This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

19885 

Vol. 80, No. 71 

Tuesday, April 14, 2015 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

10 CFR Parts 429, 430 and 431 

[Docket No. EERE–2013–BT–NOC–0005] 

Appliance Standards and Rulemaking 

Federal Advisory Committee: Notice of 

Open Meeting and Webinar 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, Department of 

Energy. 

ACTION: Notice of open meeting and 

webinar. 

SUMMARY: This notice announces a 

meeting of the Appliance Standards and 

Rulemaking Federal Advisory 

Committee (ASRAC). The Federal 

Advisory Committee Act requires that 

agencies publish notice of an advisory 

committee meeting in the Federal 

Register. 

DATES: Meeting and Webinar: Thursday, 

April 30, 2015, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. 

ADDRESSES: U.S. Department of Energy, 

Forrestal Building, Room 4A–104, 1000 

Independence Avenue SW., 

Washington, DC 20585. For individuals 

that wish to attend by webinar, please 

register at—http://energy.gov/eere/

buildings/appliance-standards-andrulemaking-federal-advisory-committee. 

After registering you will receive an 

email with the appropriate link to join 

the meeting and the necessary call-in 

information. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John 

Cymbalsky, ASRAC Designated Federal 

Officer, U.S. Department of Energy 

(DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, 950 L’Enfant Plaza 

SW., Washington, DC 20024. Email: 

asrac@ee.doe.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose of Meeting: To provide 

advice and recommendations to the 

Energy Department on the development 

of standards and test procedures for 

residential appliances and commercial 

equipment. 

Tentative Agenda: (Subject to change; 

final agenda will be posted at http://

www.regulations.gov/

#!docketDetail;D=EERE-2013-BT-NOC0005): 

• Discussion and prioritization of 

topic areas that ASRAC can assist the 

Appliance and Equipment Standards 

Program 

• Discussion of options to engage the 

public under DOE’s retrospective 

regulatory review plan 

Public Participation: Members of the 

public are welcome to observe the 

business of the meeting and, if time 

allows, may make oral statements 

during the specified period for public 

comment. To attend the meeting and/or 

to make oral statements regarding any of 

the items on the agenda, email asrac@

ee.doe.gov. In the email, please indicate 

your name, organization (if appropriate), 

citizenship, and contact information. 

Please note that foreign nationals 

participating in the public meeting are 

subject to advance security screening 

procedures which require advance 

notice prior to attendance at the public 

meeting. If a foreign national wishes to 

participate in the public meeting, please 

inform DOE as soon as possible by 

contacting Ms. Regina Washington at 

(202) 586–1214 or by email: 

Regina.Washington@ee.doe.gov so that 

the necessary procedures can be 

completed. Anyone attending the 

meeting will be required to present a 

government photo identification, such 

as a passport, driver’s license, or 

government identification. Due to the 

required security screening upon entry, 

individuals attending should arrive 

early to allow for the extra time needed. 

Due to the REAL ID Act implemented 

by the Department of Homeland 

Security (DHS) recent changes regarding 

ID requirements for individuals wishing 

to enter Federal buildings from specific 

states and U.S. territories. Driver’s 

licenses from the following states or 

territory will not be accepted for 

building entry and one of the alternate 

forms of ID listed below will be 

required. 

DHS has determined that regular 

driver’s licenses (and ID cards) from the 

following jurisdictions are not 

acceptable for entry into DOE facilities: 

Alaska, Louisiana, New York, American 

Samoa, Maine, Oklahoma, Arizona, 

Massachusetts, Washington, and 

Minnesota. 

Acceptable alternate forms of PhotoID include: U.S. Passport or Passport 

Card; An Enhanced Driver’s License or 

Enhanced ID-Card issued by the states 

of Minnesota, New York or Washington 

(Enhanced licenses issued by these 

states are clearly marked Enhanced or 

Enhanced Driver’s License); A military 

ID or other Federal government issued 

Photo-ID card. 

Members of the public will be heard 

in the order in which they sign up for 

the Public Comment Period. Time 

allotted per speaker will depend on the 

number of individuals who wish to 

speak but will not exceed five minutes. 

Reasonable provision will be made to 

include the scheduled oral statements 

on the agenda. The co-chairs of the 

Committee will make every effort to 

hear the views of all interested parties 

and to facilitate the orderly conduct of 

business. 

Participation in the meeting is not a 

prerequisite for submission of written 

comments. ASRAC invites written 

comments from all interested parties. 

Any comments submitted must identify 

the ASRAC, and provide docket number 

EERE–2013–BT–NOC–0005. Comments 

may be submitted using any of the 

following methods: 

1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

2. Email: ASRAC@ee.doe.gov. Include 

docket number EERE–2013–BT–NOC– 

0005 in the subject line of the message. 

3. Mail: Ms. Brenda Edwards, U.S. 

Department of Energy, Building 

Technologies Program, Mailstop EE–2J, 

1000 Independence Avenue SW., 

Washington, DC 20585–0121. If 

possible, please submit all items on a 

compact disc (CD), in which case it is 

not necessary to include printed copies. 

4. Hand Delivery/Courier: Ms. Brenda 

Edwards, U.S. Department of Energy, 

Building Technologies Program, 950 

L’Enfant Plaza SW., Suite 600, 

Washington, DC 20024. Telephone: 

(202) 586–2945. If possible, please 

submit all items on a CD, in which case 

it is not necessary to include printed 

copies. 

No telefacsimilies (faxes) will be 

accepted. 

Docket: The docket is available for 

review at www.regulations.gov, 

including Federal Register notices, 

public meeting attendee lists and 

transcripts, comments, and other 

supporting documents/materials. All 

documents in the docket are listed in 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
19886 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 71 / Tuesday, April 14, 2015 / Proposed Rules 

the www.regulations.gov index. 

However, not all documents listed in 

the index may be publicly available, 

such as information that is exempt from 

public disclosure. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on April 7, 

2015. 

Kathleen B. Hogan, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy 

Efficiency, Energy Efficiency and Renewable 

Energy. 

[FR Doc. 2015–08600 Filed 4–13–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

13 CFR Part 115 

RIN 3245–AG70 

Surety Bond Guarantee Program; 

Miscellaneous Amendments 

AGENCY: U.S. Small Business 

Administration. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: This rule proposes to change 

the regulations for SBA’s Surety Bond 

Guarantee Program in four areas. First, 

as a condition for participating in the 

Prior Approval and Preferred Programs, 

the proposal would clarify that a Surety 

must directly employ underwriting and 

claims staffs sufficient to perform and 

manage these functions, and final 

settlement authority for claims and 

recovery is vested only in salaried 

employees of the Surety. Second, the 

proposal would provide that all costs 

incurred by the Surety’s salaried claims 

staff are ineligible for reimbursement by 

SBA, but the Surety may seek 

reimbursement for amounts paid for 

specialized services that are provided by 

outside consultants in connection with 

the processing of a claim. Third, the rule 

proposes to modify the criteria for 

determining when a Principal that 

caused a Loss to SBA is ineligible for a 

bond guaranteed by SBA. Fourth, the 

rule proposes to modify the criteria for 

admitting Sureties to the Preferred 

Surety Bond Guarantee Program by 

increasing the Surety’s underwriting 

limitation, as certified by the U.S. 

Treasury Department on its list of 

acceptable sureties, from at least $2 

million to at least $6.5 million. 

DATES: SBA must receive comments to 

this proposed rule on or before June 15, 

2015. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by RIN 3245–AG70, by any of 

the following methods: (1) Federal 

eRulemaking Portal: http://

www.regulations.gov, following the 

instructions for submitting comments; 

or (2) Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier: 

Barbara J. Brannan, Office of Surety 

Guarantees, 409 Third Street SW., Suite 

8600, Washington, DC 20416. 

SBA will post all comments on 

www.regulations.gov. If you wish to 

submit confidential business 

information (CBI) as defined in the User 

Notice at www.regulations.gov, you 

must submit such information to U.S. 

Small Business Administration, Barbara 

J. Brannan, Office of Surety Guarantees, 

409 Third Street SW., Washington, DC 

20416 or send an email to 

Barbara.brannan@sba.gov. Highlight the 

information that you consider to be CBI 

and explain why you believe SBA 

should hold this information as 

confidential. SBA will review your 

information and determine whether it 

will make the information public. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Barbara J. Brannan, Office of Surety 

Guarantees, (202) 205–6545 or email: 

Barbara.brannan@sba.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Discussion of Proposed Changes 

The U.S. Small Business 

Administration (SBA) guarantees bid, 

payment and performance bonds for 

small and emerging contractors who 

cannot obtain surety bonds through 

regular commercial channels. SBA’s 

guarantee gives Sureties an incentive to 

provide bonding for small businesses 

and, thereby, assists small businesses in 

obtaining greater access to contracting 

opportunities. SBA’s guarantee is an 

agreement between a Surety and SBA 

that SBA will assume a certain 

percentage of the Surety’s loss should a 

contractor default on the underlying 

contract. 

This rule proposes to change the 

regulations governing SBA’s Surety 

Bond Guarantee Program (SBG Program) 

in four areas that have prompted 

questions from participating Sureties 

over the past year. First, the rule 

proposes to clarify that, to participate in 

the Prior Approval and Preferred 

Programs, a Surety must directly 

employ underwriting and claims staffs 

sufficient to perform and manage these 

functions. Final settlement authority for 

claims and recoveries is vested only in 

the surety’s claims staff. The current 

rules require PSB Sureties to vest final 

settlement authority for claims and 

recovery in their salaried employees, see 

13 CFR 115.60(a)(5), and this proposed 

rule would extend this requirement to 

Prior Approval Sureties. Some Prior 

Approval Sureties retain the final 

underwriting authority to approve a 

particular bond and some Prior 

Approval Sureties grant their agents this 

authority. For the latter arrangement, 

the proposed rule would clarify that 

Prior Approval Sureties must have 

salaried employees responsible for 

managing and overseeing the 

underwriting operations. In conducting 

such oversight, SBA would expect Prior 

Approval Sureties to periodically 

conduct reviews of the underwriting 

operations of their agents to ensure that 

the agent is underwriting SBAguaranteed bonds in accordance with 

the standards set forth in 13 CFR 

115.15(a). SBA is not aware that any 

Prior Approval Surety currently 

participating in the SBG Program is 

unable to satisfy this requirement, but is 

making this requirement explicit in the 

regulations for clarity and to avoid 

misunderstanding. PSB Sureties are 

currently required to vest underwriting 

authority in their salaried employees, 

see 13 CFR 115.60(a)(4), and the 

proposed rule would not affect this 

requirement. Accordingly, while PSB 

Sureties may allow their agents to 

perform the initial underwriting on a 

bond, the current rule requires that only 

the PSB Surety may execute the bond 

guarantee agreement (SBA Form 990 or 

990A). 

Second, the rule proposes to specify 

that the costs that the Surety incurs for 

its salaried claims staff are ineligible for 

reimbursement by SBA. SBA considers 

such costs to be integral to the Surety’s 

overhead, which is not eligible for 

reimbursement by SBA. See 13 CFR 

115.16(f)(1). Under the proposed rule, 

however, the Surety may seek 

reimbursement for amounts actually 

paid by the Surety for specialized 

services that are provided by an outside 

consultant, which is not an Affiliate of 

the Surety, in connection with the 

processing of a claim, provided that 

such services are beyond the capability 

of the Surety’s salaried claims staff. For 

example, to evaluate a claim, the Surety 

may need the opinion of a structural 

engineer to determine the Principal’s 

compliance with engineering 

specifications. SBA would not expect 

the Surety to directly employ a 

structural engineer, and SBA would 

approve reasonable costs to contract for 

this specialized service as part of the 

Surety’s Loss. 

Third, the rule proposes to modify the 

conditions under which a Principal, and 

its Affiliates, would be deemed 

ineligible for a bond guaranteed by SBA 

in the circumstance where the Principal 

has previously defaulted on an SBA 

guaranteed surety bond. Under the 

current rules, a Principal and its 

Affiliates are ineligible for further SBA 

bond guarantees if the Surety has 

requested reimbursement for Losses 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS