Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 7 / Wednesday, January 11, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 1637 

approval under the Paperwork 

Reduction Act (PRA), 44 U.S.C. 3501 et 

seq., nor does it require any special 

considerations under Executive Order 

12898, entitled Federal Actions to 

Address Environmental Justice in 

Minority Populations and Low-Income 

Populations (59 FR 7629, February 16, 

1994). Since tolerances and exemptions 

that are established on the basis of a 

petition under section 408(d) of FFDCA, 

such as the tolerance in this final rule, 

do not require the issuance of a 

proposed rule, the requirements of the 

Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) (5 

U.S.C. 601 et seq.) do not apply. 

This final rule directly regulates 

growers, food processors, food handlers, 

and food retailers, not States or tribes, 

nor does this action alter the 

relationships or distribution of power 

and responsibilities established by 

Congress in the preemption provisions 

of section 408(n)(4) of FFDCA. As such, 

the Agency has determined that this 

action will not have a substantial direct 

effect on States or tribal governments, 

on the relationship between the national 

government and the States or tribal 

governments, or on the distribution of 

power and responsibilities among the 

various levels of government or between 

the Federal Government and Indian 

tribes. Thus, the Agency has determined 

that Executive Order 13132, entitled 

Federalism (64 FR 43255, August 10, 

1999) and Executive Order 13175, 

entitled Consultation and Coordination 

with Indian Tribal Governments (65 FR 

67249, November 9, 2000) do not apply 

to this final rule. In addition, this final 

rule does not impose any enforceable 

duty or contain any unfunded mandate 

as described under Title II of the 

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 

(UMRA) (Pub. L. 104–4). 

This action does not involve any 

technical standards that would require 

Agency consideration of voluntary 

consensus standards pursuant to section 

12(d) of the National Technology 

Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 

(NTTAA), Public Law 104–113, section 

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

XI. Congressional Review Act 

The Congressional Review Act, 5 

U.S.C. 801 et seq., generally provides 

that before a rule may take effect, the 

agency promulgating the rule must 

submit a rule report to each House of 

the Congress and to the Comptroller 

General of the United States. EPA will 

submit a report containing this rule and 

other required information to the U.S. 

Senate, the U.S. House of 

Representatives, and the Comptroller 

General of the United States prior to 

publication of this final rule in the 

Federal Register. This final rule is not 

a ‘‘major rule’’ as defined by 5 U.S.C. 

804(2). 

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 180 

Environmental protection, 

Administrative practice and procedure, 

Agricultural commodities, Pesticides 

and pests, Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements. 

Dated: December 15, 2011. 

Steven Bradbury, 

Director, Office of Pesticide Programs. 

Therefore, 40 CFR chapter I is 

amended as follows: 

PART 180—[AMENDED] 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 180 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 21 U.S.C. 321(q), 346a and 371. 

■ 2. Section 180.1309 is added to 

subpart D to read as follows: 

§ 180.1309 Bacillus subtilis strain CX– 

9060; exemption from the requirement of a 

tolerance. 

An exemption from the requirement 

of a tolerance is established for residues 

of the microbial pesticide Bacillus 

subtilis strain CX–9060, in or on all food 

commodities, when applied or used in 

accordance with good agricultural 

practices. 

[FR Doc. 2012–228 Filed 1–10–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

47 CFR Parts 20 and 54 

[WC Docket Nos. 10–90, 07–135, 05–337, 

03–109; GN Docket No. 09–51; CC Docket 

Nos. 01–92, 96–45; WT Docket No. 10–208; 

FCC 11–189] 

Connect America Fund; Developing an 

Unified Intercarrier Compensation 

Regime; Lifeline and Link Up 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: In this document, the 

Commission amends rules regarding the 

attributes of ‘‘voice telephony service’’ 

to be supported by the Federal universal 

service support mechanisms. This 

action is necessary to reflect the 

evolution of the marketplace and to 

limit supported services. The 

Commission also waives certain 

effective dates so that intercarrier 

compensation for non-access traffic 

exchanged between Local Exchange 

Carriers (LEC) and Commercial Mobile 

Radio Service (CMRS) providers 

pursuant to an interconnection 

agreement in effect as of December 23, 

2011, will be subject to a default billand-keep methodology on July 1, 2012, 

rather than on December 29, 2011. This 

action is necessary to limit marketplace 

disruption by delaying bill-and-keep 

until carriers are eligible to receive 

recovery as part of the transitional 

revenue recovery mechanism for this 

type of traffic. 

DATES: Effective January 11, 2012. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Amy Bender, Wireline Competition 

Bureau, (202) 418–1469, or Victoria 

Goldberg, Wireline Competition Bureau, 

(202) 418–7353, or TTY: (202) 418– 

0484. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a 

summary of the Commission’s Order on 

Reconsideration (Order) in WC Docket 

Nos. 10–90, 07–135, 05–337, 03–109, 

GN Docket No. 09–51, CC Docket Nos. 

01–92, 96–45, WT Docket No. 10–208, 

FCC 11–189, released on December 23, 

2011. The full text of this document is 

available for public inspection during 

regular business hours in the FCC 

Reference Center, Room CY–A257, 445 

12th Street SW., Washington, DC 20554. 

1. In this Order, the Commission 

modifies on its own motion two aspects 

of the USF/ICC Transformation Order, 

76 FR 73830, November 18, 2011. 

2. In the USF/ICC Transformation 

Order, the Commission eliminated its 

former list of nine supported services 

and amended § 54.101 of the 

Commission’s rules to specify that 

‘‘voice telephony service’’ is supported 

by federal universal service support 

mechanisms. The Commission found 

this to be a more technologically neutral 

approach that focuses on the 

functionality offered instead of the 

technologies used, while allowing 

services to be provided over any 

platform. This approach also recognizes 

that many of the services enumerated in 

the previous rule are universal today 

and that the importance of operator 

services and directory assistance, in 

particular, has declined with changes in 

the marketplace. A number of parties 

have raised questions about how the 

amended rule should be understood to 

affect Lifeline-only ETCs and their 

compliance with section 214(e)(1)(A) of 

the Act, which requires a carrier to 

provide supported services using its 

own facilities, in whole or in part, in 

order to be eligible to receive support. 

Several parties have urged the 

Commission to take action to ensure 

that there is no disruption to the 

services currently being provided to 


pmangrum on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with RULES
1638 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 7 / Wednesday, January 11, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 

millions of eligible Lifeline consumers 

by ETCs that have already been 

designated based on their provision of 

supported services as previously 

defined by the Commission. 

3. The Commission notes that, in 

adopting the new definition of ‘‘voice 

telephony’’ in § 54.101, it eliminated 

certain services and functionalities from 

the list of supported services, consistent 

with its findings regarding the evolution 

of the marketplace. To more clearly 

reflect its intent to specify the attributes 

of ‘‘voice telephony’’ in the new 

definition, the Commission amends 

§ 54.101 to read: ‘‘Services designated 

for support. Voice telephony services 

shall be supported by federal universal 

service support mechanisms. Eligible 

voice telephony services must provide 

voice grade access to the public 

switched network or its functional 

equivalent; minutes of use for local 

service provided at no additional charge 

to end users; access to the emergency 

services provided by local government 

or other public safety organizations, 

such as 911 and enhanced 911, to the 

extent the local government in an 

eligible carrier’s service area has 

implemented 911 or enhanced 911 

systems; and toll limitation for 

qualifying low-income consumers (as 

described in subpart E of this part).’’ 

4. Additionally, the Commission 

affirms that only carriers that provide 

‘‘voice telephony’’ as defined under 

§ 54.101(a) as amended using their own 

facilities will be deemed to meet the 

requirements of section 214(e)(1). Thus, 

a Lifeline-only ETC does not meet the 

‘‘own facilities’’ requirement of section 

214(e)(1) if its only facilities are those 

used to provide functions that are no 

longer supported ‘‘voice telephony 

service’’ under 47 CFR 54.101, such as 

access to operator service or directory 

assistance. Therefore, to be in 

compliance with the Commission’s 

rules, Lifeline-only carriers that seek 

ETC designation after the December 29, 

2011 effective date of the USF/ICC 

Transformation Order, as well as such 

carriers that had previously obtained 

ETC designation prior to December 29, 

2011 on the basis of facilities associated 

solely with, for example, access to 

operator service or directory assistance, 

must either use their own facilities, in 

whole or in part, to provide the 

supported ‘‘voice telephony service,’’ or 

obtain forbearance from the ‘‘own 

facilities’’ requirement from the 

Commission. As discussed more fully 

below, the effective date of this minor 

modification to the language in 

amended § 54.101 is the date of Federal 

Register publication of the Order. To 

avoid disruption to consumers of 

previously designated ETCs, however, 

the Commission set July 1, 2012 as the 

effective date of 47 CFR 54.101 for 

Lifeline-only ETCs in the service areas 

for which they were designated prior to 

December 29, 2011. The Commission 

anticipates that it may address the ‘‘own 

facilities’’ requirement for Lifeline 

providers in the near future in a 

subsequent order addressing the 

Commission’s Lifeline program. In the 

event that this Order is not published in 

the Federal Register before December 

29, the Commission will consider the 

amended rule as adopted in the USF/ 

ICC Transformation Order suspended 

with respect to this limited class of 

ETCs, so that the Commission’s actions 

in the USF/ICC Transformation Order 

do not impact existing state 

designations. 

5. In the USF/ICC Transformation 

Order, the Commission adopted billand-keep as the default intercarrier 

compensation methodology for nonaccess traffic exchanged between local 

exchange carriers (LECs) and 

Commercial Mobile Radio Service 

(CMRS) providers. Rather than 

implementing a more gradual transition, 

the USF/ICC Transformation Order 

made the default bill-and-keep 

methodology applicable as of the 

effective date of the rules (December 29, 

2011). This timing reflected the 

Commission’s balancing of the benefits 

of providing clarity and addressing 

arbitrage and, in particular, traffic 

pumping, against the apparently small 

risk of marketplace disruption from 

doing so. There was little, if any, 

evidence in the record that there would 

be significant harmful effects on any 

LECs as a result of this timing. One 

factor supporting the Commission’s 

conclusion with regard to incumbent 

LECs was the understanding that such 

carriers would be eligible to receive 

recovery as part of the transitional 

recovery mechanism for reductions in 

net reciprocal compensation payments. 

Another factor was adoption of an 

interim rule that limited the 

responsibility for transport costs 

applicable to non-access traffic 

exchanged between CMRS providers 

and rural, rate-of-return incumbent 

LECs. 

6. In the Order the Commission 

reconsiders the balancing of benefits 

and burdens in this context. The 

Commission finds it more appropriate to 

make the default bill-and-keep 

compensation methodology for LEC– 

CMRS non-access traffic consistent with 

the start of the transitional intercarrier 

compensation recovery mechanism for 

carriers that were exchanging LEC– 

CMRS traffic under existing 

interconnection agreements prior to the 

adoption date of the USF/ICC 

Transformation Order. Under the 

recovery rules as adopted in the USF/ 

ICC Transformation Order, the 

transitional recovery mechanism does 

not begin until July 1, 2012, and it is 

unclear whether incumbent LECs will 

be eligible to receive recovery for 

reductions in revenues from December 

29, 2011 through July 1, 2012. The 

Commission had anticipated carriers 

would continue to receive payment at 

the rates in place under existing 

interconnection agreements while they 

were being renegotiated. However, the 

Commission believes that this 

assumption is over-inclusive and not 

entirely accurate since interconnection 

agreements are negotiated between two 

parties and contain different terms and 

conditions for implementing change of 

law provisions—indeed, some may 

relate back to the effective date of the 

new rule, rather than when the 

renegotiated agreement is in place. 

Moreover, the Commission believed 

that, as a general matter, LEC–CMRS 

agreements contained rates at $0.0007 or 

less as their reciprocal compensation 

rate. Parties indicate, however, that 

many existing LEC–CMRS agreements 

reflect reciprocal compensation rates 

‘‘much higher than $0.0007.’’ Thus, the 

supplemental record suggests that the 

Commission did not accurately assess 

the impact of its decision to 

immediately move to bill-and-keep for 

all LECs for this category of traffic. 

7. Enabling carriers that have effective 

interconnection agreements governing 

the exchange of LEC–CMRS non-access 

traffic as of the adoption date of the 

USF/ICC Transformation Order to 

continue to exchange traffic and receive 

compensation pursuant to those existing 

agreements until July 1, 2012 will 

minimize market disruption, while 

enabling carriers to begin the process of 

revising such agreements immediately. 

In contrast, carriers exchanging LEC– 

CMRS non-access traffic without an 

interconnection agreement do not 

receive such compensation today, so the 

Commission finds no likelihood of 

marketplace disruption that would 

support reconsideration of its decision 

in that context. Accordingly, intercarrier 

compensation for non-access traffic 

exchanged between LECs and CMRS 

providers pursuant to an 

interconnection agreement in effect as of 

the adoption date of this Order, will be 

subject to a default bill-and-keep 

methodology on July 1, 2012 rather than 

on December 29, 2011. In the event that 

the Order is not published in the 

Federal Register before December 29, 


pmangrum on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with RULES
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 7 / Wednesday, January 11, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 1639 

2011, the Commission also finds good 

cause to waive these requirements to the 

extent necessary to preserve the status 

quo until such time that the Order goes 

into effect. The Commission may waive 

its rules for good cause shown. The 

Commission finds that waiver, if needed 

to preserve the status quo for a limited 

period consistent with the Order, will 

serve the public interest by protecting 

against the potential marketplace 

disruption, described above, that the 

Commission sought to avoid through the 

intercarrier compensation rule changes 

adopted in this Order. The Commission 

expects that, unless parties mutually 

agree otherwise, traffic will continue to 

be exchanged pursuant to existing 

interconnection agreements between the 

adoption date of the Order and June 30, 

2012. The Commission cautions that 

parties should not use the Order as an 

opportunity to abuse the distinction 

between traffic subject to an 

interconnection agreement as of the 

adoption date of the USF/ICC 

Transformation Order and traffic not 

subject to an interconnection agreement 

in order to engage in arbitrage to avoid 

payment of intercarrier compensation 

charges. Indeed, the Commission will be 

monitoring the situation and will not 

hesitate to take action if it appears any 

such arbitrage is occurring. 

8. The Commission strongly urges all 

parties with such agreements to 

immediately begin preparations for the 

July 1 effective date of the transitional 

recovery mechanism, including by 

commencing discussions regarding 

change-of-law provisions, if applicable. 

LECs should not view the Order as an 

excuse for delaying negotiations or 

deferring preparations. To ensure that 

the change the Commission adopts does 

not create incentives to engage in such 

delay, and consistent with the balance 

of interests discussed above, the 

Commission provides that, unless 

parties mutually agree otherwise, 

starting on July 1, 2012, compensation 

for traffic exchanged during the renegotiation of interconnection 

agreements with change-of-law 

provisions will be subject to true-up at 

the level of reciprocal compensation for 

non-access LEC–CMRS traffic 

established in the resulting 

interconnection agreement, whether the 

default of bill-and-keep or other pricing 

negotiated by the carriers. The 

Commission finds that this limited 

departure from the Commission’s prior 

determination not to override 

compensation arrangements in existing 

contracts is justified to ensure that the 

onset of bill-and-keep is not unilaterally 

delayed beyond the intended transition 

period due to delayed or extended renegotiations under contractual changeof-law provisions. When the 

Commission set an immediate effective 

date for a default bill-and-keep 

methodology for this traffic in the USF/ 

ICC Transformation Order, it found that 

re-negotiation under such provisions 

would help provide a reasonable 

transition for LECs with such 

agreements. Now, the change in the 

effective date for bill-and-keep provides 

a transition for non-access LEC–CMRS 

traffic to mitigate marketplace 

disruption for carriers for which these 

revenues may be significant today. 

Given that change, the Commission 

finds that this measure is necessary to 

maintain the balance of benefits to 

consumers and carriers from a default 

bill-and-keep methodology that the 

Commission intended in the USF/ICC 

Transformation Order. Further, because 

of the limited nature of this 

modification, the Commission finds that 

it will not have the harmful effects that 

concerned the Commission in adopting 

its general policy on existing 

agreements. The Commission also finds 

that adoption of this limited measure 

will have minimal adverse impact on 

carriers. 

9. Regulatory Flexibility Certification. 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) 

requires that agencies prepare a 

regulatory flexibility analysis for noticeand-comment rulemaking proceedings, 

unless the agency certifies that ‘‘the rule 

will not have a significant economic 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities.’’ The Commission certifies that 

the rule revisions will not have a 

significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities, 

because the action merely maintains the 

status quo for the entities affected. The 

Commission will send a copy of the 

Order, including such certification, to 

the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the 

Small Business Administration. 

10. Paperwork Reduction Act 

Analysis. This document does not 

contain proposed information 

collection(s) subject to the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), Public 

Law 104–13. In addition, therefore, it 

does not contain any new or modified 

‘‘information collection burden for 

small business concerns with fewer than 

25 employees,’’ pursuant to the Small 

Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, 

Public Law 107–198, see 44 U.S.C. 

3506(c)(4). 

11. Congressional Review Act. The 

Commission will send a copy of the 

Order on Reconsideration in a report to 

be sent to Congress and the Government 

Accountability Office pursuant to the 

Congressional Review Act (‘‘CRA’’). 

12. Effective Date. The Commission 

concludes that good cause exists to 

make the effective date of the 

amendments to rule 47 CFR 54.101 

effective immediately upon publication 

in the Federal Register, pursuant to 

§ 553(d)(3) of the Administrative 

Procedure Act. Agencies determining 

whether there is good cause to make a 

rule revision take effect less than 30 

days after Federal Register publication 

must balance the necessity for 

immediate implementation against 

principles of fundamental fairness that 

require that all affected persons be 

afforded a reasonable time to prepare for 

the effective date of a new rule. In this 

instance, no ETC will be prejudiced by 

the Order being effective immediately 

upon publication in the Federal 

Register because this action merely 

clarifies the intent of the USF/ICC 

Transformation Order and, by delaying 

the implementation date of the modified 

rule, restores the status quo for Lifelineonly ETCs in those states where they 

have already been designated that 

existed prior to the USF/ICC 

Transformation Order for a defined 

period of time. This will allow the 

Commission the opportunity to take 

further action with respect to the ‘‘own 

facilities’’ requirement for such 

providers in the context of the lowincome program. 

13. The Commission also concludes 

that good cause exists to make the 

revisions to §§ 20.11(e), 51.705(a), and 

51.709(c) effective immediately upon 

publication in the Federal Register. As 

discussed above, allowing the rules 

subject to the Order to go into effect on 

December 29, 2011 may potentially 

result in a significant financial impact 

on LECs exchanging non-access LEC– 

CMRS traffic pursuant to 

interconnection agreements, contrary to 

the Commission’s initial assumptions. 

Thus, the Commission finds good cause 

to make these rule revisions take effect 

upon publication in the Federal 

Register. Again, no parties will be 

prejudiced by this Order being effective 

immediately upon publication in the 

Federal Register because this action 

merely permits LECs and CMRS 

providers exchanging non-access traffic 

pursuant to an interconnection 

agreement to maintain the status quo for 

a defined period of time. 

List of Subjects 

47 CFR Part 20 

Communications common carriers, 

Commercial mobile radio services, 

Interconnection, Intercarrier 

compensation. 


pmangrum on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with RULES
1640 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 7 / Wednesday, January 11, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 

47 CFR Part 54 

Communications common carriers, 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements, Telecommunications, 

Telephone. 

Federal Communications Commission. 

Marlene H. Dortch, 

Secretary. 

For the reasons discussed in the 

preamble, the Federal Communications 

Commission amends 47 CFR parts 20 

and 54 as follows: 

PART 20—COMMERCIAL MOBILE 

RADIO SERVICES 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 20 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 47 U.S.C. 154, 160, 201, 251– 

254, 301, 303, 316, and 332 unless otherwise 

noted. Section 20.12 is also issued under 47 

U.S.C. 1302. 

■ 2. Section 20.11 is amended by 

revising paragraph (e) to read as follows: 

§ 20.11 Interconnection to facilities of local 

exchange carriers. 

* * * * * 

(e) An incumbent local exchange 

carrier may request interconnection 

from a commercial mobile radio service 

provider and invoke the negotiation and 

arbitration procedures contained in 

section 252 of the Act. A commercial 

mobile radio service provider receiving 

a request for interconnection must 

negotiate in good faith and must, if 

requested, submit to arbitration by the 

state commission. 

* * * * * 

PART 54—UNIVERSAL SERVICE 

■ 3. The authority citation for part 54 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), 201, 205, 

214, 219, 220, 254, 303(r), 403, and 1302 

unless otherwise noted. 

Subpart B—Services Designated for 

Support 

■ 4. Section 54.101 is amended by 

revising paragraph (a) to read as follows: 

§ 54.101 Supported services for rural, 

insular and high cost areas. 

(a) Services designated for support. 

Voice telephony services shall be 

supported by federal universal service 

support mechanisms. Eligible voice 

telephony services must provide voice 

grade access to the public switched 

network or its functional equivalent; 

minutes of use for local service 

provided at no additional charge to end 

users; access to the emergency services 

provided by local government or other 

public safety organizations, such as 911 

and enhanced 911, to the extent the 

local government in an eligible carrier’s 

service area has implemented 911 or 

enhanced 911 systems; and toll 

limitation for qualifying low-income 

consumers (as described in subpart E of 

this part). 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2012–349 Filed 1–10–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

GENERAL SERVICES 

ADMINISTRATION 

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND 

SPACE ADMINISTRATION 

48 CFR Parts 1, 9, 12, 42, and 52 

[Correction; FAC 2005–55; FAR Case 2010– 

016; Item V; Docket 2010–0016, Sequence 

1] 

RIN 9000–AL94 

Federal Acquisition Regulation; Public 

Access to the Federal Awardee 

Performance and Integrity Information 

System; Correction 

AGENCY: Department of Defense (DoD), 

General Services Administration (GSA), 

and National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (NASA). 

ACTION: Correction. 

SUMMARY: This document contains a 

correction to the final rule that was 

published in the Federal Register at 77 

FR 197 on January 3, 2012. An 

applicability date to the rule was 

inadvertently omitted. 

DATES: The effective date for the rule 

published at 77 FR 197 remains January 

3, 2012. 

Applicability Date: The clause 

prescription of this rule applies to 

solicitations issued on or after January 

17, 2012, and resultant contracts. 

With regard to information entered by 

the Government into FAPIIS on and 

after January 17, 2012— 

(1) There will be a 14-calendar-day 

delay in the posting to the publicly 

available segment of FAPIIS; and 

(2) The notification generated when 

the Government posts new information 

to the contractor’s record will inform 

the contractor of the 14-calendar-day 

delay and the contractor’s right to 

request withdrawal of the posted 

information if the contractor asserts that 

the information is covered by a 

disclosure exemption under the 

Freedom of Information Act, as set forth 

in FAR 9.105–2(b)(2)(iv). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Edward Loeb, Procurement Analyst, at 

(202) 501–0650, for clarification of 

content. For information pertaining to 

status or publication schedules, contact 

the Regulatory Secretariat at (202) 501– 

4755. Please cite FAC 2005–55, FAR 

Case 2010–016; Correction. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

document contains a correction to the 

final rule that was published in the 

Federal Register at 77 FR 197 on 

January 3, 2012, by adding an 

applicability date to the rule that was 

inadvertently omitted. 

DoD, GSA, and NASA adopted as 

final, with changes, an interim rule 

amending the Federal Acquisition 

Regulation (FAR) to implement section 

3010 of the Supplemental 

Appropriations Act, 2010. Section 3010 

requires that the information in the 

Federal Awardee Performance and 

Integrity Information System (FAPIIS), 

excluding past performance reviews, 

shall be made publicly available. The 

interim rule notified contractors of this 

new statutory requirement for public 

access to FAPIIS. 

The delayed application of the final 

rule will allow time for the Government 

to complete necessary system changes to 

support the 14-day wait period. The 

current system was designed to 

automatically transfer to the publicly 

available segment of FAPIIS all 

information posted by the Government 

(other than past performance 

information). As a result, until the 

change is implemented, there will not 

be an opportunity for a contractor to 

request withholding of the information 

before it is posted to the publicly 

available segment of FAPIIS. Any 

information entered into FAPIIS by the 

Government on or after January 17, 2012 

(other than past performance 

information, which will not transfer to 

the publicly available segment of 

FAPIIS), will be subject to a 14- 

calendar-day delay before it is 

transferred to the publicly available 

segment of FAPIIS, regardless of 

whether the contract includes the 

January 2012 version or the January 

2011 version of FAR 52.209–9, Updates 

of Publicly Available Information 

Regarding Responsibility Matters. This 

will allow all contractors opportunity to 

assert for the Government’s 

consideration, within 7 calendar days of 

being posted, that the information is 

covered by a disclosure exemption 

under the Freedom of Information Act. 


pmangrum on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with RULES