36012 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 109 / Tuesday, June 6, 2000 / Rules and Regulations

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GENERAL SERVICES

ADMINISTRATION

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND

SPACE ADMINISTRATION

48 CFR Chapter 1

Federal Acquisition Circular 97–18;

Introduction

AGENCIES: Department of Defense (DoD),

General Services Administration (GSA),

and National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA).

ACTION: Summary presentation of final

and interim 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) 97–18. 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 97–18 and

specific FAR case numbers. Interested

parties may also visit our website at

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

Item Subject FAR case Analyst

I Rescission of Office of Federal Procurement Policy Letters ..................................................................... 2000–605 Olson

II FAR Drafting Principles .............................................................................................................................. 1999–610 De Stefano

III Requirements Supporting Procurement of Recycled Products and Environmentally Preferable Services 1998–015

(98–015)

Linfield

IV General Records Schedules ....................................................................................................................... 1999–615 Nelson

V Federal Supply Schedules Small Business Opportunities ......................................................................... 1998–609

(98–609)

Nelson

VI Trade Agreements Thresholds ................................................................................................................... 2000–004 Linfield

VII Restrictions on Acquisitions from Yugoslavia and Afghanistan ................................................................. 1999–008 Linfield

VIII Applicability, Thresholds and Waiver of Cost Accounting Standards Coverage (Interim) ......................... 2000–301 Nelson

IX 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 97–18

amends the FAR as specified below:

Item I—Rescission of Office of Federal

Procurement Policy Letters (FAR Case

2000–605)

This final rule reflects editorial

amendments removing unnecessary

cross-references to policy letters that

were rescinded by the Office of Federal

Procurement Policy (OFPP) (65 FR

16968, March 30, 2000).

Item II—FAR Drafting Principles (FAR

Case 1999–610)

This final rule adds Federal

Acquisition Regulation drafting

principles to enhance a common

understanding of the regulation among

all members of the acquisition team and

other users. This rule affects all

contracting officers who use the FAR.

The final rule adds drafting conventions

in FAR 1.108 and amends 1.105–2,

52.101, 52.104, 52.105, and 52.200 to

reflect current FAR drafting

conventions.

Item III—Requirements Supporting

Procurement of Recycled Products and

Environmentally Preferable Services

(FAR Case 1998–015 (98–015))

This final rule implements Executive

Order 13101, Greening the Government

through Waste Prevention, Recycling,

and Federal Acquisition, dated

September 14, 1998. This rule is

significant for all contracting officers

who buy supplies, including supplies

that are furnished under a service

contract. The rule rewrites text currently

in the FAR based on earlier Executive

orders, but reorganizes and relocates

some of the text to conform to plain

language guidelines for Government

writing. The rewrite and reorganization

should make the text easier to use and

understand. The revisions also

emphasize Executive branch policies for

the acquisition of products containing

recovered material and other

environmentally preferable products

and services. The rule—

• Revises FAR Subpart 7.1 to ensure

that requirements for printing and

writing paper meet minimum content

requirements specified in the E.O.;

• Revises Subpart 11.3 to add

definitions and special requirements to

implement E.O. requirements and

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

regulations governing acquisitions of

printing and writing paper, and to

clarify that contracting officers may

include in solicitations additional

information requirements when needed

to determine if the offeror’s product

meets requirements for recycled content

or related standards;

• Clarifies in Part 13 how the

procurement requirements of the

Resource Conservation and Recovery

Act, 42 U.S.C. 6962, apply to micropurchases and acquisitions that do not

exceed $100,000; and

• Reorganizes and revises Subparts

23.4 and 23.7 and associated clauses.

Item IV—General Records Schedules

(FAR Case 1999–615)

This final rule implements National

Archives and Records Administration

General Records Schedule 3,

Procurement, Supply, and Grants

Records (NARA Schedule 3), dated

December 15, 1998. This rule affects all

contracting officers. The rule—

• Rewrites and reorganizes the text

already in the FAR to make it easier to

understand.

• Simplifies the retention table by

grouping several categories of records

that were previously treated as separate

records under more generic record

categories (e.g., the contract file or the

contract administration records).

• Deletes separate retention policy on

signed original justifications and

approvals, determinations and findings,

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 109 / Tuesday, June 6, 2000 / Rules and Regulations 36013

and rejected engineering change

proposals. Those records are retained

with the contract files shown in blocks

2 through 7 of the new retention table.

• Deletes the separate retention

period for contract status, expediting,

and production surveillance records.

Those records are retained with the

contract administration records shown

in block 7 of the new retention table.

Item V—Federal Supply Schedules

Small Business Opportunities (FAR

Case 1998–609) (98–609))

This final rule amends the Federal

Acquisition Regulation to ensure that

small businesses holding contracts

under the Federal Supply Schedules are

afforded the maximum practicable

opportunity to compete for and receive

FSS purchases. This rule affects all

ordering offices which place orders

under Federal Supply Schedule

contracts. The rule—

• Encourages ordering offices to

consider the availability of small

business concerns under the schedule

and encourages ordering offices to

consider small businesses when

conducting evaluations before placing

an order.

• Amends FAR Subpart 38.1 to

reaffirm that the General Services

Administration and agencies delegated

the authority to establish a Federal

Supply Schedule must comply with all

statutory and regulatory requirements

before issuance of a solicitation.

• Revises the FSS guidance in

accordance with the plain language

guidelines in a White House

memorandum, Plain Language in

Government Writing, dated June 1,

1998.

Item VI—Trade Agreements Thresholds

(FAR Case 2000–004)

This final rule amends FAR Subparts

25.2, 25.4, 25.6, and 25.11, and the

clauses at 52.225–11 and 52.225–12 to

implement new dollar thresholds for

application of the Trade Agreements Act

(TAA) and North American Free Trade

Agreement (NAFTA), as published by

the U.S. Trade Representative in the

Federal Register at 65 FR 17332, March

31, 2000. Contracting Officers must

review the new thresholds when

acquiring supplies, services, or

construction, in order to select the

appropriate contract clauses to

implement the Buy American Act,

Balance of Payments Program, trade

agreements, and sanctions of European

Union country end products and

services.

Item VII—Restrictions on Acquisitions

from Yugoslavia and Afghanistan (FAR

Case 1999–008)

This final rule amends FAR Subpart

25.7, section 25.1103, and the associated

clauses at 52.212–5, 52.213–4, and

52.225–13, to implement Executive

Orders 13121 and 13129. These

Executive orders, as modified by Office

of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)

General Licenses Numbers 2 and 4,

prohibit the importation into the United

States of any goods or services from

Serbia (excluding the territory of

Kosovo) or the territory of Afghanistan

controlled by the Taliban. As a matter

of policy, the Government does not

generally acquire, even for overseas use,

supplies or services that cannot be

imported lawfully into the United

States.

This rule primarily affects contracting

officers making purchases overseas, for

overseas use, because the Treasury

Department already prohibits import of

these restricted goods and services into

the United States. The rule is

particularly beneficial to contracting

officers facing unusual circumstances

overseas (such as location within a

restricted territory), explicitly providing

an exception for such circumstances.

Item VIII—Applicability, Thresholds

and Waiver of Cost Accounting

Standards Coverage (FAR Case 2000–

301)

This interim rule amends FAR Part

30, Cost Accounting Standards

Administration, and the provision at

FAR 52.230–1, Cost Accounting

Standards Notices and Certification, to

implement Section 802 of the National

Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal

Year 2000 (Pub. L. 106–65) and the Cost

Accounting Standards (CAS) Board’s

interim rule, Applicability, Thresholds

and Waiver of Cost Accounting

Standards Coverage. The FAR rule

revises policies affecting which

contractors and subcontractors must

comply with Cost Accounting

Standards. The rule—

• Amends the provision at FAR

52.230–1, Cost Accounting Standards

Notices and Certification, to remove the

requirement that a contractor or

subcontractor must have received at

least one CAS-covered contract

exceeding $1 million (‘‘trigger contract’’)

to be subject to full CAS coverage, since

the CAS Board removed this ‘‘trigger

contract’’ amount from its

corresponding solicitation provision,

Cost Accounting Standards Notices and

Certification, at 48 CFR 9903.201–3. The

CAS Board established a new ‘‘trigger

contract’’ dollar amount of $7.5 million

in the CAS applicability section of its

regulations (48 CFR 9903.201–1) rather

than in its solicitation provision. Since

FAR 30.201–1 already references this

section, no FAR changes were required

to address the new ‘‘trigger contract’’

dollar amount;

• Increases the dollar threshold for

full CAS coverage from $25 million to

$50 million; and

• Adds procedures and conditions for

agency waiver of the applicability of

CAS.

Item IX—Technical Amendments

These amendments update references

and make editorial changes at sections

3.303, 5.204, 47.504, 49.601–1, and

49.601–2.

Dated: May 26, 2000.

Edward C. Loeb,

Director, Federal Acquisition Policy Division.

Federal Acquisition Circular

Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC)

97–18 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 97–18 are

effective June 6, 2000 except for Item VII

which is effective July 6, 2000 and items

II, III, IV, and V which are effective

August 7, 2000. Each rule is applicable

to solicitations issued on or after the

rule’s effective date.

Dated: May 26, 2000.

R.D. Kerrins, Jr., Col, USA,

Acting Director, Defense Procurement.

Dated: May 26, 2000.

Edward C. Loeb,

Acting Deputy Associate Administrator,

Office of Acquisition Policy, General Services

Administration.

Dated: May 25, 2000.

Anne Guenther,

Acting Associate Administrator for

Procurement, National Aeronautics and

Space Administration.

[FR Doc. 00–13816 Filed 6–1–00; 3:58 pm]

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