NDAA for FY 2017. This 
rule only provides information regarding the internal operating 
procedures of the Government.

Item III--Liquidated Damages Rate Adjustment (FAR Case 2017-004)

    This final rule amends the FAR to adjust for inflation the rate of 
liquidated damages assessed or enforced by Department of Labor (DOL) 
regulations for violations of the overtime provisions of the Contract 
Work Hours and Safety Standards Act. The FAR rule implements DOL's 
interim final rule published in the Federal Register at 81 FR 43430 on 
July 1, 2016, DOL's final rule published in the Federal Register at 82 
FR 5373 on January 18, 2017, and subsequent adjustments for inflation 
pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 
1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment 
Act Improvements Act of 2015 (section 701 of Pub. L. 114-74)(28 U.S.C. 
2461 Note). There is no significant impact on small entities imposed by 
the FAR rule.

Item IV--Audit of Settlement Proposals (FAR Case 2015-039)

    This final rule amends the FAR to raise the dollar threshold 
requirement for the audit of prime contract settlement proposals and 
subcontract settlements from $100,000 to $750,000 to align with the 
threshold in FAR 15.403-4(a)(1) for obtaining certified cost or pricing 
data.
    The requirements in the rule will not have a significant economic 
impact on a substantial number of small entities. Since the rule raises 
the audit threshold, even fewer small businesses will be subject to 
audits of their termination settlement proposals resulting in a 
reduction of time spent to complete termination settlements.

    Dated: April 25, 2018.
William F. Clark,
Director, Office of Government-wide Acquisition Policy, Office of 
Acquisition Policy, Office of Government-wide Policy.

    Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-98 is issued under the 
authority of the Secretary of Defense, the Administrator of General 
Services, and the Administrator for the National Aeronautics and 
Space Administration.
    Unless otherwise specified, all Federal Acquisition Regulation 
(FAR) and other directive material contained in FAC 2005-98 is 
effective May 1, 2018 except for items I, II, III, and IV, which are 
effective May 31, 2018.



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    Dated: April 24, 2018.
Shay D. Assad,
Director, Defense Pricing/Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy.
    Dated: April 23, 2018.
Jeffrey A. Koses,
Senior Procurement Executive/Deputy CAO, Office of Acquisition Policy, 
U.S. General Services Administration.
    Dated: April 24, 2018.
Monica Y. Manning,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Procurement, National Aeronautics 
and Space Administration.
[FR Doc. 2018-09162 Filed 4-30-18; 8:45 am]
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