**Federal Register**

**November 18, 1998**

**Vol. 63, No. 222**

**Page 64062**

**DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE**

**National Institute of Standards and Technology**

**\[Docket No.­980107004-8216-02\]**

**APPROVAL OF WITHDRAWAL OF SIXTEEN**

**FEDERAL INFORMATION PROCESSING STANDARDS (FIPS) PUBLICATIONS**

**AGENCY:** National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),
Commerce.

**ACTION:** Notice.

**SUMMARY:** The purpose of this notice is to announce that the
Secretary of Commerce has approved the withdrawal of sixteen Federal
Information Processing Standards (FIPS) Publications.

Sixteen FIPS are being withdrawn because they are obsolete, or have not
been updated to adopt current voluntary industry standards. Federal
agencies and departments are directed by the National Technology
Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995, Public Law 104-113, to use
technical standards that are developed in voluntary consensus standards
bodies. Consequently, there no longer is a need for FIPS that duplicate
voluntary industry standards.

**EFFECTIVE DATE:** This withdrawal is effective November 18, 1998.

**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:** Ms. Shirley M. Radack, telephone
(301) 975-2833, National Institute of Standards and Technology,
Gaithersburg, MD 20899.

**SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:**

On February 24, 1998, notice was published in the [Federal]{.underline}
[Register]{.underline} (63 FR 9199) proposing withdrawal of nineteen
Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) Publications, because
the technical specifications that they adopt are obsolete and are no
longer supported by industry.

Withdrawal means that the FIPS will no longer be part of a subscription
series that is provided by the National Technical Information Service,
and that NIST will no longer be able to support the standards by
answering implementation questions or updating the FIPS when the
voluntary industry standards are revised. Current voluntary industry
standards should be used by agencies in their procurement actions when
appropriate, in accordance with OMB Circular A-119, Federal
Participation and Use of Voluntary Standards.

This notice provides only the FIPS publication number, title, and the
technical specifications number for each of the sixteen FIPS
Publications being withdrawn:

\- FIPS 41, Computer Security Guidelines for Implementing the Privacy
Act of 1974

\- FIPS 69-1, FORTRAN (ANSI X3.9-1978/R1989)

\- FIPS 100-1, Interface Between Data Terminal Equipment (DTE) and Data
Circuit-Terminating (DCE) for Operation with Packet-Switched Data
Networks (PSDN), or Between Two DTEs, by Dedicated Circuit (ANSI
X3.100-1989)

\- FIPS 120-1, Graphical Kernel System (GKS) (ANSI X3.124-1985/R1991;
X3.124.1-1985/R1991; X3.124.2-1988/R1994; X3.124.3-1989; and ISO/IEC
8651-4:1991)

\- FIPS 125-1, MUMPS (ANSI/MDC X11.1-1990)

\- FIPS 128-2, Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) (ANSI/ISO
8632.1-4:1992\[1994\]; 8632:1992/Amd.1:1994 & Amd.2:1995;
MIL-D-28003A+Amd.1; and ATA Spec. 2100, Version 2.1)

\- FIPS 138, Electrical Characteristics of Balanced Voltage Digital
Interface Circuits

\- FIPS 142, Electrical Characteristics of Unbalanced Voltage Digital
Interface Circuits

\- FIPS 143, General Purpose 37-Position and 9-Position Interface
Between Data Terminal Equipment and Data Circuit-Terminating Equipment
(EIA-RS-449)

\- FIPS 146-2, Profiles for Open Systems Internetworking Technologies
(POSIT)

\- FIPS 148, Procedures for Document Facsimile Transmission

\- FIPS 153-1, Programmer's Hierarchical Interactive Graphics System
(PHIGS) (ANSI/ISO 9592.1,2,3:1989; 9592.1a,2a,3a,4:1992; 9593.1:1990;
9593.3-1990; 9593.4:1991; and 9593.1/AM1,3/AM1,4/AM1:1991)

\- FIPS 154, High Speed 25-Position Interface for Data Terminal
Equipment and Data Circuit-Terminating Equipment (EIA-530- 1987)

\- FIPS 177-1, Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) (ANSI/US
PRO-100-1993, Version 5.2, LEP Application Protocol, IP-110-1994, and
Engr. Dwg. (Class II) Subset (MIL-D-28000A), Dec. 1992 Version)

\- FIPS 178, Video Teleconferencing Services at 56 to 1,920 kb/s (ITU-T
Recommendations H.221-1993, H.230-1993, H.242-1993, H.261-1993, and
H.320-1993)

\- FIPS 179-1, Government Network Management Profile (GNMP)

The written comments submitted by interested parties and other material
available to the Department relevant to these publications were reviewed
by NIST. On the basis of this review, NIST recommended that the
Secretary approve the withdrawal of the sixteen FIPS Publications, and
prepared a detailed justification document for the Secretary\'s review
in support of that recommendation.

Because of comments received, NIST will delay the withdrawal of three
FIPS that had been proposed for withdrawal in the February 24, 1998,
notice. FIPS 183, Integration Definition for Function Modeling (IDEFO),
and FIPS 184, Integration Definition for Information Modeling (IDEF1X),
will be retained until voluntary industry standards are available. FIPS
160, C (ANSI/ISO 9899:1992), will be retained until NIST's validation
program for the C programming language ends later this year, and then
the FIPS will be withdrawn at that time. NIST will publish a
[Federal]{.underline} [Register]{.underline} notice announcing the
withdrawal of FIPS 160 before December 31, 1998.

The detailed justification document which was presented to the Secretary
is part of the public record and is available for inspection and copying
in the Department\'s Central Reference and Records Inspection Facility,
Room 6020, Herbert C. Hoover Building, 14th Street between Pennsylvania
and Constitution Avenues, NW, Washington, DC 20230.

**AUTHORITY:** Federal Information Processing Standards Publications
(FIPS PUBS) are issued by the National Institute of Standards and
Technology after approval by the Secretary of Commerce pursuant to
Section 5131 of the Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996
and the Computer Security Act of 1987, Public Law 104-106.

Dated: November 12, 1998

Robert E. Hebner, Acting Deputy Director

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