[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 1, 2018)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 19150-19151]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-09171]


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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; Small Entity Compliance Guide

AGENCY: 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,

[[Page 19151]]

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) 2005-98, 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 2005-98, which precedes this document. 
These documents are also available via the internet at http://www.regulations.gov.

DATES: May 1, 2018.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For clarification of content, contact 
the analyst whose name appears in the table below. Please cite FAC 
2005-98 and the 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
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             Item                           Subject                  FAR case                 Analyst
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I............................  Task- and Delivery-Order Protests        2017-007  Gray.
II...........................  Duties of Office of Small and            2017-008  Fry.
                                Disadvantaged Business
                                Utilization.
III..........................  Liquidated Damages Rate                  2017-004  Delgado.
                                Adjustment.
*IV..........................  Audit of Settlement Proposals....        2015-039  Delgado.
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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.
[FR Doc. 2018-09171 Filed 4-30-18; 8:45 am]
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