1080 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 6 / Monday, January 10, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 

warrant, or petty officer of the U.S. 

Coast Guard assigned to units under the 

operational control of USCG Sector 

Lower Mississippi River. 

(2) To seek permission to enter, 

contact the COTP or the COTP’s 

representative via VHF–FM channel 16 

or by telephone at 314–269–2332. Those 

in the safety zone must comply with all 

lawful orders or directions given to 

them by the COTP or the COTP’s 

designated representative. 

(c) Enforcement period. This section 

will be enforced from January 5, 2022 

through April 1, 2022. 

(d) Information broadcasts. The COTP 

or a designated representative will 

inform the public of the enforcement 

times and date for this safety zone 

through Broadcast Notices to Mariners, 

Local Notices to Mariners, and/or Safety 

Marine Information Broadcasts, as 

appropriate. 

Dated: January 3, 2022. 

R.S. Rhodes, 

Captain, U.S. Coast Guard, Captain of the 

Port Sector Lower Mississippi River. 

[FR Doc. 2022–00126 Filed 1–7–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–04–P 

GENERAL SERVICES 

ADMINISTRATION 

41 CFR Part 102–173 

[FMR Case 2021–02; Docket No. GSA–FMR– 

2021–0022; Sequence 01] 

RIN 3090–AK52 

Federal Management Regulation 

(FMR); Internet GOV Domain 

AGENCY: Office of Information Integrity 

and Access, Office of Government-wide 

Policy (OGP), General Services 

Administration (GSA). 

ACTION: Interim rule. 

SUMMARY: This interim rule implements 

certain provisions of the DOTGOV Act 

of 2020 applicable to GSA, which was 

enacted as part of the Consolidated 

Appropriations Act, 2021. It removes 

provisions to the existing jurisdiction of 

the DOTGOV domain that had been 

delegated to the General Services 

Administration in 1997 by the Federal 

Networking Council with guidance in 

the form of internet Engineering Task 

Force (IETF) Informational RFC 2146, 

which was further expanded to include 

State, local, or territorial government 

entities in 2003 by the 

Intergovernmental Cooperation Act 

(IGCA). This interim rule implements 

provisions of the DOTGOV Act of 2020 

that transfer ownership, management 

and operation of the DotGov Domain 

Program from the General Services 

Administration (GSA) to the Department 

of Homeland Security (DHS) 

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure 

Security Agency (CISA). 

DATES: 

Effective date: January 10, 2022. 

Applicability Date: As of January 10, 

2022, this interim rule applies to all 

newly issued, already in operation, and/ 

or renewed .gov domains. 

Comment Date: Interested parties 

should submit written comments to the 

Regulatory Secretariat Division at the 

address shown below on or before 

March 11, 2022 to be considered in the 

formation of the final rule. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

clarification of content, contact Ms. 

Marina Fox, Office of Government-wide 

Policy, Office of Information, Integrity, 

and Access, at 202–253–6448, or by 

email at marina.fox@gsa.gov. For 

information pertaining to the status or 

publication schedules, contact the 

Regulatory Secretariat Division at 202– 

501–4755 or GSARegSec@gsa.gov. 

Please cite FMR Case 2021–02. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Inspection of Public Comments: 

Comments received before the close of 

the comment period are available for 

viewing by the public, including any 

personally identifiable or confidential 

business information that is included in 

a comment. We post comments received 

before the close of the comment period 

on the following website as soon as 

possible after they have been received: 

https://regulations.gov. Follow the 

search instructions on that website to 

view public comments. 

I. Background 

For more than 20 years, GSA 

supported government organizations 

and worked to make .gov a trusted 

space.gov domain exists so that the 

online services of bona fide U.S.-based 

government organizations are easy to 

identify on the internet. Increasing and 

normalizing .gov use helps the public 

know where to find official government 

information. .gov is critical 

infrastructure: It’s central to the 

availability and integrity of thousands of 

online services relied upon by millions 

of users. Since the .gov domain 

underpins communication with and 

within these institutions, cybersecurity 

significance of all aspects of .gov’s 

administration has been increasing 

rapidly. To provide additional 

cybersecurity support and expand .gov 

usage among public entities, the 

DOTGOV Act of 2020 (or the DOTGOV 

Act of 2019) was introduced in the U.S. 

Senate on October 30, 2019, directing 

GSA to transfer the DotGov program to 

CISA. 

On December 27, 2020, the DOTGOV 

Act of 2020 was signed into law and 

enacted as part of the Consolidated 

Appropriations Act, 2021 (Pub. L. 116– 

260). The Act transfers the DotGov 

(.gov) internet domain program, as 

operated by the General Services 

Administration under title 41, Code of 

Federal Regulations, to DHS CISA. The 

Act also orders that on the date CISA 

begins operational administration of the 

DotGov internet domain program, the 

GSA Administrator shall rescind the 

requirements in part 102–173 of title 41, 

Code of Federal Regulations applicable 

to any Federal, State, local, or territorial 

government entity, or other publicly 

controlled entity, including any Tribal 

government recognized by the Federal 

Government or a State government that 

is registering or operating a .gov internet 

domain. Finally, the Act orders that in 

place of the requirements in part 102– 

173 of title 41, Code of Federal 

Regulations, CISA, in consultation with 

the Director of Management and Budget 

(OMB), establishes and publishes a new 

set of requirements for the registration 

and operation of .gov domains. 

On April 26, 2021, GSA transferred 

ownership, management and operation 

of DotGov Domain Program to the 

Department of Homeland Security 

(DHS), CISA, and CISA published new 

.gov domain issuance guidance for 

government entities in place of the 

existing INTERNET GOV DOMAIN 

requirements in FMR. To comply with 

the DOTGOV Online Trust in 

Government Act of 2020 (Title IX, 

Division U, H.R. 133, Consolidated 

Appropriations Act, 2021), GSA is 

amending the Federal Management 

Regulation to remove all requirements 

in part 102–173 ‘‘INTERNET GOV 

DOMAIN’’. 

DotGov Program History 

The DotGov program was created in 

1997, and GSA OGP became the 

designated authority for the top level 

Domain ‘‘DOT GOV’’ registry and 

registrar and the subdomain registrar for 

FED.US by a delegation of the National 

Science Foundation through consensus 

of the Federal Networking Council and 

Department of Commerce on October 1, 

1997. To provide additional support, 

GSA entered into an agreement with the 

Department of the Interior’s Bureau of 

Indian Affairs to facilitate the 

registration of Native Sovereign Nations 

(NSNs) in the dot-gov domain. In 2003, 

GSA began using the Intergovernmental 

Cooperation Act (IGCA) as the authority 

to provide services to U.S. state and 

local governments, and began issuing 


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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 6 / Monday, January 10, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 1081 

1Paragraph (b)(2) relates to contracts using funds 

appropriated or otherwise made available by the 

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 

(Pub. L. 111–5). 

.gov domains to state and local 

government entities. 

Under GSA’s DotGov program 

management and operations, domain 

registrations were approved based on 

established criteria, detailed in Federal 

Networking Council request for 

comments (RFC) 2146, May 1997 and in 

the Code of Federal Regulations—41 

CFR Part 102–173. GSA’s management 

of the DotGov program also included 

DotGov DNS Security (DNSSEC), which 

gives DNS queries origin authenticity 

and data integrity. This was 

accomplished by the inclusion of public 

keys and the use of digital signatures to 

DNS information. DNSSEC was 

deployed on the top level Gov domain 

root zone in January 2008 in accordance 

with OMB Memorandum M–08–23. 

II. Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 

Executive Orders (E.O.s) 12866 and 

13563 direct agencies to assess all costs 

and benefits of available regulatory 

alternatives and, if regulation is 

necessary, to select regulatory 

approaches that maximize net benefits 

(including potential economic, 

environmental, public health and safety 

effects, distributive impacts, and 

equity). E.O. 13563 emphasizes the 

importance of quantifying both costs 

and benefits, of reducing costs, of 

harmonizing rules, and of promoting 

flexibility. This is not a significant 

regulatory action and, therefore, was not 

subject to review under section 6(b) of 

E.O. 12866, Regulatory Planning and 

Review, dated September 30, 1993. 

III. Congressional Review Act 

This rule is not a major rule under 5 

U.S.C. 804(2). Subtitle E of the Small 

Business Regulatory Enforcement 

Fairness Act of 1996 (codified at 5 

U.S.C. 801–808), also known as the 

Congressional Review Act or CRA, 

generally provides that before a rule 

may take effect, the agency 

promulgating the rule must submit a 

rule report, which includes a copy of 

the rule, to each House of the Congress 

and to the Comptroller General of the 

United States. GSA 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. A major rule under the CRA 

cannot take effect until 60 days after it 

is published in the Federal Register. 

OIRA has determined that this is not a 

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

804(2). 

IV. Regulatory Flexibility Act 

This interim rule will not have a 

significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities 

within the meaning of the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601, et seq., 

because it applies to agency 

management or personnel. Therefore, an 

Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

has not been performed. 

V. Paperwork Reduction Act 

The Paperwork Reduction Act does 

not apply because the changes to the 

FMR do not impose recordkeeping or 

information collection requirements, or 

the collection of information from 

offerors, contractors, or members of the 

public that require the approval of the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) under 44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq. 

VI. Determination To Issue an Interim 

Rule 

As discussed above, Congress 

mandated through the DOT Gov Online 

Trust in Government Act that GSA 

rescind the regulations contained in part 

102–173 of title 41, Code of Federal 

Regulations. As Congress has directed a 

specific regulator outcome through 

statute, this constitutes good cause to 

issue this as an interim rule with 

comment period. 

List of Subjects in 41 CFR Part 102–173 

Government property management; 

Internet Gov Domain. 

Robin Carnahan, 

Administrator. 

PART 102–173—[REMOVED] 

■ For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, and under the authority of the 

DOTGOV Online Trust in Government 

Act of 2020 (Title IX, Division U, H.R. 

133, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 

2021), GSA removes 41 CFR part 102– 

173. 

[FR Doc. 2021–28421 Filed 1–7–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6820–14–P 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

48 CFR Parts 615 and 652 

[Public Notice: 11611] 

RIN 1400–AE60 

Acquisition Regulation: Access to 

Contractor Records 

AGENCY: Department of State. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Department of State (the 

Department) is finalizing an amendment 

to the Department of State Acquisition 

Regulation (DOSAR), to add a new 

contract clause relating to Department 

requests for examination of contractor 

records. 

DATES: This final rule is effective 

February 9, 2022. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Tandra A. Jones, Senior Procurement, 

Email: AcquisitionPolicy@state.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On July 2, 

2021, the Department published a notice 

of proposed rulemaking, proposing to 

add 48 CFR part 615, section 615.209– 

70, Examination of Records, and 48 CFR 

part 652, section 652.209–70, 

Examination of Records, to the 

Department of State Acquisition 

Regulation (DOSAR). 86 FR 35257. The 

Department provided 60 days for public 

comment. No comments were received. 

Accordingly, the Department is 

publishing this final rule. 

What is the authority for this rule? 

Title 41 of the U.S. Code, section 

4706, provides that the head of an 

executive agency, acting through an 

authorized representative, may, for the 

purpose of evaluating the accuracy, 

completeness, and currency of certified 

cost or pricing data required to be 

submitted pursuant to 41 U.S.C. chapter 

35 with respect to a contract or 

subcontract, examine all records of the 

contractor or subcontractor related to: 

• The proposal for the contract or 

subcontract; 

• the discussions conducted on the 

proposal; 

• pricing of the contract or 

subcontract; or 

• performance of the contract or 

subcontract. 

The Federal Acquisition Regulation 

(FAR), 48 CFR 15.209(b), Solicitation 

provisions and contract clauses, states 

(in summary) that, when contracting by 

negotiation, except as provided in 

paragraph (b)(2) of § 15.209,1 the 

contracting officer shall insert the clause 

at § 52.215–2, Audit and RecordsNegotiation, in solicitations and 

contracts except those for 

• Acquisitions not exceeding the 

simplified acquisition threshold; 

Æ The acquisition of utility services at 

rates not exceeding those established to 

apply uniformly to the general public, 

plus any applicable reasonable 

connection charge; or 

Æ The acquisition of commercial 

items exempted under § 15.403–1. 


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