[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 23 (Friday, February 5, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8359-8360]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-02401]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

[OMB Control No. 9000-0018; Docket No. 2020-0053; Sequence No. 18]


Submission for OMB Review; Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 3: 
Improper Business Practices and Personal Conflicts of Interest

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

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, the 
Regulatory Secretariat Division has submitted to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve a revision 
and extension of a previously approved information collection 
requirements regarding improper business practices and personal 
conflicts of interest.

DATES: Submit comments on or before March 8, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for this information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular information 
collection by selecting ``Currently under Review--Open for Public 
Comments'' or by using the search function. Additionally, submit a copy 
to GSA through https://www.regulations.gov and follow the instructions 
on the site. This website provides the ability to type short comments 
directly into the comment field or attach a file for lengthier 
comments.
    Instructions: All items submitted must cite ``OMB Control No. 9000-
0018, Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 3: Improper Business 
Practices and Personal Conflicts of Interest.'' Comments received 
generally will be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov, 
including any personal and/or business confidential information 
provided. To confirm receipt of your comment(s), please check https://www.regulations.gov approximately two-to- three days after submission 
to verify posting. If there are difficulties submitting comments, 
contact the GSA Regulatory Secretariat Division at 202-501-4755 or 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Hawes, Procurement Analyst, 
at telephone 202-969-7386, or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. OMB Control Number, Title, and any Associated Form(s)

    9000-0018, Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 3: Improper Business 
Practices and Personal Conflicts of Interest.

B. Need and Uses

    DoD, GSA, and NASA are combining OMB Control Nos. for the Federal 
Acquisition Regulation (FAR) by FAR part. This consolidation is 
expected to improve industry's ability to easily and efficiently 
identify burdens associated with a given FAR part. The review of the 
information collections by FAR part allows improved oversight to ensure 
there is no redundant or unaccounted for burden placed on industry. 
Lastly, combining information collections in a given FAR part is also 
expected to reduce the administrative burden associated with processing 
multiple information collections.
    This justification supports the revision and extension of OMB 
Control No. 9000-0018 and combines it with the previously approved 
information collections under OMB Control No. 9000-0091, with the new 
title ``Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 3: Improper Business 
Practices and Personal Conflicts of Interest.'' Upon approval of this 
consolidated information collection, OMB Control No. 9000-0091

[[Page 8360]]

will be discontinued. The burden requirements previously approved under 
the discontinued number will be covered under OMB Control No. 9000-
0018.
    This clearance covers the information collection that offerors or 
contractors must submit to comply with the following requirements in 
FAR Part 3:
     52.203-2, Certificate of Independent Price Determination. 
This solicitation provision requires an offeror to certify that the 
prices in their offer have been arrived at independently, have not been 
or will not be knowingly disclosed, and have not been submitted for the 
purpose of restricting competition. This clause is used to ensure that 
Government contracts are not awarded to firms violating antitrust laws.
     52.203-7, Anti-Kickback Procedures. This contract clause 
requires contractors to report in writing to the inspector general of 
the contracting agency, the head of the contracting agency if the 
agency does not have an inspector general, or the Attorney General 
possible violations of 41 U.S.C. Chapter 87, Kickbacks, and to notify 
the contracting officer when monies are withheld from sums owed a 
subcontractor under the prime contract when the contracting officer has 
directed the prime contractor to do so to offset the amount of a 
kickback. The information reported by contractors will be used by the 
Federal agency to investigate potential violations.
     52.203-13, Contractor Code of Business Ethics and Conduct. 
This contract clause requires contractors and subcontractors to report 
to the agency Office of the Inspector General, whenever it has credible 
evidence that a principal, employee, agent, or subcontractor of the 
contractor has committed a violation of Federal criminal law involving 
fraud, conflict of interest, bribery, or gratuity violations found in 
Title 18 U.S.C., or a violation of the Civil False Claims Act (31 
U.S.C. 3729-3733). The information will be used by the Federal agency 
to investigate suspected violations.
     52.203-16, Preventing Personal Conflicts of Interest. This 
contract clause requires contractors and subcontractors to obtain and 
maintain from employees assigned to a task under a contract, a 
disclosure of interests that might be affected by the task to which the 
employee has been assigned. Contractors must report to any personal 
conflict of interest violation by a covered employee and the proposed 
actions to be taken. In exceptional circumstances, the contractor may 
request the head of the contracting activity approve a plan to mitigate 
the personal conflict of interest or waive the requirement to prevent 
personal conflicts of interest. This information is used by the 
contractor and the contracting officer to identify and mitigate 
personal conflicts of interest.

C. Annual Burden

    Respondents: 10,275.
    Recordkeepers: 8,391.
    Total Annual Responses: 342,019.
    Total Burden Hours: 627,162 (123,702 reporting hours + 503,460 
recordkeeping hours).

D. Public Comment

    A 60-day notice was published in the Federal Register at 85 FR 
75325, on November 25, 2020. No comments were received.
    Obtaining Copies: Requesters may obtain a copy of the information 
collection documents from the GSA Regulatory Secretariat Division by 
calling 202-501-4755 or emailing [email protected]. Please cite OMB 
Control No. 9000-0018, Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 3: Improper 
Business Practices and Personal Conflicts of Interest.

Janet Fry,
Director, Federal Acquisition Policy Division, Office of Governmentwide 
Acquisition Policy, Office of Acquisition Policy, Office of 
Governmentwide Policy.
[FR Doc. 2021-02401 Filed 2-4-21; 8:45 am]
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