[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 230 (Thursday, December 1, 2022)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 73889-73890]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-25962]


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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. 6]


Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal Acquisition Circular 
2023-01; 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).

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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) 2023-01, which amends 
the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). Interested parties may obtain 
further information regarding these rules by referring to FAC 2023-01, 
which precedes this document.

DATES: December 1, 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 
2023-01 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 2023-01
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                  Item                             Subject              FAR case               Analyst
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I......................................  Updates to Title 10               2022-005  Moore.
                                          Citations.
*II....................................  Effective Communication           2016-005  Jackson.
                                          Between Government and
                                          Industry.
*III...................................  United States-Mexico-             2020-014  Jackson.
                                          Canada Agreement.
IV.....................................  Technical Amendments......
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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

[[Page 73890]]

following these item summaries. FAC 2023-01 amends the FAR as follows:

Item I--Update to Title 10 Citations (FAR Case 2022-005)

    This final rule amends the Federal Acquisition Regulation to update 
statutory references to Title 10 of the United States Code, which were 
revised by Title XVIII of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National 
Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 (Pub. L. 
116-283), Transfer and Reorganization of Defense Acquisition Statutes, 
and Title XVII of the NDAA for FY 2022 (Pub. L. 117-81), Technical 
Amendments Related to the Transfer and Reorganization of Defense 
Acquisition Statutes. The final rule will not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities because it 
simply updates statutory references in existing regulations.

Item II--Effective Communication between Government and Industry (FAR 
Case 2016-005)

    This final rule amends the FAR to implement section 887 of the 
National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 
(Pub. L. 114-92). This rule clarifies that agency acquisition personnel 
are permitted and encouraged to engage in responsible and constructive 
exchanges with industry, so long as those exchanges are consistent with 
existing laws and regulations, and do not promote an unfair competitive 
advantage to particular firms.
    DoD, GSA, and NASA do not expect this final rule to have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
Any effect to small businesses should be positive. Small businesses 
will benefit from better communication with the Government.

Item III--United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (FAR Case 2020-014)

    This final rule implements the United States-Mexico-Canada 
Agreement Implementation Act (Pub. L. 116-113). The rule makes changes 
in the FAR to conform to Chapter 13 of the United States-Mexico-Canada 
Agreement (USMCA), which sets forth certain obligations between the 
United States and Mexico with respect to Government procurement of 
goods and services, as specified in Annex 13-A of the USMCA. Chapter 13 
of the USMCA applies only between Mexico and the United States and does 
not cover Canada. Although Canada is still a designated country under 
the World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement, Canada 
is no longer a Free Trade Agreement country. Therefore, references to 
Canada as a Free Trade Agreement country in the FAR are deleted, 
including the $25,000 threshold. DoD, GSA, and NASA do not expect this 
rule to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of 
small entities. The effect on contracting officers is expected to be 
minimal as they will continue to apply the rule implementing the USMCA 
to contracts to which the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) 
applied, at the higher threshold for Mexico.

Item IV--Technical Amendments

    Administrative changes are made at FAR 17.701, and 53.300.

William F. Clark,
Director, Office of Government-Wide Acquisition Policy, Office of 
Acquisition Policy, Office of Government-Wide Policy.
[FR Doc. 2022-25962 Filed 11-30-22; 8:45 am]
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