[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 168 (Thursday, August 29, 2019)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 45403-45406]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-18497]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

20 CFR Part 686

[DOL Docket No. ETA-2019-0006]
RIN 1205-AB96


Procurement Roles and Responsibilities for Job Corps Contracts

AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Labor.

ACTION: Direct final rule; request for comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In this direct final rule (DFR), the Department of Labor 
(Department) makes two procedural changes to its Workforce Innovation 
and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Job Corps regulations to enable the 
Secretary to delegate procurement authority as it relates to the 
development and issuance of requests for proposals for the operation of 
Job Corps centers, outreach and admissions, career transitional 
services, and other operational support services. The Department is 
taking this procedural action to align regulatory provisions with the 
relevant WIOA statutory language and to provide greater flexibility for 
internal operations and management of the Job Corps program.

DATES: This DFR will become effective on October 28, 2019 unless 
significant adverse comment is submitted (transmitted, postmarked, or 
delivered) by September 30, 2019. If DOL receives significant adverse 
comment, the Agency will publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal 
Register informing the public that this DFR will not take effect (see 
Section III, Direct Final Rulemaking,'' for more details on this 
process). Comments to this DFR and other information must be submitted 
(transmitted, postmarked, or delivered) by September 30, 2019. All 
submissions must bear a postmark or provide other evidence of the 
submission date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Regulatory 
Information Number (RIN) 1205-AB96, by one of the following methods:
    Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
website instructions for submitting comments.
    Mail and Hand Delivery/Courier: Written comments, disk, and CD-ROM 
submissions may be mailed to Heidi Casta, Deputy Administrator, Office 
of Policy Development and Research, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 
Constitution Avenue NW, Room N-5641, Washington, DC 20210.
    Instructions: Label all submissions with ``RIN 1205-AB96.''
    Please submit your comments by only one method. Please be advised 
that the Department will post all comments received that relate to this 
DFR on http://www.regulations.gov without making any change to the 
comments or redacting any information. The http://www.regulations.gov 
website is the Federal e-rulemaking portal, and all comments posted 
there are available and accessible to the public. Therefore, the 
Department recommends that commenters remove personal information such 
as Social Security Numbers, personal addresses, telephone numbers, and 
email addresses included in their comments, as such information

[[Page 45404]]

may become easily available to the public via the http://www.regulations.gov website. It is the responsibility of the commenter 
to safeguard personal information.
    Also, please note that, due to security concerns, postal mail 
delivery in Washington, DC may be delayed. Therefore, the Department 
encourages the public to submit comments on http://www.regulations.gov.
    Docket: All comments on this DFR will be available on the http://www.regulations.gov website, and can be found using RIN 1205-AB96. The 
Department also will make all the comments it receives available for 
public inspection by appointment during normal business hours at the 
above address. If you need assistance to review the comments, the 
Department will provide appropriate aids, such as readers or print 
magnifiers. The Department will make copies of this DFR available, upon 
request, in large print and electronic file on computer disk. To 
schedule an appointment to review the comments and/or obtain the DFR in 
an alternative format, contact the Office of Policy Development and 
Research at (202) 693-3700 (this is not a toll-free number). You may 
also contact this office at the address listed below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Heidi Casta, Deputy Administrator, 
Office of Policy Development and Research, U.S. Department of Labor, 
200 Constitution Avenue NW, Room N-5641, Washington, DC 20210; 
telephone (202) 693-3700 (this is not a toll-free number).
    Individuals with hearing or speech impairments may access the 
telephone number above via TTY by calling the toll-free Federal 
Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    The Department is amending two provisions of 20 CFR part 686, which 
implements subtitle C of title I of WIOA. Through these amendments, the 
Department is aligning these regulatory provisions with the language in 
WIOA by broadening the authority to issue contract solicitations from 
the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to the Secretary of 
Labor. The Department is making this procedural change to the WIOA 
regulation to provide greater flexibility in the management and 
operation of the Job Corps program by allowing the Secretary of Labor 
to designate the component of the Department that is authorized to 
issue requests for proposals (RFPs) for the operation of Job Corps 
centers, outreach and admissions, career transitional services, and 
other operational support services. This change will provide the 
Department with the flexibility to more efficiently manage the Job 
Corps procurement process, which will in turn allow greater economies 
of scale and operational efficiencies. This rule is consistent with the 
President's Management Agenda Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) Goal Number 
5--Sharing Quality Services. The Department is implementing this CAP, 
in part, via the Department's Enterprise-Wide Shared Services 
Initiatives whose primary goals are as follows:
    1. Improve human resources efficiency, effectiveness, and 
accountability;
    2. Provide modern technology solutions that empower the DOL mission 
and serve the American public through collaboration and innovation;
    3. Maximize DOL's federal buying power through effective 
procurement management; and
    4. Safeguard fiscal integrity, and promote the effective and 
efficient use of resources.
    This rule will assist the Department's implementation of its 
Enterprise-Wide Shared Services Initiative.
    This rule is not an Executive Order 13771 regulatory action because 
this rule is not significant under Executive Order 12866.

II. Consideration of Comments

    ETA will consider comment on issues related to this action. If ETA 
receives no significant adverse comments, ETA will publish a Federal 
Register document confirming the effective date of the DFR and 
withdrawing the companion Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). Such 
confirmation may include minor stylistic or technical changes to the 
DFR. For the purpose of judicial review, ETA views the date of 
confirmation of the effective date of the DFR as the date of 
promulgation.

III. Direct Final Rulemaking

    In direct final rulemaking, an agency publishes a DFR in the 
Federal Register, with a statement that the rule will go into effect 
unless the agency receives significant adverse comment within a 
specified period. The agency may publish an identical concurrent NPRM. 
If the agency receives no significant adverse comment in response to 
the DFR, the rule goes into effect. ETA plans to confirm the effective 
date of a DFR through a separate Federal Register document. If the 
agency receives a significant adverse comment, the agency will withdraw 
the DFR and treats such comment as a response to the NPRM. An agency 
typically uses direct final rulemaking when an agency anticipates that 
a rule will not be controversial.
    For purposes of this DFR, a significant adverse comment is one that 
explains why the amendments to the regulatory provisions identified 
below would be inappropriate. In determining whether a comment 
necessitates withdrawal of the DFR, ETA will consider whether the 
comment raises an issue serious enough to warrant a substantive 
response. ETA will not consider a comment recommending an additional 
amendment to this regulation to be a significant adverse comment unless 
the comment states why the DFR would be ineffective without the 
addition.
    In addition to publishing this DFR, ETA is publishing a companion 
NPRM in the Federal Register. The comment period for the NPRM runs 
concurrently with that of the DFR. ETA will treat comments received on 
the companion NPRM as comments also regarding the DFR. Similarly, ETA 
will consider comments submitted to the DFR as comment to the companion 
NPRM. Therefore, if ETA receives a significant adverse comment on 
either the DFR or the NPRM, it will withdraw this DFR and proceed with 
the companion NPRM. In the event ETA withdraws the DFR because of 
significant adverse comment, ETA will consider all timely comments 
received in response to the DFR when it continues with the NPRM. After 
carefully considering all comments to the DFR and the NPRM, ETA will 
decide whether to publish a new final rule.
    ETA determined that the subject of this rulemaking is suitable for 
direct final rulemaking. This amendment is procedural in nature and 
does not impact the operation of Job Corps centers, the operational 
support services, or the delivery of career transitional services and 
other operation, the process by which offerors respond to 
solicitations, the substance of their responses, or the criteria upon 
which the solicitation will be evaluated. Finally, the revisions would 
not impose any new costs or burdens. For these reasons, ETA does not 
anticipate objections from the public to this rulemaking action.

IV. Discussion of Changes

    Sec. 147(a) of WIOA authorizes the Secretary of Labor to enter into 
agreements with eligible entities to operate Job Corps centers and to 
provide activities to a Job Corps center. Two provisions in the 
regulation implementing subtitle C of Title I of

[[Page 45405]]

WIOA implement section 147(a). 20 CFR 686.310(a) broadly states that 
the Secretary selects eligible entities to operate contract centers on 
a competitive basis in accordance with applicable statutes and 
regulations and 20 CFR 686.340(a) states that the Secretary selects 
eligible entities to provide outreach and admission, career transition, 
and operational support services on a competitive basis in accordance 
with applicable statutes and regulations. However, both provisions also 
specifically require ETA to develop and issue RFPs for these Job Corps 
contracts. These provisions are narrower than section 147(a) and 
constrain the Department's authority to assign the authority to develop 
and issue RFPs to whichever component of the agency it determines 
appropriate.
    This DFR amends Sec. Sec.  686.310(a) and 686.340(a) by replacing 
``ETA'' with ``the Secretary.'' Through this DFR, the Department is 
aligning the text of Sec. Sec.  686.310(a) and 686.340(a) with the 
statutory language in section 147(a) of WIOA and eliminating the 
inconsistency between the regulation and the statute. This change also 
affords the Department greater flexibility to manage and oversee the 
Job Corps procurement process in a manner that it determines 
appropriate, which in turn will aid in the implementation of the 
Department's Enterprise-Wide Shared Services Initiative described 
above.

V. Rulemaking Analyses and Notices

Executive Orders 12866 (Regulatory Planning and Review), 13563 
(Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review), and 13771 (Reducing 
Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs)

    Executive Order 12866 requires that regulatory agencies assess both 
the costs and benefits of significant regulatory actions. Under the 
Executive Order, a ``significant regulatory action'' is one meeting any 
of a number of specified conditions, including the following: Having an 
annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more; creating a 
serious inconsistency or interfering with an action of another agency; 
materially altering the budgetary impact of entitlements or the rights 
of entitlement recipients, or raising novel legal or policy issues. The 
Department has determined that this DFR is not a ``significant'' 
regulatory action and a cost-benefit and economic analysis is not 
required. This regulation merely makes a procedural change to allow 
flexibility to manage and oversee the Job Corps procurement process in 
a manner that the Department determines appropriate. This rule is not 
an Executive Order 13771 regulatory action because this rule is not 
significant under Executive Order 12866.
    Executive Order 13563 directs agencies to assess all costs and 
benefits of available regulatory alternatives and, if regulation is 
necessary, to select regulatory approaches that maximize net benefits 
(including potential economic, environmental, public health and safety 
effects, distributive impacts, and equity). Executive Order 13563 
emphasizes the importance of quantifying both costs and benefits, 
reducing costs, harmonizing rules, and promoting flexibility to 
minimize burden.
    This rule makes only a procedural change to allow flexibility to 
manage and oversee the Job Corps procurement process in a manner that 
the Department determines appropriate; thus this rule is not expected 
to have any regulatory impacts.

Regulatory Flexibility Act/Small Business Regulatory Enforcement 
Fairness Act

    The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), at 5 U.S.C. 603(a), requires 
agencies to prepare and make available for public comment an initial 
regulatory flexibility analysis, which describes the impact of the DFR 
on small entities. Section 605 of the RFA allows an agency to certify a 
rule, in lieu of preparing an analysis, if the DFR is not expected to 
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities. This DFR does not affect small entities as defined in the 
RFA. Therefore, the DFR will not have a significant economic impact on 
a substantial number of these small entities. Therefore, the Department 
certifies that the DFR will not have a significant economic impacts on 
a substantial number of small entities.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507(d)) requires 
that the Department consider the impact of paperwork and other 
information collection burdens imposed on the public. The Department 
has determined that this rule does not alter any information collection 
burdens.

Executive Order 13132 (Federalism)

    Section 6 of E.O. 13132 requires Federal agencies to consult with 
State entities when a regulation or policy may have a substantial 
direct effect on the States, the relationship between the National 
Government and the States, or the distribution of power and 
responsibilities among the various levels of government, within the 
meaning of the E.O. Section 3(b) of the E.O. further provides that 
Federal agencies must implement regulations that have a substantial 
direct effect only if statutory authority permits the regulation and it 
is of national significance.
    This DFR does not have a substantial direct effect on the States, 
the relationship between the National Government and the States, or the 
distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels of 
Government, within the meaning of the E.O. This DFR merely makes a 
procedural change for internal Departmental operations and management 
for Job Corps procurement.

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995

    This regulatory action has been reviewed in accordance with the 
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (the Reform Act). Under the Reform 
Act, a Federal agency must determine whether a regulation proposes a 
Federal mandate that would result in the increased expenditures by 
State, local, or tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the 
private sector, of $100 million or more in any single year. This DFR 
merely makes an administrative change to the name of the Departmental 
entity authorized for Job Corps procurement responsibilities. The 
requirements of Title II of the Act, therefore, do not apply, and the 
Department has not prepared a statement under the Act.

Executive Order 13175 (Indian Tribal Governments)

    The Department has reviewed the DFR under the terms of E.O. 13175 
and DOL's Tribal Consultation Policy, and have concluded that the 
changes to regulatory text which are the focus of the DFR would not 
have tribal implications, as these changes do not have substantial 
direct effects on one or more Indian tribes, the relationship between 
the Federal government and Indian tribes, nor the distribution of power 
and responsibilities between the Federal government and Indian tribes. 
Therefore, no consultations with tribal governments, officials, or 
other tribal institutions were necessary.

List of Subjects in 20 CFR Part 686

    Employment, Grant programs--labor, Job Corps.

    For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Department amends 20 
CFR part 686 as follows:

[[Page 45406]]

PART 686--THE JOBS CORPS UNDER TITLE I OF THE WORKFORCE INNOVATION 
AND OPPORTUNITY ACT

0
1. The authority citation for part 686 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  Sec. 147, Pub. L. 113-128, 128 Stat. 1425 (Jul. 22, 
2014).


0
2. Amend Sec.  686.310 by revising paragraph (a) to read as follows:


Sec.  686.310   How are entities selected to receive funding to operate 
centers?

    (a) The Secretary selects eligible entities to operate contract 
centers on a competitive basis in accordance with applicable statutes 
and regulations. In selecting an entity, the Secretary issues requests 
for proposals (RFPs) for the operation of all contract centers 
according to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (48 CFR chapter 1) and 
Department of Labor Acquisition Regulation (48 CFR chapter 29). The 
Secretary develops RFPs for center operators in consultation with the 
Governor, the center workforce council (if established), and the Local 
WDB for the workforce development area in which the center is located.
* * * * *

0
3. Amend Sec.  686.340 by revising paragraph (a) to read as follows:


Sec.  686.340   How are entities selected to receive funding to provide 
outreach and admission, career transition and other operations support 
services?

    (a) The Secretary selects eligible entities to provide outreach and 
admission, career transition, and operational services on a competitive 
basis in accordance with applicable statutes and regulations. In 
selecting an entity, the Secretary issues requests for proposals (RFP) 
for operational support services according to the Federal Acquisition 
Regulation (48 CFR chapter 1) and Department of Labor Acquisition 
Regulation (48 CFR chapter 29). The Secretary develops RFPs for 
operational support services in consultation with the Governor, the 
center workforce council (if established), and the Local WDB for the 
workforce development area in which the center is located.
* * * * *

John P. Pallasch,
Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training, Labor.
[FR Doc. 2019-18497 Filed 8-28-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4510-FT-P