Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 153 / Tuesday, August 11, 2009 / Proposed Rules 40131 

THE FINAL RULE IN THE FEDERAL 

REGISTER]. 

Dated: August 4, 2009. 

W. Craig Fugate, 

Administrator, Federal Emergency 

Management Agency. 

[FR Doc. E9–19156 Filed 8–10–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9111–23–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

GENERAL SERVICES 

ADMINISTRATION 

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND 

SPACE ADMINISTRATION 

48 CFR Parts 2, 4, 12, 39, and 52 

[FAR Case 2008–019; Docket 2009–0018; 

Sequence 2] 

RIN 9000–AL11 

Federal Acquisition Regulation; FAR 

Case 2008–019, Authentic Information 

Technology Products 

AGENCIES: Department of Defense (DoD), 

General Services Administration (GSA), 

and National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (NASA). 

ACTION: Advanced Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking; notice of public meeting. 

SUMMARY: The Civilian Agency 

Acquisition Council and the Defense 

Acquisition Regulations Council (the 

Councils) are hosting a public meeting 

to continue a dialogue with industry 

and Government agencies about ways to 

develop greater assurance around 

information technology (IT) products 

acquired by the Government. The public 

meeting will include dialogues on the 

impact of counterfeit IT products on 

matters of performance and security; 

contractor liability and consequential 

damages; the competition aspects of 

procuring IT products from the original 

manufacturer or authorized distributors; 

viable means of representing 

authenticity of IT products; and 

contractor supply chain risk 

management requirements as an 

evaluation factor in the procurement of 

IT products. 

DATES: August 13, 2009, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

EST. 

ADDRESSES: See SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION section for public meeting 

address. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Ernest Woodson, Procurement Analyst, 

at (202) 501–3775 for clarification of 

content. For information pertaining to 

status or publication schedules, contact 

the Regulatory Secretariat at (202) 501– 

4755. Please cite FAR case 2008–019. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Public Meeting Address 

The meeting will be held at the 

General Services Administration (GSA), 

1800 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 

20405. The meeting will be held in the 

GSA Auditorium. 

Interested parties are encouraged to 

arrive at least 30 minutes early to 

accommodate security procedures. 

If you wish to make a presentation on 

any of the topics, please contact and 

submit a copy of your presentation prior 

to the meeting, to the General Services 

Administration, Contract Policy 

Division (VPC), 1800 F Street, NW, 

Room 4040, Attn: Ernest Woodson, 

Washington, DC 20405. Telephone: 

202–501–3775. 

Submit electronic materials via e-mail 

to ernest.woodson@gsa.gov. Please 

submit presentations only and cite 

Public Meeting IT Products Continued 

Dialogue in all correspondence related 

to the public meeting. The submitted 

presentations will be the only record of 

the public meeting. 

Call-in Information: Parties interested 

in participating by phone may dial (877) 

924–8049, passcode 5363978. Interested 

parties calling in will not be allowed to 

present or participate in the question 

and answer session during a public 

meeting. Phone lines have been reserved 

for the first 100 callers. 

Special Accommodations: The public 

meeting is physically accessible to 

people with disabilities. Request for 

sign language interpretation or other 

auxiliary aids should be directed to 

Ernest Woodson, at 202–501–3775, at 

least 2–working days prior to the 

meeting date. 

B. Background 

On December 11, 2008, the Councils 

conducted a public meeting (see Federal 

Register notice at 73 FR 68373–68375 

on November 18, 2008) to seek 

comments from both Government and 

industry, on among other things, 

whether the Federal Acquisition 

Regulation (FAR) should be revised to 

include a requirement that contractors 

selling IT products (including computer 

hardware and software) represent that 

such products are authentic. The 

Councils were interested in comments 

regarding contractor liability if IT 

products sold to the Government by 

contractor are not authentic, and 

whether contractors who are resellers or 

distributors of computer hardware and 

software should represent to the 

Government that they are authorized by 

the original equipment manufacturer 

(OEM) to sell IT products to the 

Government. The comment period 

closed January 20, 2009. 

While comments received will be 

considered in the preparation of a 

proposed rule, the public meeting 

contemplated by this notice and those 

conducted June 23, July 15 and 22, 2009 

(see Federal Register notice at 74 FR 

26646–26647 on June 3, 2009), will 

continue a dialogue with industry and 

Government agencies on the impact of 

counterfeit IT products on matters of 

performance and security; contractor 

liability and consequential damages; the 

competition aspects of procuring IT 

products from the original or authorized 

distributors; viable means of 

representing authenticity of IT products; 

and contractor supply chain risk 

management requirements as an 

evaluation factor in the procurement of 

IT products. 

The public meeting is intended to 

provide for an exchange of information 

and ideas that may be used to assist in 

developing greater assurance around 

information technology products 

acquired by the Government. While the 

focus of this notice is IT products, 

public meeting comments/presentations 

are invited on (1) whether the measures 

proposed herein should be expanded to 

include other items sold to the 

Government, such as Electrical, 

Electronic, and Electromechanical parts; 

(2) whether the rule should apply when 

IT is a component of a system or 

assembled product; and (3) whether 

vendors, distributors, and 

manufacturers of IT products and other 

items sold to the Government should be 

prequalified based on specific standards 

of testing, quality, traceability, integrity, 

and etc., before they are allowed to sell 

to the Government. 

The Councils are particularly 

interested in hearing how industry 

participants can maintain the integrity 

of the supply chain while providing 

Government customers with a variety of 

cost effective and reliable sources. 

Previous meetings initiated discussion 

of how various trade associations and 

other representative groups could 

propose to police member organizations 

or provide some auditable certification 

or declaration program that provides 

Government customers with uniform, 

reasonable assurance that purchased 

products and subcomponents are not 

counterfeit. 

List of Subjects in 48 CFR Parts 2, 4, 12, 

39, and 52 

Government procurement. 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with PROPOSALS
40132 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 153 / Tuesday, August 11, 2009 / Proposed Rules 

Date: August 5, 2009. 

Al Matera, 

Director, Office of Acquisition Policy. 

[FR Doc. E9–19171 Filed 8–10–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6820–EP–S 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

50 CFR Part 17 

[Docket No. FWS–R2–ES–2009–0041] [MO– 

922105 0083–B2] 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; 90-Day Finding on a 

Petition To List the Jemez Mountains 

Salamander (Plethodon 

neomexicanus) as Threatened or 

Endangered With Critical Habitat 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of 90–day petition 

finding and initiation of a status review. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 

90–day finding on a petition to list the 

Jemez Mountains salamander 

(Plethodon neomexicanus) (salamander) 

as threatened or endangered and 

designate critical habitat under the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended. Following a review of the 

petition, we find that the petition 

provides substantial scientific or 

commercial information indicating that 

listing the Jemez Mountains salamander 

may be warranted. Therefore, with the 

publication of this notice, we are 

initiating a status review of the species 

to determine if the petitioned action is 

warranted. To ensure that the status 

review is comprehensive, we are 

soliciting scientific and commercial data 

and other information regarding this 

species. At the conclusion of this 

review, we will issue a 12–month 

finding to determine if the petitioned 

action is warranted. We will make a 

determination on critical habitat for this 

species if we initiate a listing action. 

DATES: We made the finding announced 

in this document on August 11, 2009. 

To allow us adequate time to conduct 

this review, we request that we receive 

information on or before October 13, 

2009. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit 

information by one of the following 

methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Search for docket 

FWS–R2–ES–2009–0041 and then 

follow the instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• U.S. mail or hand-delivery: Public 

Comments Processing, Attn: FWS–R2– 

ES–2009–0041; Division of Policy and 

Directives Management; U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service; 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, 

Suite 222; Arlington, VA 22203. 

We will post all information received 

on http://www.regulations.gov. This 

generally means that we will post any 

personal information you provide us 

(see the Information Solicited section 

below for more details). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Wally ‘‘J’’ Murphy, Field Supervisor, 

New Mexico Ecological Services Office, 

2105 Osuna NE, Albuquerque, NM 

87113, by telephone (505–346–2525) or 

by facsimile (505–346–2542). Persons 

who use a telecommunications device 

for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal 

Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 

800–877–8339. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Information Solicited 

When we make a finding that a 

petition presents substantial 

information indicating that listing a 

species may be warranted, we are 

required to promptly commence a 

review of the status of the species. To 

ensure that the status review is 

complete and based on the best 

available scientific and commercial 

information, we are soliciting 

information on the status of the Jemez 

Mountains salamander. We request 

information from the public, other 

concerned governmental agencies, 

Native American Tribes, the scientific 

community, industry, or any other 

interested parties concerning the status 

of the salamander. We are seeking 

information regarding: 

(1) The historical and current status 

and distribution of the Jemez Mountains 

salamander, its biology and ecology, and 

ongoing conservation measures for the 

species and its habitat; 

(2) The species’ population size and 

population trend; 

(3) Its taxonomy; and 

(4) Information relevant to the factors 

that are the basis for making a listing 

determination for a species under 

section 4(a) of the Endangered Species 

Act of 1973, as amended (Act) (16 

U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), which are: 

(a) The present or threatened 

destruction, modification, or 

curtailment of the species’ habitat or 

range; 

(b) Overutilization for commercial, 

recreational, scientific, or educational 

purposes; 

(c) Disease or predation; 

(d) The inadequacy of existing 

regulatory mechanisms; or 

(e) Other natural or manmade factors 

affecting its continued existence and 

threats to the species or its habitat. 

In this finding, we have identified 

gaps in the information provided in the 

petition to help to focus the public on 

areas where we would like relevant data 

submitted. If we determine that listing 

the Jemez Mountains salamander is 

warranted, we intend to propose critical 

habitat to the maximum extent prudent 

and determinable at the time we 

propose to list the species. Therefore, 

with regard to areas within the 

geographical range currently occupied 

by the salamander, we also request data 

and information on what may constitute 

physical or biological features essential 

to the conservation of the species, where 

these features are currently found, and 

whether any of these features may 

require special management 

considerations or protection. In 

addition, we request data and 

information regarding whether there are 

areas outside the geographical area 

occupied by the species that are 

essential to the conservation of the 

species. Please provide specific 

comments and information as to what, 

if any, critical habitat you think we 

should propose for designation if the 

species is proposed for listing, and why 

such habitat meets the requirements of 

the Act. 

We will base our 12–month finding 

on a review of the best scientific and 

commercial information available, 

including all information received 

during this public comment period. 

Please note that submissions merely 

stating support for or opposition to the 

action under consideration, without 

providing supporting information, 

although noted, will not be considered 

in making a determination, as section 

4(b)(1)(A) of the Act directs that 

determinations as to whether any 

species is a threatened or endangered 

species must be made ‘‘solely on the 

basis of the best scientific and 

commercial data available.’’ Based on 

the status review, we will issue a 12– 

month finding on the petition, as 

provided in section 4(b)(3)(B) of the Act. 

You may submit your information 

concerning this finding by one of the 

methods listed in the ADDRESSES

section. 

If you submit information via http:// 

www.regulations.gov, your entire 

submission—including any personal 

identifying information—will be posted 

on the website. If your submission is 

made via a hardcopy that includes 

personal identifying information, you 

may request at the top of your document 

that we withhold this information from 

public review. However, we cannot 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with PROPOSALS