23208 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 75 / Wednesday, April 18, 2012 / Proposed Rules 

1The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was 

published in the Federal Register on April 2, 2012. 

(77 FR 19,591). 

832.1003–2 Contract Clause. 

The contracting officer shall insert the 

clause at 852.273–76, Electronic 

Submission of Payment Requests, in all 

solicitations and contracts. 

Subchapter H—Clauses and Forms 

PART 852—SOLICITATION 

PROVISIONS AND CONTRACT 

CLAUSES 

3. The authority citation for part 852 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501, 8127, 8128, and 

8151–8153; 40 U.S.C. 121(c) and 48 CFR 

1.301–1.304. 

Subpart 852.2—Texts of Provisions 

and Clauses 

4. Add 852.273–76 to subpart 852.2 to 

read as follows: 

852.273–76 Electronic Submission of 

Payment Requests. 

As prescribed in 832.1003–2, insert 

the following clause: 

Electronic Submission of Payment Requests 

(XXX 2012) 

(a) Definitions. As used in this clause— 

(1) Contract financing payment has the 

meaning given in FAR 32.001. 

(2) Designated agency office has the 

meaning given in 5 CFR 1315.2(m). 

(3) Electronic form means an automated 

system transmitting information 

electronically according to the accepted 

electronic data transmission methods and 

formats identified in paragraph (c) of this 

clause. Facsimile, email, and scanned 

documents are not acceptable electronic 

forms for submission of payment requests. 

(4) Invoice payment has the meaning given 

in FAR 32.001. 

(5) Payment request means any request for 

contract financing payment or invoice 

payment submitted by the contractor under 

this contract. 

(b) Electronic Payment Requests. Except as 

provided in paragraph (e) of this clause, the 

contractor shall submit payment requests in 

electronic form. Purchases paid with a 

Government-wide commercial purchase card 

are considered to be an electronic transaction 

for purposes of this rule, and therefore no 

additional electronic invoice submission is 

required. 

(c) Data Transmission. A contractor must 

ensure that the data transmission method and 

format are through one of the following: 

(1) VA’s Electronic Invoice Presentment 

and Payment System. (See Web site at http: 

//www.fsc.va.gov/einvoice.asp.) 

(2) Any system that conforms to the X12 

electronic data interchange (EDI) formats 

established by the Accredited Standards 

Center (ASC) and chartered by the American 

National Standards Institute (ANSI). The X12 

EDI Web site (http://www.x12.org) includes 

additional information on EDI 810 and 811 

formats. 

(d) Invoice requirements. Invoices shall 

comply with FAR 32.905. 

(e) Exceptions. If, based on one of the 

circumstances below, the contracting officer 

directs that payment requests be made by 

mail, the contractor shall submit payment 

requests by mail through the United States 

Postal Service to the designated agency 

office. Submission of payment requests by 

mail may be required for: 

(1) Awards made to foreign vendors for 

work performed outside the United States; 

(2) Classified contracts or purchases when 

electronic submission and processing of 

payment requests could compromise the 

safeguarding of classified or privacy 

information; 

(3) Contracts awarded by contracting 

officers in the conduct of emergency 

operations, such as responses to national 

emergencies; 

(4) Solicitations or contracts in which the 

designated agency office is a VA entity other 

than the VA Financial Services Center in 

Austin, Texas; or 

(5) Solicitations or contracts in which the 

VA designated agency office does not have 

electronic invoicing capability as described 

above. 

(End of clause) 

[FR Doc. 2012–9269 Filed 4–17–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8320–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Surface Transportation Board 

49 CFR Parts 1108 and 1109 

[STB Docket No. EP 699] 

Assessment of Mediation and 

Arbitration Procedures 

AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board. 

ACTION: Supplemental Notice of 

Proposed Rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: The Surface Transportation 

Board has proposed regulations that 

would require Class I and Class II rail 

carriers to participate in the Board’s 

arbitration program, unless they file a 

prior written notice with the Board on 

an annual basis opting out of the 

program. By contrast, Class III rail 

carriers wishing to participate in the 

Board’s arbitration program could file a 

request for arbitration with the Board 

under this docket at any time, or could 

voluntarily agree to participate in 

arbitration on a case-by-case basis. A 

shipper wishing to participate in the 

Board’s arbitration program could so 

inform the Board on a case-by-case basis 

following the filing of a complaint. 

Pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction 

Act and Office of Management and 

Budget regulations, the Board now seeks 

comments regarding certain information 

pertaining to the proposed arbitration 

rules. 

DATES: Comments are due by June 18, 

2012. 

ADDRESSES: Comments may be 

submitted either via the Board’s e-filing 

process or in the traditional paper 

format. Any person using e-filing should 

attach a document and otherwise 

comply with the instructions at the 

E–FILING link on the Board’s Web site, 

at http://www.stb.dot.gov. Any person 

submitting a filing in the traditional 

paper format should send an original 

and 10 copies to: Surface Transportation 

Board, Attn: Docket No. EP 699, 395 E 

Street SW., Washington, DC 20423– 

0001. Copies of written comments 

received by the Board will be posted to 

the Board’s Web site at http:// 

www.stb.dot.gov and will be available 

for viewing and self-copying in the 

Board’s Public Docket Room, Suite 131, 

395 E Street SW., Washington, DC. 

Copies of the comments will also be 

available by contacting the Board’s 

Chief Records Officer by telephone at 

(202) 245–0236 or by mail at 395 E 

Street SW., Washington, DC 20423– 

0001. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Virginia Strasser at (202) 245–0275. 

(Assistance for the hearing impaired is 

available through the Federal 

Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1– 

800–877–8339.) 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: By Notice 

of Proposed Rulemaking in Assessment 

of Mediation and Arbitration 

Procedures, EP 699 (STB served Mar. 

28, 2012),1 the Surface Transportation 

Board has proposed regulations that 

would require Class I and Class II rail 

carriers to participate in the Board’s 

arbitration program, unless they file a 

prior written notice with the Board on 

an annual basis opting out of the 

program. Pursuant to the Paperwork 

Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq. 

(PRA), and Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) regulations at 5 CFR 

1320.8(d)(3), the Board now seeks 

comments regarding: (1) Whether the 

particular collection of information 

described below and in greater detail at 

77 FR 19,591 is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

Board, including whether the collection 

has practical utility; (2) the accuracy of 

the Board’s burden estimates; (3) ways 

to enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information collected; and 

(4) ways to minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on the 

respondents, including the use of 

automated collection techniques or 

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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 75 / Wednesday, April 18, 2012 / Proposed Rules 23209 

other forms of information technology, 

when appropriate. 

The Board favors the resolution of 

disputes through the use of mediation 

and arbitration procedures, in lieu of 

formal Board proceedings, wherever 

possible. To that end, the Board has 

existing rules that encourage parties to 

agree voluntarily to mediate or arbitrate 

certain matters subject to its 

jurisdiction. The Board’s mediation 

rules are set forth at 49 CFR 1109.1, 

1109.3, 1109.4, 1111.2, 1111.9, and 

1111.10. Its arbitration rules are set forth 

at 49 CFR 1108, 1109.1, 1109.2, 1109.3, 

and 1115.8. The proposed modifications 

to the Board’s existing rules are 

intended to increase the use of 

mediation and arbitration in lieu of 

formal adjudication to resolve disputes 

before the Board. 

The proposed changes to the 

mediation rules do not impose a new 

information collection on the public. 

Rather, the proposed changes to the 

existing mediation rules would establish 

procedures under which the Board 

could compel mediation in certain types 

of adjudications before the Board, on a 

case-specific basis, as well as grant 

mediation requests of parties to 

disputes. 

The proposed changes to the 

arbitration rules, however, do impose a 

new information collection with regard 

to rail carriers. Class I and Class II 

carriers would be deemed to have 

agreed voluntarily to participate in the 

Board’s proposed arbitration program 

unless they ‘‘opt out.’’ To opt out, any 

such carrier would be required to file a 

notice with the Board, under Docket No. 

EP 699, notifying the Board of its optout decision, no later than 20 days after 

this proposed rule took effect. Any such 

carrier not submitting a notice by this 

deadline would be deemed to be a 

participant in the Board’s arbitration 

program. Should the proposed rules 

take effect, a Class I or Class II carrier 

wishing to opt out of the Board’s 

arbitration program would be required 

to file an opt-out notice with the Board 

no later than January 10 of each 

calendar year. Such carriers not opting 

out by this deadline would become 

participants in the Board’s proposed 

arbitration program during that calendar 

year. Participating carriers could also 

opt out of the arbitration program at any 

time by providing 90 days’ notice to the 

Board. Class I and Class II carriers that 

had opted out would be able to opt back 

into the proposed arbitration program at 

any time by filing a notice with the 

Board that would take effect 

immediately. They could also 

participate in arbitration on a case-bycase basis. 

In contrast, Class III rail carriers 

would not be deemed to have agreed to 

participate in the proposed arbitration 

program unless they were to opt in by 

filing a written notice in Docket No. EP 

699, so informing the Board. Such 

notice could be filed at any time and 

would take effect immediately. A Class 

III carrier would remain a participant in 

the proposed arbitration program 

thereafter unless it were to file an optout notice with the Board. Such notice 

would take effect 90 days after filing. 

Like Class I and Class II carriers, Class 

III carriers could also voluntarily agree 

to participate in arbitration on a case-bycase basis. 

Shippers would choose to participate 

in arbitration of the proposed programeligible disputes on a case-by-case basis 

following the filing of a complaint 

whose subject matter would be 

arbitration program-eligible under the 

proposed rule. 

This proposed rule, which is detailed 

in the Board’s decision and Federal 

Register notice referenced above is 

being submitted to OMB for review as 

required under the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 

3507(d), and 5 CFR 1320.11. 

List of Subjects 

49 CFR Part 1108 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Railroads. 

49 CFR Part 1109 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Maritime carriers, Motor 

carriers, Railroads. 

Decided: April 13, 2012. 

Jeffrey Herzig, 

Clearance Clerk. 

Appendix A 

The additional information below is 

included to assist those who may wish 

to submit comments pertinent to review 

under the Paperwork Reduction Act: 

Description of Collection 

Title: Assessment of Mediation and 

Arbitration Procedures. 

OMB Control Number: 2140–XXXX. 

STB Form Number: None. 

Type of Review: New collection. 

Respondents: Class I, Class II, and 

Class III railroads. 

Number of Respondents: A maximum 

of 650. 

Estimated Time per Response: 1.0 

hour. 

Frequency: Annually. 

Total Burden Hours (annually 

including all potential respondents): 

650 hours. 

Total ‘‘Non-Hour Burden’’ Cost: None 

identified. 

Needs and Uses: Under 49 U.S.C. 

721(a), the Board has the authority to 

prescribe regulations to carry out its 

statutory authority. The proposed 

information collection is intended to 

encourage greater use of arbitration as a 

means to resolve certain types of 

disputes before the Board, by 

establishing an arbitration program in 

which Class I and Class II rail carriers 

would agree in advance to participate in 

binding arbitration of those disputes 

unless they file an opt-out notice with 

the Board on an annual basis. Class III 

rail carriers may inform the Board of 

their interest in participating in this 

arbitration program by filing an opt-in 

notice at any time. Failure to collect this 

information would impede the Board’s 

ability to establish the proposed 

arbitration program. The Board has 

authority to collect information from 

rail carriers under 49 U.S.C. 11145(a). 

Retention Period: Information in this 

report will be maintained on the Board’s 

Web site for a minimum of one year and 

will be otherwise maintained by the 

Board for a minimum of two years. 

[FR Doc. 2012–9324 Filed 4–17–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4915–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Parts 223 and 224 

[Docket No. 110901553–2072–01] 

RIN 0648–BB41 

Endangered and Threatened Species; 

Proposed Delisting of Eastern DPS of 

Steller Sea Lions 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: Under the authority of the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended (ESA), we, NMFS, issue this 

proposed rule to remove the eastern 

distinct population segment (DPS) of 

Steller sea lions from the List of 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. 

After receiving two petitions to delist 

this DPS, we completed a 

comprehensive review of the status of 

the eastern DPS of Steller Sea Lions. 

Based on the information presented in 

the draft Status Review, the factors for 

delisting in section 4 (a)(1) of the ESA, 

the objective recovery criteria in the 

2008 Recovery Plan, and the continuing 

efforts to protect the species, we have 

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