65328 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 244 / Thursday, December 20, 2018 / Proposed Rules 

received during the comment period. 

Your comment can help shape the 

outcome of this rulemaking. If you 

submit a comment, please include the 

docket number for this rulemaking, 

indicate the specific section of this 

document to which each comment 

applies, and provide a reason for each 

suggestion or recommendation. 

We encourage you to submit 

comments through the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal at http://

www.regulations.gov. If your material 

cannot be submitted using http://

www.regulations.gov, contact the person 

in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT section of this document for 

alternate instructions. 

We accept anonymous comments. All 

comments received will be posted 

without change to http://

www.regulations.gov and will include 

any personal information you have 

provided. For more about privacy and 

the docket, visit http://

www.regulations.gov/privacynotice. 

Documents mentioned in this NPRM 

as being available in this docket and all 

public comments, will be in our online 

docket at http://www.regulations.gov 

and can be viewed by following that 

website’s instructions. Additionally, if 

you go to the online docket and sign up 

for email alerts, you will be notified 

when comments are posted or a final 

rule is published. 

List of Subjects in 33 CFR Part 117 

Bridges. 

For the reasons discussed in the 

preamble, the Coast Guard proposes to 

amend 33 CFR part 117 as follows: 

PART 117—DRAWBRIDGE 

OPERATION REGULATIONS 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 117 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 33 U.S.C. 499; 33 CFR 1.05–1; 

Department of Homeland Security Delegation 

No. 0170.1. 

■ 2. Amend § 117.899 by revising 

paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) to read as 

follows: 

§ 117.899 Youngs Bay and Lewis and 

Clark River. 

(a) The draw of the US101 New 

Youngs Bay highway bridge, mile 0.7, 

across Youngs Bay at Smith Point, shall 

open on signal for the passage of vessels 

if at least one half-hour notice is given 

to the draw tender at the Lewis and 

Clark River Bridge by marine radio, 

telephone, or other suitable means from 

7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. 

During all other times, including 

weekends from 5 p.m. on Friday until 

7 a.m. on Monday, and all Federal 

holidays but Columbus Day, the draw 

shall open on signal if at least a twohour notice is given to the draw tender 

by telephone. The opening signal shall 

be two prolonged blasts followed by one 

short blast. 

(b) The draw of the Oregon State Old 

Youngs Bay highway bridge, mile 2.4, 

across Youngs Bay foot of Fifth Street, 

shall open on signal for the passage of 

vessels if at least one half-hour notice is 

given to the draw tender at the Lewis 

and Clark River Bridge by marine radio, 

telephone, or other suitable means from 

7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. 

During all other times, including 

weekends from 5 p.m. on Friday until 

7 a.m. on Monday and Federal holidays 

with the exception of Columbus Day, 

the draw shall open on signal if at least 

a two-hour notice is given to the draw 

tender by telephone. The opening signal 

shall be two prolonged blasts followed 

by one short blast. 

(c) The draw of the Oregon State 

Lewis and Clark River highway bridge, 

mile 1.0, across the Lewis and Clark 

River, shall open on signal for the 

passage of vessels if at least one halfhour notice is given by marine radio, 

telephone, or other suitable means from 

7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. 

During all other times, including 

weekends from 5 p.m. on Friday until 

7 a.m. on Monday and Federal holidays 

but Columbus Day, the draw shall open 

on signal if at least a two-hour notice is 

given to the draw tender by telephone. 

The opening signal shall be two 

prolonged blasts followed by one short 

blast. 

David G. Throop, 

Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard, Commander, 

Thirteenth Coast Guard District. 

[FR Doc. 2018–27526 Filed 12–19–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–04–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 1552 

[EPA–HQ–OARM–2018–0742; FRL 9987–89– 

OARM] 

Environmental Protection Agency 

Acquisition Regulation (EPAAR) 

Clause Update for Submission of 

Invoices 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is revising its Submission 

of Invoices clause to add electronic 

invoicing requirements. In 2019 the EPA 

will begin using the Invoice Processing 

Platform (IPP), which is a secure webbased service provided by the U.S. 

Treasury that efficiently manages 

government invoicing. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before February 19, 2019. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ– 

OARM–2018–0742, at https://

www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Once submitted, comments cannot be 

edited or removed from Regulations.gov. 

The EPA may publish any comment 

received to its public docket. Do not 

submit electronically any information 

you consider to be Confidential 

Business Information (CBI) or other 

information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. Multimedia 

submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be 

accompanied by a written comment. 

The written comment is considered the 

official comment and should include 

discussion of all points you wish to 

make. The EPA will generally not 

consider comments or comment 

contents located outside of the primary 

submission (i.e. on the web, cloud, or 

other file sharing system). For 

additional submission methods, the full 

EPA public comment policy, 

information about CBI or multimedia 

submissions, and general guidance on 

making effective comments, please visit 

https://www2.epa.gov/dockets/ 

commenting-epa-dockets. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Thomas Valentino, Policy, Training and 

Oversight Division, Acquisition Policy 

and Training Branch (3802R), 

Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 

Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 

20460; telephone number: (202) 564– 

4522; email address: valentino.thomas@

epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information 

1. Submitting Classified Business 

Information. Do not submit CBI to EPA 

website https://www.regulations.gov or 

email. Clearly mark the part or all of the 

information that you claim to be CBI. 

For CBI information in a disk or CD– 

ROM that you mail to EPA, mark the 

outside of the disk or CD–ROM as CBI, 

and then identify electronically within 

the disk or CD–ROM the specific 

information that is claimed as CBI. In 

addition to one complete version of the 

comment that includes information 

claimed as CBI, a copy of the comment 

that does not contain the information 

claimed as CBI must be submitted for 

inclusion in the public docket. 

Information so marked will not be 


khammond on DSK30JT082PROD with PROPOSAL
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 244 / Thursday, December 20, 2018 / Proposed Rules 65329 

disclosed except in accordance with 

procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2. 

2. Tips for Preparing Your Comments. 

When submitting comments, remember 

to: 

D Identify the rulemaking by docket 

number and other identifying 

information (subject heading, Federal 

Register date and page number). 

D Follow directions—The Agency 

may ask you to respond to specific 

questions or organize comments by 

referencing a Code of Federal 

Regulations (CFR) Part or section 

number. 

D Explain why you agree or disagree, 

suggest alternatives, and substitute 

language for your requested changes. 

D Describe any assumptions and 

provide any technical information and/ 

or data that you used. 

D If you estimate potential costs or 

burdens, explain how you arrived at 

your estimate in sufficient detail to 

allow for it to be reproduced. 

D Provide specific examples to 

illustrate your concerns, and suggest 

alternatives. 

D Explain your views as clearly as 

possible, avoiding the use of profanity 

or personal threats. 

D Make sure to submit your comments 

by the comment period deadline 

identified. 

II. Background 

The EPA is revising clause 1552.232– 

70, Submission of Invoices, to add 

electronic invoicing requirements. On 

September 13, 2018, the EPA issued a 

direct final rule in 83 FR 46418 that in 

part revised the subject clause to 

incorporate a 1996 class deviation and 

make minor administrative updates. 

This proposed rule revises the clause 

again since the EPA will begin using the 

Invoice Processing Platform (IPP) in 

2019, which is a secure web-based 

service provided by the U.S. Treasury 

that efficiently manages government 

invoicing. Currently the EPA requires 

contractors and vendors to submit paper 

invoices, which are inefficient and 

costly. The EPA will also begin using 

IPP to satisfy the requirements of Office 

of Management and Budget (OMB) 

Memorandum M–15–19, Improving 

Government Efficiency and Saving 

Taxpayer Dollars Through Electronic 

Invoicing. By changing the subject 

clause to require electronic invoicing, 

the EPA will reap benefits of efficiency 

and cost that have become ubiquitous in 

modern commerce, and be in 

compliance with Memorandum M–15– 

19. 

III. Proposed Rule 

The proposed rule proposes to amend 

EPAAR Part 1552, Solicitation 

Provisions and Contract Clauses, by 

revising EPAAR § 1552.232–70, 

Submission of Invoices. 

1. EPAAR § 1552.232–70, Submission 

of Invoices clause is revised to provide 

new electronic invoicing requirements 

as the EPA begins using the IPP 

electronic-invoicing program in 2019. 

The clause is revised by replacing the 

current preamble and paragraphs (a) and 

(b) with new paragraphs (a) and (b), that 

update the old paper invoicing 

instructions to electronic invoicing. 

Paragraph (g)(5) is being revised to 

remove references to suspended costs, 

which are not authorized under IPP. 

The ‘‘Note to paragraph (i)’’ and ‘‘Note 

to paragraph (j)’’ are also being revised 

to remove references to suspended 

costs. Finally, paragraph (k) and ‘‘Note 

to paragraph (k)’’ are being removed 

because suspended costs are not 

allowed under IPP, which re-letters the 

last three paragraphs redesignating 

paragraphs (l) through (n) as paragraphs 

(k) through (m), respectively. 

IV. Statutory and Executive Orders 

Reviews 

A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory 

Planning and Review and Executive 

Order 13563: Improving Regulation and 

Regulatory Review 

This action is not a ‘‘significant 

regulatory action’’ under the terms of 

Executive Order (E.O.) 12866 (58 FR 

51735, October 4, 1993) and is therefore 

not subject to review under the E.O. 

B. Paperwork Reduction Act 

This action does not impose an 

information collection burden under the 

provisions of the Paperwork Reduction 

Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq. Burden is 

defined at 5 CFR 1320.3(b). 

C. Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), as 

Amended by the Small Business 

Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 

1996 (SBREFA), 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq. 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act 

generally requires an agency to prepare 

a regulatory flexibility analysis of any 

rule subject to notice and comment 

rulemaking requirements under the 

Administrative Procedure Act or any 

other statute; unless the agency certifies 

that the rule will not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities. Small entities 

include small businesses, small 

organizations, and small governmental 

jurisdictions. For purposes of assessing 

the impact of this final rule on small 

entities, ‘‘small entity’’ is defined as: (1) 

A small business that meets the 

definition of a small business found in 

the Small Business Act and codified at 

13 CFR 121.201; (2) a small 

governmental jurisdiction that is a 

government of a city, county, town, 

school district or special district with a 

population of less than 50,000; or (3) a 

small organization that is any not-forprofit enterprise which is independently 

owned and operated and is not 

dominant in its field. After considering 

the economic impacts of this rule on 

small entities, I certify that this action 

will not have a significant economic 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities. In determining whether a rule 

has a significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities, the 

impact of concern is any significant 

adverse economic impact on small 

entities, because the primary purpose of 

the regulatory flexibility analyses is to 

identify and address regulatory 

alternatives ‘‘which minimize any 

significant economic impact of the 

proposed rule on small entities’’ 5 

U.S.C. 503 and 604. Thus, an agency 

may certify that a rule will not have a 

significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities if 

the rule relieves regulatory burden, or 

otherwise has a positive economic effect 

on all of the small entities subject to the 

rule. This action revises an existing 

EPAAR clause that will not have a 

significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities. We 

continue to be interested in the 

potential impacts of the rule on small 

entities and welcome comments on 

issues related to such impacts. 

D. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

Title II of the Unfunded Mandates 

Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA, Public Law 

104–4, establishes requirements for 

Federal agencies to assess the effects of 

their regulatory actions on State, Local, 

and Tribal governments and the private 

sector. This rule contains no Federal 

mandates (under the regulatory 

provisions of the Title II of the UMRA) 

for State, Local, and Tribal governments 

or the private sector. The rule imposes 

no enforceable duty on any State, Local 

or Tribal governments or the private 

sector. Thus, the rule is not subject to 

the requirements of sections 202 and 

205 of the UMRA. 

E. Executive Order 13132: Federalism 

Executive Order 13132, entitled 

‘‘Federalism’’ (64 FR 43255, August 10, 

1999), requires EPA to develop an 

accountable process to ensure 

‘‘meaningful and timely input by State 

and Local officials in the development 

of regulatory policies that have 


khammond on DSK30JT082PROD with PROPOSAL
65330 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 244 / Thursday, December 20, 2018 / Proposed Rules 

federalism implications. ‘‘Policies that 

have federalism implications’’ is 

defined in the Executive Order to 

include regulations that have 

‘‘substantial direct effects on the States, 

on the relationship between the national 

government and the States, or on the 

distribution of power and 

responsibilities among the various 

levels of government.’’ This rule does 

not have federalism implications. It will 

not have substantial direct effects on the 

States, on the relationship between the 

national government and the States, or 

on the distribution of power and 

responsibilities among the various 

levels of government as specified in 

Executive Order 13132. 

F. Executive Order 13175: Consultation 

and Coordination With Indian Tribal 

Governments 

Executive Order 13175, entitled 

‘‘Consultation and Coordination with 

Indian Tribal Governments’’ (65 FR 

67249, November 9, 2000), requires EPA 

to develop an accountable process to 

ensure ‘‘meaningful and timely input by 

tribal officials in the development of 

regulatory policies that have tribal 

implications.’’ This rule does not have 

tribal implications as specified in 

Executive Order 13175. 

G. Executive Order 13045: Protection of 

Children From Environmental Health 

and Safety Risks 

Executive Order 13045, entitled 

‘‘Protection of Children from 

Environmental Health and Safety Risks’’ 

(62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997), applies 

to any rule that: (1) Is determined to be 

economically significant as defined 

under E.O. 12886, and (2) concerns an 

environmental health or safety risk that 

may have a proportionate effect on 

children. This rule is not subject to E.O. 

13045 because it is not an economically 

significant rule as defined by Executive 

Order 12866, and because it does not 

involve decisions on environment 

health or safety risks. 

H. Executive Order 13211: Actions That 

Significantly Affect Energy Supply, 

Distribution, or Use 

This action is not subject to Executive 

Order 13211, ‘‘Actions Concerning 

Regulations That Significantly Affect 

Energy Supply, Distribution or Use’’ (66 

FR 28335 (May 22, 2001), because it is 

not a significant regulatory action under 

Executive Order 12866. 

I. National Technology Transfer and 

Advancement Act of 1995 (NTTAA) 

Section 12(d) (15 U.S.C. 272 note) of 

the National Technology Transfer and 

Advancement Act of 1995, Public Law 

104–113, directs EPA to use voluntary 

consensus standards in its regulatory 

activities unless to do so would be 

inconsistent with applicable law or 

otherwise impractical. Voluntary 

consensus standards are technical 

standards (e.g., materials specifications, 

test methods, sampling procedures and 

business practices) that are developed or 

adopted by voluntary consensus 

standards bodies. The NTTAA directs 

EPA to provide Congress, through OMB, 

explanations when the Agency decides 

not to use available and applicable 

voluntary consensus standards. This 

action does not involve technical 

standards. Therefore, EPA is not 

considering the use of any voluntary 

consensus standards. 

J. Executive Order 12898: Federal 

Actions To Address Environmental 

Justice in Minority Populations and 

Low-Income Populations 

Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629 

(February 16, 1994) establishes federal 

executive policy on environmental 

justice. Its main provision directs 

federal agencies, to the greatest extent 

practicable and permitted by law, to 

make environmental justice part of their 

mission by identifying and addressing, 

as appropriate, disproportionately high 

and adverse human health or 

environmental effects of their programs, 

policies, and activities on minority 

populations and low-income 

populations in the United States. EPA 

has determined that this proposed rule 

will not have disproportionately high 

and adverse human health or 

environmental effects on minority or 

low-income populations because it does 

not affect the level of protection 

provided to human health or the 

environment in the general public. 

K. Congressional Review Act 

The Congressional Review Act, 5 

U.S.C. 801 et seq., as added by the Small 

Business Regulatory Enforcement 

Fairness Act of 1996, generally provides 

that before a major 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. Section 804(2) 

defines a ‘‘major rule’’ as any rule that 

the Administrator of the Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs of 

the Office of Management and Budget 

finds has resulted in or is likely to result 

in (1) an annual effect on the economy 

of $100,000,000 or more; (2) a major 

increase in costs or prices for 

consumers, individual industries, 

Federal, State, or local government 

agencies, or geographic regions; or (3) 

significant adverse effects on 

competition, employment, investment, 

productivity, innovation, or on the 

ability of United States-based 

enterprises to compete with foreignbased enterprises in domestic and 

export markets. EPA is not required to 

submit a rule report regarding this 

action under section 801 as this is not 

a major rule by definition. 

List of Subjects in 48 CFR Part 1552 

Environmental protection, 

Solicitation provisions and contract 

clauses. 

Dated: December 3, 2018. 

Kimberly Y. Patrick, 

Director, Office of Acquisition Solutions. 

For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, EPA proposes to amend 48 

CFR part 1552 as follows: 

PART 1552—SOLICITATION 

PROVISIONS AND CONTRACT 

CLAUSES 

■ 1. Authority: The authority citation 

for part 1552 continues to read as 

follows: 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301 and 41 U.S.C. 

418b. 

■ 2. Section 1552.232–70 is amended 

by: 

■ a. Revising paragraphs (a), (b), and 

(g)(5); 

■ b. Revising ‘‘Note to paragraph (i)’’ 

and ‘‘Note to paragraph (j)’’; 

■ c. Removing paragraph (k) and ‘‘Note 

to paragraph (k)’’; and 

■ d. Redesignating paragraphs (l) 

through (n) as paragraphs (k) through 

(m). 

The revisions read as follows: 

§ 1552.232–70 Submission of invoices. 

* * * * * 

(a) Electronic invoicing and the 

Invoice Processing Platform (IPP)— 

(1) Definitions. As used in this 

clause— 

‘‘Contract financing payment’’ and 

‘‘invoice payment’’ are defined in 

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 

32.001. 

‘‘Electronic form’’ means an 

automated system that transmits 

information electronically from the 

initiating system to all affected systems. 

Facsimile, email, and scanned 

documents are not acceptable electronic 

forms for submission of payment 

requests. However, scanned documents 

are acceptable when they are part of a 

submission of a payment request made 

using Invoice Processing Platform or 

another electronic form authorized by 

the Contracting Officer. 

‘‘Payment request’’ means any request 

for contract financing payment or 


khammond on DSK30JT082PROD with PROPOSAL
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 244 / Thursday, December 20, 2018 / Proposed Rules 65331 

invoice payment submitted by the 

Contractor under this contract. 

(2) (i) Except as provided in paragraph 

(c) of this clause, the Contractor shall 

submit invoices using the electronic 

invoicing program Invoice Processing 

Platform (IPP), which is a secure webbased service provided by the U.S. 

Treasury that more efficiently manages 

government invoicing. 

(ii) Under this contract, the following 

documents are required to be submitted 

as an attachment to the IPP invoice: 

(This is a fill-in for acceptable types of 

required documentation, such as an SF 

1034 and 1035, or an invoice/selfdesigned form on company letterhead 

that contains the required information.) 

(iii) The Contractor’s Government 

Business Point of Contact (as listed in 

System for Award Management (SAM)) 

will receive enrollment instructions via 

email from the IPP. The Contractor must 

register within 3 to 5 days of receipt of 

such email from IPP. 

(iv) Contractor assistance with 

enrollment can be obtained by 

contacting the IPP Production Helpdesk 

via email at IPPCustomerSupport@

fiscal.treasury.gov or by telephone at 

(866) 973–3131. 

(3) If the Contractor is unable to 

comply with the requirement to use IPP 

for submitting invoices for payment, the 

Contractor shall submit a waiver request 

in writing to the Contracting Officer. 

The Contractor may submit an invoice 

using other than IPP only when— 

(i) The Contracting Officer 

administering the contract for payment 

has determined, in writing, that 

electronic submission would be unduly 

burdensome to the Contractor; and in 

such cases, the Contracting Officer shall 

modify the contract to include a copy of 

the Determination; or 

(ii) When the Governmentwide 

commercial purchase card is used as the 

method of payment. 

(4) The Contractor shall submit any 

non-electronic payment requests using 

the method or methods specified in 

Section G of the contract. 

(5) In addition to the requirements of 

this clause, the Contractor shall meet 

the requirements of the appropriate 

payment clauses in this contract when 

submitting payment requests. 

(6) Invoices submitted through IPP 

will be either rejected, or accepted and 

paid, in their entirety, and will not be 

paid on a partial basis. 

(b) The Contractor shall prepare its 

invoice or request for contract financing 

payment in accordance with FAR 

32.905 on the prescribed Government 

forms, or the Contractor may submit 

self-designed forms which contain the 

required information. Standard Form 

1034, Public Voucher for Purchases and 

Services other than Personal, is 

prescribed for used by contractors to 

show the amount claimed for 

reimbursement. Standard Form 1035, 

Public Voucher for Purchases and 

Services other than Personal— 

Continuation Sheet, is prescribed for 

use to furnish the necessary supporting 

detail or additional information 

required by the Contracting Officer. 

* * * * * 

(g) * * * 

(5) Voucher Number—Insert the 

appropriate serial number of the 

voucher. A separate series of 

consecutive numbers, beginning with 

Number 1, shall be used by the 

contractor for each new contract. For an 

adjustment invoice, write ‘‘[invoice 

number] #Adj’’ at the voucher number. 

For a final invoice, put invoice number 

F. For a completion invoice, put invoice 

number #C. 

* * * * * 

Note to paragraph (i)—Any costs 

requiring advance consent by the Contracting 

Officer will be considered improper and will 

be disallowed, if claimed prior to receipt of 

Contracting Officer consent. Include the total 

cost claimed for the current and cumulativeto-date periods. After the total amount 

claimed, provide summary dollar amounts 

disallowed on the contract as of the date of 

the invoice. Also include an explanation of 

the changes in cumulative costs disallowed 

by addressing each adjustment in terms of: 

Voucher number, date, dollar amount, 

source, and reason for the adjustment. 

Disallowed costs should be identified in 

unallowable accounts in the contractor’s 

accounting system. 

* * * * * 

Note to paragraph (j)—Any costs 

requiring advance consent by the Contracting 

Officer will be considered improper and will 

be disallowed, if claimed prior to receipt of 

Contracting Officer consent. Include the total 

cost claimed for the current and cumulativeto-date periods. After the total amount 

claimed, provide summary dollar amounts 

disallowed on the contract as of the date of 

the invoice. Also include an explanation of 

the changes in cumulative costs disallowed 

by addressing each adjustment in terms of: 

Voucher number, date, dollar amount, 

source, and reason for the adjustment. 

Disallowed costs should be identified in 

unallowable accounts in the contractor’s 

accounting system. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2018–27478 Filed 12–19–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services 

42 CFR Part 488 

[CMS–3367–NC] 

RIN 0938–AT84 

Medicare Program: Accrediting 

Organizations Conflict of Interest and 

Consulting Services; Request for 

Information 

AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services (CMS), HHS. 

ACTION: Request for information. 

SUMMARY: This request for information 

(RFI) seeks public comment regarding 

the appropriateness of the practices of 

some Medicare-approved Accrediting 

Organizations (AOs) to provide feebased consultative services for 

Medicare-participating providers and 

suppliers as part of their business 

model. We wish to determine whether 

AO practices of consulting with the 

same facilities which they accredit 

under their CMS approval could create 

actual or perceived conflicts of interest 

between the accreditation and 

consultative entities. We intend to 

consider information received in 

response to this RFI to assist in future 

rulemaking. 

DATES: 

Comments: To be assured 

consideration, comments must be 

received at one of the addresses 

provided below, no later than 5 p.m. on 

February 19, 2019. 

ADDRESSES: In commenting, refer to file 

code CMS–3367–NC. Because of staff 

and resource limitations, we cannot 

accept comments by facsimile (FAX) 

transmission. 

Comments, including mass comment 

submissions, must be submitted in one 

of the following three ways (please 

choose only one of the ways listed): 

1. Electronically. You may submit 

electronic comments on this RFI to 

http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

‘‘Submit a comment’’ instructions. 

2. By regular mail. You may mail 

written comments to the following 

address ONLY: Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services, Department of 

Health and Human Services, Attention: 

CMS–3367–NC, P.O. Box 8016, 

Baltimore, MD 21244–8010. 

Please allow sufficient time for mailed 

comments to be received before the 

close of the comment period. 

3. By express or overnight mail. You 

may send written comments to the 


khammond on DSK30JT082PROD with PROPOSAL