[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 184 (Friday, September 23, 2022)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 58218-58219]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-20339]



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Vol. 87

Friday,

No. 184

September 23, 2022

Part III





Department of Defense





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General Services Administration





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National Aeronautics and Space Administration





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48 CFR Chapter 1





Federal Acquisition Regulations; Final Rules

  Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 184 / Friday, September 23, 2022 / 
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-2022-0051, Sequence No. 5]


Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal Acquisition Circular 
2022-08; 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) 2022-08. A companion document, the Small 
Entity Compliance Guide (SECG), follows this FAC.

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. For information pertaining to 
status or publication schedules, contact the Regulatory Secretariat 
Division at 202-501-4755 or [email protected].

                       Rules Listed in FAC 2022-08
------------------------------------------------------------------------
       Item              Subject          FAR case          Analyst
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I.................  Policy on Joint          2017-019  Jones.
                     Ventures.
II................  Construction             2018-020  Bowman.
                     Contract
                     Administration.
III...............  Update of                2019-007  Jones.
                     Historically
                     Underutilized
                     Business Zone
                     Program.
IV................  Certification of         2020-013  Jones.
                     Women-Owned
                     Small Businesses.
V.................  Technical
                     Amendments.
------------------------------------------------------------------------


ADDRESSES: The FAC, including the SECG, is available at https://www.regulations.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Summaries for each FAR rule follow. For the 
actual revisions and/or amendments made by these FAR rules, refer to 
the specific item numbers and subjects set forth in the documents 
following these item summaries. FAC 2022-08 amends the FAR as follows:

Item I--Policy on Joint Ventures (FAR Case 2017-019)

    This final rule amends the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to 
align with the Small Business Administration (SBA) regulations 
regarding mentor-prot[eacute]g[eacute] joint ventures and to provide 
clarification regarding joint ventures under the 8(a) Program. The 
changes will allow mentor-prot[eacute]g[eacute] joint ventures to 
qualify as small businesses, or to qualify under a socioeconomic 
program for the purposes of participation in procurements under FAR 
part 19. In addition, this rule provides consistent guidance to 
contracting officers on how to handle joint ventures under the 8(a) 
Program and the small business socioeconomic programs.

Item II--Construction Contract Administration (FAR Case 2018-020)

    This final rule amends the FAR to implement section 855 of the of 
the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 
2019 (Pub. L. 115-232), codified at 15 U.S.C. 644(w) in the Small 
Business Act. Section 855 requires Federal agencies to provide a 
notice, along with solicitations for construction contracts anticipated 
to be awarded to small businesses, to prospective offerors that 
includes information about the agency's policies or practices in 
complying with FAR requirements related to the timely definitization of 
requests for equitable adjustment on construction contracts. The notice 
must include data regarding the time it took the agency to definitize 
requests for equitable adjustment on construction contracts for the 
three-year period preceding the issuance of the notice.
    The final FAR rule requires contracting officers to transmit in the 
solicitation notice on the Governmentwide point of entry information in 
construction solicitations anticipated to be awarded to a small 
business pursuant to part 19, that includes a description of agency-
specific policies or procedures regarding definitization of equitable 
adjustments for change orders under construction contracts. 
Additionally, agencies are required to include past performance data in 
the solicitation notice, for the three fiscal years preceding the 
issuance of the solicitation notice, regarding the time required to 
definitize equitable adjustments for change orders under construction 
contracts using the table format provided in the FAR text, or provide 
the address of an agency-specific, publicly accessible website 
containing this information. The final rule also describes an adequate 
change order definitization proposal as containing sufficient 
information to enable the contracting officer to conduct meaningful 
analyses and audits of the information contained in the proposal.

Item III--Update of Historically Underutilized Business Zone Program 
(FAR Case 2019-007)

    This final rule amends the FAR to implement changes to the SBA 
regulations for the Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) 
Program. This rule specifies that SBA now certifies HUBZone small 
business concerns and HUBZone entities are no longer required to 
represent their HUBZone status with each offer. In addition, 
contracting officers may now award HUBZone set-aside and sole-source 
contracts at or below the simplified acquisition threshold. This rule 
also makes minor changes to the HUBZone protest procedures.

Item IV--Certification of Women-Owned Small Businesses (FAR Case 2020-
013)

    This final rule amends the FAR to align with SBA's regulations 
regarding certification of economically disadvantaged women-owned small 
business (EDWOSB) concerns and

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women-owned small business (WOSB) concerns. This rule requires EDWOSBs 
and WOSBs participating in the Women-Owned Small Business Program (the 
Program) to apply for certification through SBA or a SBA-approved 
third-party certifier to be eligible for WOSB or EDWOSB set-aside or 
sole-source contracts. EDWOSB and WOSB concerns that are not certified 
will not be eligible for set-aside and sole-source contracts under the 
Program. WOSBs that do not participate in the Program may continue to 
represent their status, be awarded contracts outside the Program, and 
these contracts will continue to count toward an agency's goal for 
awards to WOSBs.

Item V--Technical Amendments

    Administrative changes are made at FAR 4.1202, 19.102, and 19.309. 
The date change is to provide additional time to implement the policy 
addressing the assignment of North American Industry Classification 
System codes to orders placed under multiple award contracts, as 
covered by changes made by FAR case 2014-002, Set-Asides Under Multiple 
Award Contracts.

William F. Clark,
Director, Office of Government-wide Acquisition Policy, Office of 
Acquisition Policy, Office of Government-wide Policy.

    Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2022-08 is issued under the 
authority of the Secretary of Defense, the Administrator of General 
Services, and the Administrator of National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration.
    Unless otherwise specified, all Federal Acquisition Regulation 
(FAR) and other directive material contained in FAC 2022-08 is 
effective September 23, 2022 except for Items I through IV, which are 
effective October 28, 2022.

John M. Tenaglia,

Principal Director, Defense Pricing and Contracting, Department of 
Defense.

Jeffrey A. Koses,

Senior Procurement Executive/Deputy CAO, Office of Acquisition 
Policy, U.S. General Services Administration.

Karla Smith Jackson,

Assistant Administrator for Procurement, Senior Procurement 
Executive, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

[FR Doc. 2022-20339 Filed 9-22-22; 8:45 am]
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