13132 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 52 /Wednesday, March 18, 1998 /Rules and Regulations

Executive Order 12612

The final rule will not have a

substantial direct effect 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 Executive Order 12612,

BLM has determined that this final rule

does not have sufficient federalism

implications to warrant preparation of a

Federalism Assessment.

Executive Order 12630

The final rule does not represent a

government action capable of interfering

with constitutionally protected property

rights. The final rule will allow BLM to

establish new sustained-yield forest

units, and will remove several obsolete

provisions in the part 5040 regulations,

but there will be no private property

rights impaired as a result. Therefore,

BLM has determined that the rule

would not cause a taking of private

property or require further discussion of

takings implications under this

Executive Order.

Executive Order 12866

According to the criteria listed in

section 3(f) of Executive Order 12866,

BLM has determined that the final rule

is not a significant regulatory action. As

such, the final rule is not subject to

Office of Management and Budget

review under section 6(a)(3) of the

order.

Executive Order 12988

The Department of the Interior has

determined that this rule meets the

applicable standards provided in

sections 3(a) and 3(b)(2) of Executive

Order 12988.

Author

The principal author of this rule is

Lyndon Werner, Oregon State Office,

Bureau of Land Management, 1849 C

Street NW., Room 401LS, Washington

DC 20240; Telephone: 202–452–5042

(Commercial or FTS).

List of Subjects for 43 CFR Part 5040

Forests and forest products, Public

lands.

Dated: February 18, 1998.

Sylvia V. Baca,

Deputy Assistant Secretary, Land and

Minerals Management.

For the reasons stated above, and

under the authority of 43 U.S.C. 1740,

subchapter B, BLM is revising Part 5040,

Group 5000, Subchapter E, Chapter II of

Title 43 of the Code of Federal

Regulations to read as follows:

PART 5040—SUSTAINED-YIELD

FOREST UNITS

Sec.

5040.1 Under what authority does BLM

establish sustained-yield forest units?

5040.2 What will BLM do before it

establishes sustained-yield forest units?

5040.3 How does BLM establish sustainedyield forest units?

5040.4 What is the effect of designating

sustained-yield forest units?

5040.5 How does BLM determine and

declare the annual productive capacity?

Authority: 43 U.S.C. 1181e; 43 U.S.C. 1740.

§ 5040.1 Under what authority does BLM

establish sustained-yield forest units?

BLM is authorized, under the O. and

C. Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1181a et seq.)

and the Federal Land Policy and

Management Act, to divide the lands it

manages in western Oregon into

sustained-yield forest units. These lands

are hereafter referred to as ‘‘the O. and

C. lands.’’ BLM establishes units that

contain enough forest land to provide,

insofar as practicable, a permanent

source of raw materials to support local

communities and industries, giving due

consideration to established forest

products operations.

§ 5040.2 What will BLM do before it

establishes sustained-yield forest units?

Before BLM designates sustainedyield forest units, it will:

(a) Hold a public hearing in the area

where it proposes to designate the units.

BLM will provide notice, approved by

the BLM Director, to the public of any

hearing concerning sustained-yield

forest units. This notice must be

published once a week for four

consecutive weeks in a newspaper of

general circulation in the county or

counties in which the forest units are

situated. BLM may also publish the

notice in a trade publication; and

(b) Forward the minutes or meeting

records to the BLM Director, along with

an appropriate recommendation

concerning the establishment of the

units.

§ 5040.3 How does BLM establish

sustained-yield forest units?

After a public hearing, BLM will

publish a notice in a newspaper of

general circulation in the county or

counties affected by the proposed units,

stating whether or not the BLM Director

has decided to establish the units. If the

BLM Director determines that the units

should be established, BLM will include

in its notice information on the

geographical description of the

sustained-yield forest units, how the

public may review the BLM document

that will establish the units, and the

date the units will become effective.

BLM will publish the notice before the

units are established.

§ 5040.4 What is the effect of designating

sustained-yield units?

Designating new sustained-yield

forest units abolishes previous O. and C.

master unit or sustained-yield forest

unit designations. Until new sustainedyield forest units are designated for the

first time in accordance with 43 CFR

part 5040, the current master unit

designations will continue to be in

effect.

§ 5040.5 How does BLM determine and

declare the annual productive capacity?

(a) If BLM has not established

sustained-yield forest units under part

5040, then BLM will determine and

declare the annual productive capacity

by applying the sustained-yield

principle to the O. and C. lands, treating

them as a single unit.

(b) If BLM has established sustainedyield forest units under part 5040, then

BLM will determine and declare the

annual productive capacity by applying

the sustained-yield principle to each

separate forest unit.

(c) If it occurs that BLM has

established sustained-yield forest units

for less than all of the O. and C. lands,

then BLM will determine and declare

the annual productive capacity as

follows:

(1) BLM will treat sustained-yield

forest units as in paragraph (b) of this

section; and

(2) BLM will treat any O. and C. lands

not located within sustained-yield forest

units as a single unit.

[FR Doc. 98–6896 Filed 3–17–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–84–P

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS

COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 61

[CC Docket No. 96–187; FCC 97–23]

Implementation of Section 402(b)(1)(a)

of the Telecommunications Act of 1996

(Tariff Streamlining Provisions for

Local Exchange Carriers)

CFR Correction

In title 47 of the Code of Federal

Regulations, parts 40 to 69, revised as of

October 1, 1997, on pages 131 and 132,

paragraphs (e), (1), and (2) should be

redesignated to paragraphs (f), (1), and

(2), and paragraph (e) redesignated from

paragraph (d) at 62 FR 5778, Feb. 7,

1997, should be reinstated to read as

follows:
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 52 /Wednesday, March 18, 1998 /Rules and Regulations 13133

§ 61.58 [Corrected]

* * * * *

(e) Other carriers. (1) Tariff filings in

the instances specified in paragraphs

(d)(1) (i), (ii), and (iii) of this section

must be made on at least 15 days’

notice.

(i) Tariffs filed in the first instance by

new carriers.

(ii) Tariffs filings involving new rates

and regulations not previously filed at,

from, to or via points on new lines; at,

from to or via new radio facilities; or for

new points of radio communication.

(iii) Tariff filings involving a change

in the name of a carrier, a change in

Vertical and Horizontal coordinates (or

other means used to determine airline

mileages), a change in the lists of

mileages, a change in the lists of

connecting, concurring or other

participating carriers, text changes, or

the imposition of termination charges

calculated from effective tariff

provisions. The imposition of

termination charges does not include

the initial filing of termination liability

provisions.

(2) Tariff filings involving a change in

rate structure, a new service offering, or

a rate increase must be made on at least

45 days’ notice.

(3) All tariff filings not specifically

assigned a different period of public

notice in this part must be made on at

least 35 days’ notice.

* * * * *

BILLING CODE 1505–01–D

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND

SPACE ADMINISTRATION

48 CFR Parts 1816 and 1852

FAR Supplement Coverage of Award

Fee Evaluations

AGENCY: National Aeronautics and

Space Administration (NASA).

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: This is a final rule amending

the NASA FAR Supplement (NFS)

coverage on award fee evaluations to

correct inaccurate references and

improve clarity.

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 18, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom

O’Toole, NASA Office of Procurement,

Contract Management Division (Code

HK), (202) 358–0478.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

NASA has different award fee

evaluation procedures for service and

end item contracts. For service

contracts, all award fee evaluations

during the contract term are final. For

end item contracts, evaluations during

the contract term are ‘‘interim’’

evaluations that are superseded by a

single final evaluation at contract

completion. The NFS has inaccurate

references associating interim

evaluations with service contracts, and

these are deleted by this rule. In

addition, NASA allow for provisional

payment of award fee, i.e., payments

made during award fee periods in

anticipation of the Government

evaluation at the end of the period.

References to provisional payments in

the NFS are inconsistent, and this rule

conforms these references. Finally, to

improve its clarity, the NFS coverage is

restructured and miscellaneous editorial

changes are made. None of the NFS

revisions in this rule change NASA

policy.

Impact

NASA certifies that this regulation

will not have a significant economic

impact on a substantial number of small

business entities under the Regulatory

Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.).

This final rule does not impose any

reporting or recordkeeping requirements

subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act.

List of Subjects in 48 CFR Parts 1816

and 1852

Government procurement.

Deidre Lee,

Associate Administrator for Procurement.

Accordingly, 48 CFR Parts 1816 and

1852 are amended as follows:

1. The authority citation for 48 CFR

Parts 1816 and 1852 continues to read

as follows:

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 2473(c)(1)

PART 1816–TYPES OF CONTRACTS

2. In section 1816.405–271, paragraph

(a) is revised to read as follows:

1816.405–271 Base fee.

(a) A base fee shall not be used on

CPAF contracts for which the periodic

award fee evaluations are final

(1816.405–273(a)). In these

circumstances, contractor performance

during any award fee period is

independent of and has no effect on

subsequent performance periods or the

final results at contract completion. For

other contracts, such as those for

hardware or software development, the

procurement officer may authorize the

use of a base fee not to exceed 3 percent.

Base fee shall not be used when an

award fee incentive is used in

conjunction with another contract type

(e.g., CPIF/AF).

* * * * *

3. In paragraph (a) of section

1816.405–272, the first sentence is

revised to read as follows:

1816.405–272 Award fee evaluation

periods.

(a) Award fee evaluation periods,

including those for interim evaluations,

should be at least 6 months in length.

* * *

* * * * *

4. Section 1816.405–273 is revised to

read as follows:

1816.405–273 Award fee evaluations.

(a) Service contracts. On contracts

where the contract deliverable is the

performance of a service over any given

time period, contractor performance is

often definitively measurable within

each evaluation period. In these cases,

all evaluations are final, and the

contractor keeps the fee earned in any

period regardless of the evaluations of

subsequent periods. Unearned award fee

in any given period in a service contract

is lost and shall not be carried forward,

or ‘‘rolled-over,’’ into subsequent

periods.

(b) End item contracts. On contracts,

such as those for end item deliverables,

where the true quality of contractor

performance cannot be measured until

the end of the contract, only the last

evaluation is final. At that point, the

total contract award fee pool is

available, and the contractor’s total

performance is evaluated against the

award fee plan to determine total earned

award fee. In addition to the final

evaluation, interim evaluations are done

to monitor performance prior to contract

completion, provide feedback to the

contractor on the Government’s

assessment of the quality of its

performance, and establish the basis for

making interim award fee payments (see

1816.405–276(a)). These interim

evaluations and associated interim

award fee payments are superseded by

the fee determination made in the final

evaluation at contract completion. The

Government will then pay the

contractor, or the contractor will refund

to the Government, the difference

between the final award fee

determination and the cumulative

interim fee payments.

(c) Control of evaluations. Interim and

final evaluations may be used to provide

past performance information during

the source selection process in future

acquisitions and should be marked and

controlled as ‘‘Source Selection

Information—See FAR 3.104’’.