10714 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 36 / Thursday, February 23, 2012 / Proposed Rules 

Order 13175, Consultation and 

Coordination with Indian Tribal 

Governments, because it would not have 

a substantial direct effect on one or 

more Indian tribes, on the relationship 

between the Federal Government and 

Indian tribes, or on the distribution of 

power and responsibilities between the 

Federal Government and Indian tribes. 

Energy Effects 

The Coast Guard analyzed this 

proposed rule under Executive Order 

13211, Actions Concerning Regulations 

That Significantly Affect Energy Supply, 

Distribution, or Use. We have 

determined that it is not a ‘‘significant 

energy action’’ under that order because 

it is not a ‘‘significant regulatory action’’ 

under Executive Order 12866 and is not 

likely to have a significant adverse effect 

on the supply, distribution, or use of 

energy. The Administrator of the Office 

of Information and Regulatory Affairs 

has not designated it as a significant 

energy action. Therefore, it does not 

require a Statement of Energy Effects 

under Executive Order 13211. 

Technical Standards 

The National Technology Transfer 

and Advancement Act (NTTAA) (15 

U.S.C. 272 note) directs agencies to use 

voluntary consensus standards in their 

regulatory activities unless the agency 

provides Congress, through the Office of 

Management and Budget, with an 

explanation of why using these 

standards would be inconsistent with 

applicable law or otherwise impractical. 

Voluntary consensus standards are 

technical standards (e.g., specifications 

of materials, performance, design, or 

operation; test methods; sampling 

procedures; and related management 

systems practices) that are developed or 

adopted by voluntary consensus 

standards bodies. 

This proposed rule does not use 

technical standards. Therefore, we did 

not consider the use of voluntary 

consensus standards. 

Environment 

We have analyzed this proposed rule 

under Department of Homeland 

Security Management Directive 023–01 

and Commandant Instruction 

M16475.lD, which guide the Coast 

Guard in complying with the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 

(NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321–4370f), and 

have made a preliminary determination 

that this action is one of a category of 

actions that do not individually or 

cumulatively have a significant effect on 

the human environment. A preliminary 

environmental analysis checklist 

supporting this determination is 

available in the docket where indicated 

under ADDRESSES. We seek any 

comments or information that may lead 

to the discovery of a significant 

environmental impact from this 

proposed rule. 

List of Subjects in 33 CFR Part 147 

Continental shelf, Marine safety, 

Navigation (water). 

For the reasons discussed in the 

preamble, the Coast Guard proposes to 

amend 33 CFR part 147 as follows: 

PART 147—SAFETY ZONES 

1. The authority citation for part 147 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 14 U.S.C. 85; 43 U.S.C. 1333; 

Department of Homeland Security Delegation 

No. 0170.1. 

2. Add § 147.T17–1143 to read as 

follows: § 147.T17–1143 Safety Zone; 

KULLUK, Outer Continental Shelf 

Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU), 

Beaufort Sea, Alaska. 

(a) Description. The KULLUK will be 

engaged in exploratory drilling 

operations at various locations in the 

Beaufort Sea from July 1, 2012 through 

October 31, 2012. The MODU will be 

anchored while conducting exploratory 

drilling operations with the center point 

of the vessel located at the coordinates 

listed in Table 1. These coordinates are 

based upon [NAD 83] UTM Zone 3. 

TABLE 1—PROSPECT LOCATIONS

Drill site Lease File No. 

NR06–04 

Flaxman 

Island Lease 

Block No. 

Surface location (NAD 83) * Distance to 

mainland 

shore 

mi (km) Latitude (N) Longitude (W) 

Sivulliq G ......................................................... OCS–Y 1805 6658 70°23′46.82′′ 146°01′03.46′′ 16.6 (26.7) 

Sivulliq N ......................................................... OCS–Y 1805 6658 70°23′29.58′′ 145°58′52.53′′ 16.2 (26.1) 

Torpedo H ....................................................... OCS–Y 1941 6610 70°27′01.62′′ 145°49′32.07′′ 20.8 (33.5) 

Torpedo J ........................................................ OCS–Y 1936 6559 70°28′56.94′′ 145°53′47.15′′ 23.1 (37.2) 

The area within 500 meters (1,640.4 

feet) from each point on the outer edge 

of the vessel while anchored on location 

is a safety zone. Lawful demonstrations 

may be conducted outside of the safety 

zone. 

(b) Regulation. No vessel may enter or 

remain in this safety zone except the 

following: 

(1) An attending vessel; or 

(2) A vessel authorized by the 

Commander, Seventeenth Coast Guard 

District, or a designated representative. 

(c) Penalties. Violation of this 

regulation may result in criminal or 

civil penalties, or both. 

Dated: February 2, 2012. 

Thomas P. Ostebo, 

Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard, Commander, 

Seventeenth Coast Guard District. 

[FR Doc. 2012–4025 Filed 2–22–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–04–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

48 CFR Chapter 10 

RIN 1505–AC41 

Department of the Treasury 

Acquisition Regulation; Internet 

Payment Platform 

AGENCY: Office of the Procurement 

Executive, Treasury. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: The Department of the 

Treasury is proposing to amend the 

Department of the Treasury Acquisition 

Regulation (DTAR) to implement use of 

the Internet Payment Platform, a 

centralized electronic invoicing and 

payment information system, and to 

change the definition of bureau to 

reflect the consolidation on July 21, 

2011 of the Office of Thrift Supervision 

with the Office of the Comptroller of the 

Currency. 

DATES: Comment due date: April 23, 

2012. 

ADDRESSES: Treasury invites comments 

on the topics addressed in this proposed 

rule. Comments may be submitted to 

Treasury by any of the following 

methods: By submitting electronic 

comments through the federal 


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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 36 / Thursday, February 23, 2012 / Proposed Rules 10715 

government e-rulemaking portal, 

www.regulations.gov, by email to 

ronald.backes@treasury.gov; or by 

sending paper comments to Department 

of the Treasury, Office of the 

Procurement Executive, Attn: Ronald 

Backes, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue 

NW., Metropolitan Square Room 6N501, 

Washington, DC 20220. 

In general, Treasury will post all 

comments to www.regulations.gov 

without change, including any business 

or personal information provided, such 

as names, addresses, email addresses, or 

telephone numbers. Treasury will also 

make such comments available for 

public inspection and copying in 

Treasury’s Library, Room 1428, 

Department of the Treasury, 1500 

Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, 

DC 20220, on official business days 

between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. 

Eastern Time. You can make an 

appointment to inspect comments by 

telephoning (202) 622–0990. All 

comments, including attachments and 

other supporting materials received are 

part of the public record and subject to 

public disclosure. You should submit 

only information that you wish to make 

publicly available. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Ronald Backes, Director, Acquisition 

Management, Office of the Procurement 

Executive, at (202) 622–5930. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 

sets forth the uniform regulation for the 

procurement of supplies and services by 

federal departments and agencies (title 

48, chapter 1, of the Code of Federal 

Regulations (CFR)). The Department of 

the Treasury Acquisition Regulations, 

which supplement the FAR, are codified 

at 48 CFR Chapter 10. 

On July 5, 2011, the Department 

announced that it will implement the 

Internet Payment Platform (IPP) no later 

than the end of fiscal year 2012; with all 

new payment requests in FY2013 

processed using the IPP. The Internet 

Payment Platform (IPP) is a secure webbased electronic invoicing and payment 

system that processes vendor payment 

data electronically, either through a 

web-based portal or electronic 

submission, and automates the routing 

and approval workflow within an 

agency. 

The IPP is provided by the 

Department of the Treasury’s Financial 

Management Service through its fiscal 

agent, the Federal Reserve Bank of 

Boston at no cost to vendors or 

government departments and agencies 

adopting the platform. The IPP benefits 

agencies by eliminating the need to file 

and store paper payment 

documentation; reducing the time of 

agency personnel researching and 

answering payment status questions by 

providing vendor and department-wide 

visibility into contract payments. 

IPP benefits vendors by reducing time 

to payment, creating a standard set of 

electronic data to submit payment 

requests to the Federal government; 

reducing costs from having multiple 

processes and requirements; reducing 

paper and postage costs, improving cash 

management by eliminating the time 

delays associates with submitting and 

routing paper; and increasing 

transparency in the payment processes. 

The US Treasury will support vendor 

transition from paper-based payment 

processes to IPP through a series of 

Webinar and video training on various 

aspects of the application, including 

how to view purchase orders, submit 

invoices, retrieve payment information, 

set notification preferences, and add 

users to IPP accounts. The IPP 

application includes a ‘‘Collector User 

Guide’’ on vendor landing page. 

Treasury also operates customer support 

services email and toll free numbers 

during business hours, Monday through 

Friday 8 a.m.–6:30 p.m. Eastern Time. 

In this proposed rule, the Department 

would add a new subpart 1032.70— 

Electronic Submission and Processing of 

Payment Requests to establish the IPP. 

This subpart prescribes policies and 

procedures for electronic submission 

and processing of payment requests. 

First, the new subpart sets forth the 

scope, a definition of ‘‘payment 

request,’’ and a description of the IPP 

policy. With limited exceptions, the 

new provisions would establish that 

after October 1, 2012, Treasury will 

require and contractors will submit 

payment requests electronically. The 

rule also proposes a waiver of its 

provisions. Finally, the rule proposes 

the text of the IPP contract clause. 

This proposed rule would also make 

nonsubstantive, technical changes to 

update the DTAR definition of ‘‘bureau’’ 

and would add ‘‘IPP’’ to the DTAR list 

of abbreviations. 

Regulatory Planning and Review 

This rule is not a significant 

regulatory action as defined in section 

3(f) of Executive Order 12866. Therefore 

a regulatory assessment is not required. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 

U.S.C. chapter 6) generally requires 

agencies to conduct an initial regulatory 

flexibility analysis and a final regulatory 

flexibility analysis of any rule subject to 

notice and comment rulemaking 

requirements, unless the agency certifies 

that the rule will not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities. 

It is hereby certified that this 

proposed rule would not have a 

significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities. 

The IPP will benefit vendors by 

reducing time to payment, creating a 

standard set of electronic data to submit 

payment requests to the Federal 

government; reducing costs associated 

with adhering to multiple processes and 

requirements for different federal 

agencies; reducing paper and postage 

costs, improving cash management by 

eliminating the time delays associates 

with submitting and routing paper; and 

increasing transparency in the payment 

processes. The rule is intended to 

support the implementation of the IPP 

to streamline the payment processes 

associated with government contracts 

and agreements. 

Treasury contracts with more than 

4,000 small businesses annually. This 

rule is expected to impact all small 

businesses that contract with Treasury. 

While Treasury anticipates that a 

significant number of small businesses 

will be impacted, the economic impact 

is minimal, and outweighed by the 

economic benefits of IPP. An initial cost 

to small businesses in terms of changes 

to manual, paper-based invoicing 

processes is expected to be recouped by 

small businesses within a short-term 

through more efficient submission and 

reporting of invoices and payments and 

more timely payments. No additional 

reporting or record-keeping 

requirements for small businesses result 

from this rule. Staff experienced with 

the submission of paper-based payment 

requests will need to learn the process 

for submitting electronic payment 

requests. New compliance and reporting 

requirements are not anticipated, as 

Government and vendor staff will be 

able to access data and reports directly 

through the IPP. 

This rule is related to, but not in 

conflict with, following federal rules: 

• 31 CFR Part 208 requires that most 

federal payments be made 

electronically, subject to certain waivers 

established in the rule. 

• The Prompt Payment rule at 5 CFR 

Part 1315 requires vendors to submit 

Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) 

information and a Taxpayer 

Identification Number (TIN) as part of a 

proper invoice, unless agency 

procedures provide otherwise. Late 

interest penalties do not apply if the 

vendor has failed to submit this 

information. 

• 48 CFR Parts 13, 15, 32 and 52, 

addresses the use of EFT for federal 


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10716 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 36 / Thursday, February 23, 2012 / Proposed Rules 

contract payments and also provides for 

the collection of banking information 

from vendors. In particular, the FAR 

EFT rule provides EFT contract clauses 

that agencies should use in their 

contracts with government vendors 

requiring them to receive payments 

electronically 

This rule would be implemented in 

such a manner to complement these 

rules. Accordingly, the undersigned 

hereby certifies that this rule will not, 

if promulgated, have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities. 

Notwithstanding this certification, the 

Department invites comments from 

small businesses to concerning the 

impact of this proposal on small 

entities. 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

The information collections contained 

in this proposed rule have been 

previously approved by the Office of 

Management and Budget under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 

3501, et seq.) and assigned OMB control 

numbers 1505–0081; 1505–0080; and 

1505–0107. Under the Paperwork 

Reduction Act, an agency may not 

conduct or sponsor and a person is not 

required to respond to a collection of 

information unless it displays a valid 

OMB control number. 

List of Subjects in 48 CFR Chapter 10 

Government procurement. 

Accordingly, the Department of the 

Treasury proposes to revise 48 CFR 

Chapter 10 to read as follows: 

CHAPTER 10—DEPARTMENT OF THE 

TREASURY 

1. The authority citation for part 1002 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 41 U.S.C. 418b. 

2. Section 1002.101 is revised to read 

as follows: 

1002.101 Definitions. 

Bureau means any one of the 

following Treasury organizations: 

(1) Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and 

Trade Bureau (TTB); 

(2) Bureau of Engraving & Printing 

(BEP); 

(3) Bureau of Public Debt (BPD); 

(4) Departmental Offices (DO); 

(5) Financial Crimes Enforcement 

Network (FinCEN); 

(6) Financial Management Service 

(FMS); 

(7) Office of the Inspector General 

(OIG); 

(8) Internal Revenue Service (IRS); 

(9) Office of the Comptroller of the 

Currency (OCC); 

(10) Special Inspector General for the 

Troubled Asset Relief Program 

(SIGTARP); 

(11) Treasury Inspector General for 

Tax Administration (TIGTA); or 

(12) United States Mint. 

3. Section 1002.70 is revised by 

adding the following abbreviation in 

alphabetical order to read as follows: 

1002.70 Abbreviations. 

* * * * * 

IPP Internet Payment Platform 

* * * * * 

4. Add subpart 1032.70 to read as 

follows: 

Subpart 1032.70—Electronic Submission 

and Processing of Payment Requests 

1032.7000 Scope of subpart. 

1032.7001 Definitions. 

1032.7002 Policy. 

1032.7003 Contract clause. 

1032.7000 Scope of subpart. 

This subpart prescribes policies and 

procedures for electronic submission 

and processing of payment requests. 

1032.7001 Definitions. 

‘‘Payment request,’’ as used in this 

subpart, is defined in the clause at 

1052.232–7003, Electronic Submission 

of Payment Requests. 

1032.7002 Policy. 

(a) Contracts awarded after October 1, 

2012, shall require the electronic 

submission of payment requests, except 

for— 

(1) Purchases paid for with a 

Government-wide commercial purchase 

card; 

(2) Classified contracts or purchases 

when electronic submission and 

processing of payment requests could 

compromise classified information or 

national security; 

(b) Where a contract otherwise 

requires the electronic submission of 

invoices, the Contracting Officer may 

authorize alternate procedures only if 

the Contracting Officer makes a written 

determination that: 

(1) The Department of the Treasury is 

unable to receive electronic payment 

requests or provide acceptance 

electronically; 

(2) The contractor has demonstrated 

that electronic submission would be 

unduly burdensome; or 

(3) The contractor is in the process of 

transitioning to electronic submission of 

payment requests, but needs additional 

time to complete such transition. 

Authorizations granted on this basis 

must specify a date by which the 

contractor will transition to electronic 

submission 

(c) Except as provided in paragraphs 

(a) and (b), Treasury officials shall 

process electronic payment submissions 

through the Treasury Internet Payment 

Platform or successor system. 

(d) If the requirement for electronic 

submission of payment requests is 

waived under paragraph (a)(2) or 

paragraph (b), the contract or alternate 

payment authorization, as applicable, 

shall specify the form and method of 

payment request submission. 

1032.7003 Contract clause. 

Except as provided in 1032.7002(a), 

use the clause at 1052.232–7003, 

Electronic Submission of Payment 

Requests—Internet Payment Platform, in 

solicitations issued and contracts 

awarded after October 1, 2011. 

5. Add section 1052.232–7003 to read 

as follows: 

1052.232–7003 Electronic Submission of 

Payment Requests. 

As prescribed in 1032.7003, use the 

following clause: 

Electronic Submission of Payment 

Requests (Date TBD) 

(a) Definitions. As used in this clause— 

(1) ‘‘Payment request’’ means a bill, 

voucher, invoice, or request for contract 

financing payment with associated 

supporting documentation. The payment 

request must comply with the requirements 

identified in FAR 32.905(b), ‘‘Payment 

documentation and process’’ and the 

applicable Payment clause included in this 

contract. 

(b) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of 

this clause, the Contractor shall submit 

payment requests electronically using the 

Internet Payment Platform (IPP). Information 

regarding IPP is available on the Internet at 

www.ipp.gov. Assistance with enrollment can 

be obtained by contacting the IPP Production 

Helpdesk via email ippgroup@bos.frb.org or 

phone (866) 973–3131. 

(c) The Contractor may submit payment 

requests using other than IPP only when the 

Contracting Officer authorizes alternate 

procedures in writing. 

(d) If alternate payment procedures are 

authorized, the Contractor shall include a 

copy of the Contracting Officer’s written 

authorization with each payment request. 

(End of clause) 

Dated: February 15, 2012 

Thomas A. Sharpe, Jr., 

Senior Procurement Executive, Office of the 

Procurement Executive. 

[FR Doc. 2012–4216 Filed 2–22–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4810–25–P 


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