[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 184 (Friday, September 23, 2022)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 58244-58245]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-20346]


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

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; 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 (SECG).

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

SUMMARY: This document is issued under the joint authority of DoD, GSA, 
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) 2022-08, which amends 
the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). Interested parties may obtain 
further information regarding these rules by referring to FAC 2022-08, 
which precedes this document.

DATES:  September 23, 2022.

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

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For clarification of content, contact 
the analyst whose name appears in the table below. Please cite FAC 
2022-08 and the FAR Case number. For information pertaining to status 
or publication schedules, contact the Regulatory Secretariat Division 
at 202-501-4755 or [email protected]. An asterisk (*) next to a rule 
indicates that a regulatory flexibility analysis has been prepared.

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


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

[[Page 58245]]

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 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.
[FR Doc. 2022-20346 Filed 9-22-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820-EP-P