24316 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 80 / Tuesday, April 25, 2000 / Rules and Regulations

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GENERAL SERVICES

ADMINISTRATION

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND

SPACE ADMINISTRATION

48 CFR Chapter 1

Federal Acquisition Circular 97–17;

Introduction

AGENCIES: Department of Defense (DoD),

General Services Administration (GSA),

and National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA).

ACTION: Summary presentation of final

rules.

SUMMARY: This document summarizes

the Federal Acquisition Regulation

(FAR) rules issued by the Civilian

Agency Acquisition Council and the

Defense Acquisition Regulations

Council (Councils) in this Federal

Acquisition Circular (FAC) 97–17. The

Councils drafted these FAR rules using

plain language in accordance with the

White House memorandum, Plain

Language in Government Writing, dated

June 1, 1998. The Councils wrote all

new and revised text using plain

language. A companion document, the

Small Entity Compliance Guide (SECG),

follows this FAC. The FAC, including

the SECG, is available via the Internet at

http://www.arnet.gov/far.

DATES: For effective dates and comment

dates, see separate documents which

follow.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The

FAR Secretariat, Room 4035, GS

Building, Washington, DC 20405, (202)

501–4755, for information pertaining to

status or publication schedules. For

clarification of content, contact the

analyst whose name appears in the table

below in relation to each FAR case or

subject area. Please cite FAC 97–17 and

specific FAR case numbers. Interested

parties may also visit our website at

http://www.arnet.gov/far.

Item Subject FAR case Analyst

I ................ Competition under Multiple Award Contracts ........................................................................... 1999–014 De Stefano.

II ............... Determination of Price Reasonableness and Commerciality ................................................... 1998–300

(98–300)

Olson.

III .............. Caribbean Basin Trade Initiative .............................................................................................. 2000–003 Linfield.

IV ............. Utilization of Indian Organizations and Indian-Owned Economic Enterprises ......................... 1999–301

(99–301)

Moss.

V .............. Ocean Transportation by U.S.-Flag Vessels ............................................................................ 1998–604

(98–604)

Klein.

VI ............. Technical Amendments..

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Summaries for each FAR rule follow.

For the actual revisions and/or

amendments to these FAR cases, refer to

the specific item number and subject set

forth in the documents following these

item summaries.

Federal Acquisition Circular 97–17

amends the FAR as specified below:

Item I—Competition Under Multiple

Award Contracts (FAR Case 1999–014)

This rule amends FAR 2.101, Subpart

16.5, and 37.201 to clarify what the

contracting officer should consider

when planning for and placing orders

under multiple award contracts. This

rule affects all contracting officers that

award multiple award contracts or place

task or delivery orders under them. The

rule—

• Requires the contracting officer to

include the name, address, telephone

number, facsimile number, and e-mail

address of the agency task and delivery

order ombudsman in the solicitation

and contracts if multiple awards will be

made;

• Stresses key things the contracting

officer must consider when deciding if

a multiple award contract is

appropriate, such as—

• Avoiding situations in which

awardees specialize exclusively in one

or a few areas within the statement of

work;

• The scope and complexity of the

contract requirement;

• The expected duration and

frequency of task or delivery orders;

• The mix of resources a contractor

must have to perform expected task or

delivery order requirements; and

• The ability to maintain competition

among the awardees throughout the

contract’s period of performance;

• Requires contracting officers to

document their decision on whether or

not to use multiple awards in the

acquisition plan or contract file;

• Emphasizes the use of performancebased statements of work;

• Provides guidance on how to

develop tailored order placement

procedures;

• Requires contracting officers to

consider cost or price as one of the

factors in each selection decision for

orders;

• Requires contracting officers to

establish prices for each order that was

not priced under the basic contract

using the policies and methods in

Subpart 15.4; and

Requires contracting officers to

document the order placement rationale

and price in the contract file.

Item II—Determination of Price

Reasonableness and Commerciality

(FAR Case 1998–300) (98–300)

This final rule makes a minor

editorial change to FAR 15.403–3 and

converts the interim rule, which was

published in FAC 97–14 as Item VI, as

final. The editorial change amends the

cross reference at 15.403–3(c)(1). The

remainder of the interim rule that has

been in effect since September 24, 1999,

remains the same. The primary

amendments made in the interim rule

that are made final in this rule—

• Clarify procedures associated with

obtaining information other than cost or

pricing data when acquiring commercial

items; and

• Establish that offerors who fail to

comply with requirements to provide

the information shall be ineligible for

award.

Item III—Caribbean Basin Trade

Initiative (FAR Case 2000–003)

This final rule amends FAR Parts

25.003, 25.400, 25.404, and the clause at

52.225–5, Trade Agreements, to

implement the determination of the

United States Trade Representative to

renew the treatment of Caribbean Basin

country end products as eligible

products under the Trade Agreements

Act, with the exception of end products

from the Dominican Republic and

Honduras. This rule applies only if an

acquisition is subject to the Trade

Agreements Act (see FAR 25.403).

Offers of end products from the

Dominican Republic and Honduras are

no longer acceptable under such

acquisitions unless the contracting

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 80 / Tuesday, April 25, 2000 / Rules and Regulations 24317

officer does not receive any offers of

U.S.-made end products or eligible

products (designated, Caribbean Basin,

or NAFTA country end products).

Item IV—Utilization of Indian

Organizations and Indian-Owned

Economic Enterprises (FAR Case 1999–

301) (99–301)

This final rule amends FAR Subpart

26.1 and the clause at 52.226–1 to delete

DoD-unique requirements relating to

Indian Organizations and Indian-Owned

Economic Enterprises from the FAR.

Item V—Ocean Transportation by U.S.-

Flag Vessels (FAR Case 1998–604) (98–

604)

This final rule amends FAR 47.504

and the clauses at 52.212–5, 52.213–4,

and 52.247–64 to apply the preference

for U.S.-flag vessels to contracts

awarded using simplified acquisition

procedures. This rule only affects

civilian agency contracts that may

involve ocean transportation of supplies

subject to the Cargo Preference Act of

1954.

The rule also adds Alternate I of

52.247–64, Preference for Privately

Owned U.S.-Flag Commercial Vessels,

to the clause at 52.212–5, Contract

Terms and Conditions Required to

Implement Statutes or Executive

Orders—Commercial Items. Alternate I

applies when the supplies furnished

under the contract must be transported

exclusively in privately owned U.S.-flag

vessels.

Item VI—Technical Amendments

These amendments update references

and make editorial changes at sections

6.304, 31.101, 32.411, 32.502–4, 32.805,

42.1204, and 42–1205.

Dated: April 13, 2000.

Edward C. Loeb,

Director, Federal Acquisition Policy Division.

Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC)

97–17 is issued under the authority of

the Secretary of Defense, the

Administrator of General Services, and

the Administrator for the National

Aeronautics and Space Administration.

All Federal Acquisition Regulation

(FAR) changes and other directive

material contained in FAC 97–17 are

effective April 25, 2000, except for Items

IV and V, which are effective June 26,

2000. Each rule is applicable to

solicitations issued on or after the rule’s

effective date.

Dated: April 5, 2000.

R.D. Kerrins, Jr.,

Acting Director, Defense Procurement.

Dated: April 11, 2000.

Sue McIver,

Acting Deputy Associate Administrator,

Office of Acquisition Policy, General Services

Administration.

Dated: April 3, 2000.

Tom Luedtke,

Associate Administrator for Procurement,

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration.

[FR Doc. 00–10130 Filed 4–24–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6820–EP–P

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GENERAL SERVICES

ADMINISTRATION

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND

SPACE ADMINISTRATION

48 CFR Parts 2, 16, and 37

[FAC 97–17; FAR Case 1999–014; Item I]

RIN 9000–AI53

Federal Acquisition Regulation;

Competition Under Multiple Award

Contracts

AGENCIES: Department of Defense (DoD),

General Services Administration (GSA),

and National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA).

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: The Civilian Agency

Acquisition Council and the Defense

Acquisition Regulations Council

(Councils) have agreed on a final rule

amending the Federal Acquisition

Regulation (FAR) to clarify what

contracting officers should consider

when planning for multiple awards of

indefinite-delivery contracts and clarify

how orders should be placed against the

resultant contracts.

DATES: Effective Date: April 25, 2000. Applicability Date: The FAR, as

amended by this rule, is applicable to

solicitations issued on or after April 25,

2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The

FAR Secretariat, Room 4035, GS

Building, Washington, DC, 20405, (202)

501–4755, for information pertaining to

status or publication schedules. For

clarification of content, contact Mr.

Ralph De Stefano, Procurement Analyst,

at (202) 501–1758. Please cite FAC 97–

17, FAR case 1999–014.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Background

This final rule, FAR case 1999–014,

amends FAR Part 16 to provide

guidance on multiple award task and

delivery order contracts and amends

FAR Part 37 to delete a definition and

amends FAR Part 2 to insert the

definition that was deleted from Part 37.

FAR case 1999–014 is one of two cases

that implement subsections 804(a) and

(b) of the National Defense

Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000

(Pub. L. 106–65). The other case, FAR

Case 1999–303, Task Order and Delivery

Order Contracts, has been developed

and promulgation is awaiting final

review and analysis of the Report

Number GAO/NSIAD–00–56, B–281493,

March 20, 2000, recently issued by the

GAO regarding multiple award

contracts. The Councils will evaluate

the GAO report, in conjunction with the

Office of Federal Procurement Policy, to

determine what additional changes are

needed.

FAR case 1999–014—

• Clarifies what contracting officers

should consider when planning for

multiple awards of indefinite-delivery

contracts and clarifies how orders

should be placed against the resultant

contracts;

• Requires that all awardees be given

a fair opportunity to compete on every

task or delivery order placed under

multiple-award contracts, unless a

specific exception applies;

• Emphasizes key things the

contracting officer should consider

when placing orders, including

streamlined procedures; and

• Reorganizes and revises the FAR

text for ease of use.

The rule is written using plain

language in accordance with the White

House memorandum, Plain Language in

Government Writing, dated June 1,

1998.

DoD, GSA, and NASA published a

proposed rule in the Federal Register at

64 FR 70158, December 15, 1999.

Fourteen respondents provided public

comments. We considered twelve public

comments in finalizing the rule. We

received the other two public comments

more than two weeks after the closing

date for comments and after the ad hoc

committee had analyzed public

comments. We did not consider these

comments in the finalization of the rule.

This rule was not subject to Office of

Management and Budget review under

Section 6(b) of Executive Order 12866,

Regulatory Planning and Review, dated

September 30, 1993. This rule is not a

major rule under 5 U.S.C. 804.

B. Regulatory Flexibility Act

The Department of Defense, the

General Services Administration, and

the National Aeronautics and Space

Administration certify that this final