30264 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 101 / Wednesday, May 25, 2011 / Rules and Regulations 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

48 CFR Part 601 

[Public Notice: 7480] 

RIN 1400–AB98 

Department of State Acquisition 

Regulation; Foreign Nationals and 

Third Country Nationals 

AGENCY: State Department. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This final rule makes one 

administrative change to the 

Department of State Acquisition 

Regulation (DOSAR). It revises the 

DOSAR to allow the appointment of 

selected non-U.S. citizen locally 

employed staff, i.e., Foreign Nationals 

and Third Country Nationals, as 

contracting officers for acquisitions at 

$25,000 and below. This change will 

permit streamlined procurement 

processes at applicable Department of 

State overseas posts. 

DATES: Effective Date: This rule is 

effective June 24, 2011. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Barbara Latvanas, Procurement Analyst, 

Department of State, Office of the 

Procurement Executive, 2201 C Street, 

NW., Suite 900, State Annex Number 

27, Washington, DC 20522; telephone 

number: 703–516–1755; e-mail address: 

LatvanasBA@state.gov 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Department published a proposed rule, 

Public Notice 5684 at 72 FR 4475, 

January 31, 2007, with a request for 

comments to expand contracting 

authority at applicable overseas posts 

(Embassies and Consulates) to selected 

non-U.S. citizen locally employed staff 

(LES) for acquisitions at $25,000 and 

below. Because the current DOSAR 

language indicates that all contracting 

officers must be U.S. citizens, a change 

to the regulation is required. By way of 

background, the Department conducted 

a pilot program at 15 overseas posts in 

the following locations: Bridgetown, 

Barbados; Brussels, Belgium; Ljubljana, 

Slovenia; Melbourne, Australia; 

Munich, Germany; Nicosia, Cyprus; 

Oslo, Norway; Paris, France; Seoul, 

Korea; Singapore; Tallinn, Estonia; The 

Hague, Netherlands; Tokyo, Japan; 

Valletta, Malta; and Vienna, Austria. To 

ensure adequate rule of law, each of the 

locations involved in the pilot program 

had a score of at least 5.0 on the 

Transparency International Corruption 

Perceptions Index, available at the 

following Web site: http:// 

www.transparency.org/. This successful 

pilot program resulted in streamlined 

procurement processes and increased 

management flexibility in awarding 

acquisitions at $25,000 and below. As a 

result of this successful pilot program, 

the Department wants to adopt the 

proposed rule as final. As specified in 

the proposed rule, appropriate 

enhanced management controls, 

including review of LES transactions by 

a U.S. Citizen contracting officer, will be 

imposed. For example, these controls 

will incorporate the following 

mandatory requirements: 

• Available only at posts with a score 

of least 5.0 on the Transparency 

International Corruption Perceptions 

Index; 

• Available only to selected LES staff 

with a minimum of five years of 

Department of State experience, 

unquestioned integrity, and one week of 

specified simplified acquisition 

training; 

• Review of LES transactions on a 

monthly basis by a U.S. citizen 

contracting officer; and 

• Periodic evaluation of LES 

delegated procurement by the Office of 

the Procurement Executive. 

This DOSAR change is administrative 

in nature and is intended to provide 

management flexibility to Department of 

State overseas posts. The proposed rule 

was discussed in detail in Public Notice 

5684. No public comments were 

received. The Department is now 

promulgating a final rule with no 

changes from the proposed rule. 

Regulatory Findings 

Administrative Procedure Act 

The Department of State does not 

consider this rule to be a ‘‘significant 

regulatory action’’ under Executive 

Order 12866, section 3(f), Regulatory 

Planning and Review. In addition, the 

Department is exempt from Executive 

Order 12866 except to the extent that it 

is promulgating regulations in 

conjunction with a domestic agency that 

are significant regulatory actions. The 

Department has nevertheless reviewed 

the regulation to ensure its consistency 

with the regulatory philosophy and 

principles set forth in that Executive 

Order. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Department of State, in 

accordance with the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 605(b)), has 

reviewed this regulation and, by 

approving it, certifies that this rule will 

not have a significant economic impact 

on a substantial number of small 

entities. 

Unfunded Mandates Act of 1995 

This rule will not result in the 

expenditure by State, local, and tribal 

governments, in the aggregate, or by the 

private sector, of $100 million or more 

in any year and it will not significantly 

or uniquely affect small governments. 

Therefore, no actions were deemed 

necessary under the provisions of the 

Unfunded Mandates Act of 1995. 

Small Business Regulatory Enforcement 

Fairness Act of 1996 

This rule is not a major rule as 

defined by section 804 of the Small 

Business Regulatory Enforcement Act of 

1996. This rule will not result in an 

annual effect on the economy of $100 

million or more; a major increase in 

costs or prices; or significant adverse 

effects on competition, employment, 

investment, productivity, innovation, or 

on the ability of United States-based 

companies to compete with foreign 

based companies in domestic and 

import markets. 

Executive Order 13563 and Executive 

Order 12866 

The Department of State does not 

consider this rule to be a ‘‘significant 

regulatory action’’ under Executive 

Order 12866, section 3(f), Regulatory 

Planning and Review, as amended by 

Executive Order 13563. In addition, the 

Department is exempt from Executive 

Order 12866 except to the extent that it 

is promulgating regulations in 

conjunction with a domestic agency that 

are significant regulatory actions. The 

Department has nevertheless reviewed 

the regulation to ensure its consistency 

with the regulatory philosophy and 

principles set forth in that Executive 

Order. 

Executive Order 13132 

This rule will not have substantial 

direct effects on the States, on the 

relationship between the national 

government and the States, or on the 

distribution of power and 

responsibilities among the various 

levels of government. Therefore, in 

accordance with section 6 of Executive 

Order 13132, it is determined that this 

rule does not have sufficient federalism 

implications to require consultations or 

warrant the preparation of a federalism 

summary impact statement. 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

The Paperwork Reduction Act does 

not apply because the rule does not 

impose information collection 

requirements that require the approval 

of the Office of Management and Budget 

under 44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq. 

List of Subjects in 48 CFR Part 601 

Government procurement. 

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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 101 / Wednesday, May 25, 2011 / Rules and Regulations 30265 

Accordingly, for reasons set forth in 

the preamble, title 48, chapter 6 of the 

Code of Federal Regulations is amended 

as follows: 

Subchapter A—General 

PART 601—DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

ACQUISITION REGULATION SYSTEM 

■ 1. The authority citation for 48 CFR 

part 601 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 40 U.S.C. 486(c); 22 U.S.C. 

2658. 

■ 2. Section 601.603–3 is amended by 

revising paragraph (c) to read as set 

forth below: 

601.603–3 Appointment. 

* * * * * 

(c) Non-Federal employees. Only 

United States Government employees 

shall be appointed as contracting 

officers. For acquisitions at $25,000 and 

below only, this includes locally 

employed staff (i.e., Foreign Service 

Nationals and Third Country nationals). 

Personal services contractors are not 

eligible for appointment as DOS 

contracting officers. 

* * * * * 

Dated: May 19, 2011. 

Corey M. Rindner, 

Procurement Executive, Bureau of 

Administration, Department of State. 

[FR Doc. 2011–12993 Filed 5–24–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4710–24–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 090225241–1233–03] 

RIN 0648–AX70 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Monkfish; Amendment 5 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This final rule implements 

measures that were approved in 

Amendment 5 to the Monkfish Fishery 

Management Plan (FMP). The New 

England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Councils (Councils) 

developed Amendment 5 to bring the 

FMP into compliance with the annual 

catch limit (ACL) and accountability 

measure (AM) requirements of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act). This rule 

establishes the mechanisms for 

specifying ACLs and AMs and sets the 

annual catch target (ACT) and 

associated measures for days-at-sea 

(DAS) and trip limits for the Southern 

Fishery Management Area (SFMA). 

NMFS disapproved the proposed ACT, 

and associated measures, for the 

Northern Fishery Management Area 

(NFMA) on the grounds that they are 

not consistent with the most recent 

scientific advice. This final rule 

implements three additional 

Amendment 5 management measures to 

promote efficiency and reduce waste, 

brings the biological and management 

reference points in the Monkfish FMP 

into compliance with recently revised 

National Standard 1 (NS1) Guidelines, 

and makes one correction to the 

monkfish weight conversion factors. 

DATES: Effective May 25, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: An environmental 

assessment (EA) prepared for 

Amendment 5 at the time of its 

submission by the Councils describes 

the proposed action and other 

considered alternatives, and provides a 

thorough analysis of the impacts of the 

proposed measures and alternatives. 

NMFS prepared an Addendum to the 

Amendment 5 EA for the purpose of 

analyzing the potential impacts of the 

amendment on Atlantic sturgeon. 

Copies of Amendment 5, including the 

EA and the Initial Regulatory Flexibility 

Analysis (IRFA), are available on 

request from Paul J. Howard, Executive 

Director, New England Fishery 

Management Council (NEFMC), 50 

Water Street, Newburyport, MA 01950. 

Copies of the Addendum to Amendment 

5 are available from Patricia A. Kurkul, 

Regional Administrator, NMFS, 55 Great 

Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. 

These documents are also available 

online at http://www.nefmc.org. 

Written comments regarding the 

burden-hour estimates or other aspects 

of the collection-of-information 

requirements contained in this final rule 

may be submitted to the Northeast 

Regional Office of NMFS at 55 Great 

Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930, 

and by e-mail to 

OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov, or fax 

to (202) 395–7285. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Allison McHale, Fishery Policy Analyst, 

(978) 281–9103; fax: (978) 281–9135. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

This final rule implements approved 

measures in Amendment 5, which was 

partially approved by NMFS on behalf 

of the Secretary of Commerce 

(Secretary) on April 28, 2011. A 

proposed rule to implement the 

measures in Amendment 5 published in 

the Federal Register on March 3, 2011 

(76 FR 11737), with public comment 

accepted through April 4, 2011. Details 

concerning the development of 

Amendment 5 were contained in the 

preamble of the proposed rule and are 

not repeated here. 

A recent assessment of the monkfish 

resource was conducted during the first 

half of 2010 by the 50th Stock 

Assessment Review Committee (SARC 

50). The full assessment report was 

released in August 2010 and can be 

found at http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/ 

publications/crd/crd1017/. The SARC 

50 assessment concluded that both 

stocks are above their respective current 

biomass thresholds, and above the new 

biomass thresholds recommended by 

the assessment, indicating that both 

stocks are not overfished. Furthermore, 

the current estimated fishing mortality 

rate for each stock is below its 

respective fishing mortality threshold. 

Thus, overfishing is not occurring on 

either stock. 

The 2010 assessment panel expressed 

serious concerns regarding the high 

levels of scientific uncertainty in the 

assessment results. The Monkfish 

Assessment Summary Report for 2010 

states, ‘‘The assessment results continue 

to be uncertain due to cumulative 

effects of under-reported landings, 

unknown discards during the 1980s, 

uncertainty in survey indices, and 

incomplete understanding of key 

biological parameters such as age and 

growth, longevity, natural mortality and 

stock structure contributing to 

retrospective patterns primarily in the 

northern management area.’’ Unlike the 

Data Poor Working Group (DPWG) 

assessment conducted in 2007 (see 

Monkfish Assessment Summary Report 

at http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/nefsc/ 

publications/crd/crd0713/), the 2010 

assessment utilized projections to 

evaluate stock trends based on 

anticipated fishing levels. However, 

these projections are also considered 

highly uncertain because they are based 

on the outputs of the assessment model. 

Despite this uncertainty, the projections 

indicated that the NFMA is more 

vulnerable to overfishing or becoming 

overfished during 2011–2016 if total 

catches approach the acceptable 

biological catch (ABC) value of 17,485 

mt in Amendment 5 that was based on 

the results of the DPWG assessment. 

Conversely, the SFMA was found to be 

less vulnerable based upon the ABC 

value of 13,326 mt in Amendment 5. 

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