[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 6 (Monday, January 10, 2022)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 1080-1081]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-28421]
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GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
41 CFR Part 102-173
[FMR Case 2021-02; Docket No. GSA-FMR-2021-0022; Sequence 01]
RIN 3090-AK52
Federal Management Regulation (FMR); Internet GOV Domain
AGENCY: Office of Information Integrity and Access, Office of
Government-wide Policy (OGP), General Services Administration (GSA).
ACTION: Interim rule.
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SUMMARY: This interim rule implements certain provisions of the DOTGOV
Act of 2020 applicable to GSA, which was enacted as part of the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. It removes provisions to the
existing jurisdiction of the DOTGOV domain that had been delegated to
the General Services Administration in 1997 by the Federal Networking
Council with guidance in the form of internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF) Informational RFC 2146, which was further expanded to include
State, local, or territorial government entities in 2003 by the
Intergovernmental Cooperation Act (IGCA). This interim rule implements
provisions of the DOTGOV Act of 2020 that transfer ownership,
management and operation of the DotGov Domain Program from the General
Services Administration (GSA) to the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
DATES:
Effective date: January 10, 2022.
Applicability Date: As of January 10, 2022, this interim rule
applies to all newly issued, already in operation, and/or renewed .gov
domains.
Comment Date: Interested parties should submit written comments to
the Regulatory Secretariat Division at the address shown below on or
before March 11, 2022 to be considered in the formation of the final
rule.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For clarification of content, contact
Ms. Marina Fox, Office of Government-wide Policy, Office of
Information, Integrity, and Access, at 202-253-6448, or by email at
[email protected]. For information pertaining to the status or
publication schedules, contact the Regulatory Secretariat Division at
202-501-4755 or [email protected]. Please cite FMR Case 2021-02.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Inspection of Public Comments: Comments received before the close
of the comment period are available for viewing by the public,
including any personally identifiable or confidential business
information that is included in a comment. We post comments received
before the close of the comment period on the following website as soon
as possible after they have been received: https://regulations.gov.
Follow the search instructions on that website to view public comments.
I. Background
For more than 20 years, GSA supported government organizations and
worked to make .gov a trusted space.gov domain exists so that the
online services of bona fide U.S.-based government organizations are
easy to identify on the internet. Increasing and normalizing .gov use
helps the public know where to find official government information.
.gov is critical infrastructure: It's central to the availability and
integrity of thousands of online services relied upon by millions of
users. Since the .gov domain underpins communication with and within
these institutions, cybersecurity significance of all aspects of .gov's
administration has been increasing rapidly. To provide additional
cybersecurity support and expand .gov usage among public entities, the
DOTGOV Act of 2020 (or the DOTGOV Act of 2019) was introduced in the
U.S. Senate on October 30, 2019, directing GSA to transfer the DotGov
program to CISA.
On December 27, 2020, the DOTGOV Act of 2020 was signed into law
and enacted as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Pub.
L. 116-260). The Act transfers the DotGov (.gov) internet domain
program, as operated by the General Services Administration under title
41, Code of Federal Regulations, to DHS CISA. The Act also orders that
on the date CISA begins operational administration of the DotGov
internet domain program, the GSA Administrator shall rescind the
requirements in part 102-173 of title 41, Code of Federal Regulations
applicable to any Federal, State, local, or territorial government
entity, or other publicly controlled entity, including any Tribal
government recognized by the Federal Government or a State government
that is registering or operating a .gov internet domain. Finally, the
Act orders that in place of the requirements in part 102-173 of title
41, Code of Federal Regulations, CISA, in consultation with the
Director of Management and Budget (OMB), establishes and publishes a
new set of requirements for the registration and operation of .gov
domains.
On April 26, 2021, GSA transferred ownership, management and
operation of DotGov Domain Program to the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS), CISA, and CISA published new .gov domain issuance
guidance for government entities in place of the existing INTERNET GOV
DOMAIN requirements in FMR. To comply with the DOTGOV Online Trust in
Government Act of 2020 (Title IX, Division U, H.R. 133, Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2021), GSA is amending the Federal Management
Regulation to remove all requirements in part 102-173 ``INTERNET GOV
DOMAIN''.
DotGov Program History
The DotGov program was created in 1997, and GSA OGP became the
designated authority for the top level Domain ``DOT GOV'' registry and
registrar and the subdomain registrar for FED.US by a delegation of the
National Science Foundation through consensus of the Federal Networking
Council and Department of Commerce on October 1, 1997. To provide
additional support, GSA entered into an agreement with the Department
of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs to facilitate the
registration of Native Sovereign Nations (NSNs) in the dot-gov domain.
In 2003, GSA began using the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act (IGCA)
as the authority to provide services to U.S. state and local
governments, and began issuing
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.gov domains to state and local government entities.
Under GSA's DotGov program management and operations, domain
registrations were approved based on established criteria, detailed in
Federal Networking Council request for comments (RFC) 2146, May 1997
and in the Code of Federal Regulations--41 CFR Part 102-173. GSA's
management of the DotGov program also included DotGov DNS Security
(DNSSEC), which gives DNS queries origin authenticity and data
integrity. This was accomplished by the inclusion of public keys and
the use of digital signatures to DNS information. DNSSEC was deployed
on the top level Gov domain root zone in January 2008 in accordance
with OMB Memorandum M-08-23.
II. Executive Orders 12866 and 13563
Executive Orders (E.O.s) 12866 and 13563 direct 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). E.O.
13563 emphasizes the importance of quantifying both costs and benefits,
of reducing costs, of harmonizing rules, and of promoting flexibility.
This is not a significant regulatory action and, therefore, was not
subject to review under section 6(b) of E.O. 12866, Regulatory Planning
and Review, dated September 30, 1993.
III. Congressional Review Act
This rule is not a major rule under 5 U.S.C. 804(2). Subtitle E of
the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996
(codified at 5 U.S.C. 801-808), also known as the Congressional Review
Act or CRA, generally provides that before a rule may take effect, the
agency promulgating the rule must submit a rule report, which includes
a copy of the rule, to each House of the Congress and to the
Comptroller General of the United States. GSA will submit a report
containing this rule and other required information to the U.S. Senate,
the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the
United States. A major rule under the CRA cannot take effect until 60
days after it is published in the Federal Register. OIRA has determined
that this is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).
IV. Regulatory Flexibility Act
This interim rule will not have a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities within the meaning of the
Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601, et seq., because it applies
to agency management or personnel. Therefore, an Initial Regulatory
Flexibility Analysis has not been performed.
V. Paperwork Reduction Act
The Paperwork Reduction Act does not apply because the changes to
the FMR do not impose recordkeeping or information collection
requirements, or the collection of information from offerors,
contractors, or members of the public that require the approval of the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under 44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.
VI. Determination To Issue an Interim Rule
As discussed above, Congress mandated through the DOT Gov Online
Trust in Government Act that GSA rescind the regulations contained in
part 102-173 of title 41, Code of Federal Regulations. As Congress has
directed a specific regulator outcome through statute, this constitutes
good cause to issue this as an interim rule with comment period.
List of Subjects in 41 CFR Part 102-173
Government property management; Internet Gov Domain.
Robin Carnahan,
Administrator.
PART 102-173--[REMOVED]
0
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, and under the authority of
the DOTGOV Online Trust in Government Act of 2020 (Title IX, Division
U, H.R. 133, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021), GSA removes 41 CFR
part 102-173.
[FR Doc. 2021-28421 Filed 1-7-22; 8:45 am]
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