63094 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 215 / Wednesday, November 7, 2007 / Rules and Regulations 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

GENERAL SERVICES 

ADMINISTRATION 

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND 

SPACE ADMINISTRATION 

48 CFR Chapter 1 

[Docket FAR—2007—0002, Sequence 6] 

Federal Acquisition Regulation; 

Federal Acquisition Circular 2005–21; 

Small Entity Compliance Guide 

AGENCIES: Department of Defense (DoD), 

General Services Administration (GSA), 

and National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (NASA). 

ACTION: Small Entity Compliance Guide. 

SUMMARY: This document is issued 

under the joint authority of the 

Secretary of Defense, the Administrator 

of General Services and the 

Administrator of the National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration. 

This Small Entity Compliance Guide has 

been prepared in accordance with 

Section 212 of the Small Business 

Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 

1996. It consists of a summary of rules 

appearing in Federal Acquisition 

Circular (FAC) 2005–21 which amend 

the FAR. An asterisk (*) next to a rule 

indicates that a regulatory flexibility 

analysis has been prepared. Interested 

parties may obtain further information 

regarding these rules by referring to FAC 

2005–21 which precedes this document. 

These documents are also available via 

the Internet at http:// 

www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

Laurieann Duarte, FAR Secretariat, (202) 

501-4225. For clarification of content, 

contact the analyst whose name appears 

in the table below. 

LIST OF RULES IN FAC 2005–21 

Item Subject FAR case Analyst 

I ............ SAFETY Act: Implementation of DHS Regulations (Interim) .......................................................... 2006–023 Loeb. 

II ........... Biobased Products Preference Program ......................................................................................... 2004–032 Clark. 

III .......... FAR Part 27 Rewrite in Plain Language ......................................................................................... 1999–402 Woodson. 

IV .......... Federal Computer Network (FACNET) Architecture ....................................................................... 2006–015 Woodson. 

*V ......... Exemption of Certain Service Contracts from the Service Contract Act (SCA) (interim) ............... 2001–004 Woodson. 

VI .......... Local Community Recovery Act of 2006 (Interim) .......................................................................... 2006–014 Clark. 

VII ......... Labor Standards for Contracts Containing Construction Requirements-Contract Pricing Method 

References.

2007–001 Woodson. 

VIII ........ Technical Amendments ...................................................................................................................

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Summaries for each FAR rule follow. 

For the actual revisions and/or 

amendments to these FAR cases, refer to 

the specific item number and subject set 

forth in the documents following these 

item summaries. 

FAC 2005–21 amends the FAR as 

specified below: 

Item I—SAFETY Act: Implementation 

of DHS Regulations (FAR Case 2006–

023) (Interim) 

This interim rule implements the 

SAFETY Act in the FAR. The SAFETY 

Act provides incentives for the 

development and deployment of antiterrorism technologies by creating a 

system of ‘‘risk management’’ and a 

system of ‘‘litigation management.’’ The 

purpose of the SAFETY Act is to ensure 

that the threat of liability does not deter 

potential manufacturers or sellers of 

antiterrorism technologies from 

developing, deploying, and 

commercializing technologies that could 

save lives. Examples of Qualified AntiTerrorism Technologies (QATT) 

identified by DHS include—

• Vulnerability assessment and 

countermeasure and counter-terrorism 

planning tools; 

• First responder interoperability 

solution; 

• Marine traffic management system; 

• Security services, guidelines, 

systems, and standards; 

• Vehicle and cargo inspection 

system; 

• X-ray inspection system; 

• Trace explosives detection systems 

and associated support services; 

• Maintenance and repair of 

screening equipment; 

• Risk assessment platform; 

• Explosive and weapon detection 

equipment and services; 

• Biological detection and filtration 

systems; 

• Passenger screening services; 

• Baggage screening services; 

• Chemical, biological, or radiological 

agent release detectors; 

• Vehicle barriers; 

• First responder equipment; and 

• Architectural and engineering 

‘‘hardening’’ products and services. 

Item II—Biobased Products Preference 

Program(FAR Case 2004–032) 

This final rule amends the Federal 

Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to 

implement 7 U.S.C. 8102 as enacted by 

section 9002 of the Farm Security and 

Rural Investment Act of 2002 (FSRIA), 

as amended by Sections 205 and 943 of 

the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Entitled 

Federal Procurement of Biobased 

Products, section 7 U.S.C. 8102 requires 

that a procurement preference be 

afforded biobased products within items 

designated by the Secretary of 

Agriculture. This program applies to 

acquisitions by Federal agencies using 

Federal funds for procurement, as well 

as Government contractors that use 

USDA-designated items in performance 

of a Government contract. It will 

provide increased opportunities for 

entities, both large and small, that 

manufacture or sell biobased products, 

while decreasing opportunities for 

businesses that manufacture or sell 

similar non-biobased products or 

provide components for the 

manufacturing of such products. A list 

of USDA-designated items is available at 

http://www.usda.gov/biopreferred. 

Item III—FAR Part 27 Rewrite in Plain 

Language(FAR Case 1999–402) 

This final rule clarifies, streamlines, 

and updates text and clauses on Patents, 

Data, and Copyrights (FAR Part 27). 

This effort focused on rewriting the 

current FAR language into ‘‘plain 

language,’’ with the ultimate goal of 

making the policies and procedures 

more understandable to the reader. This 

rewrite was not intended to include 

substantive changes to Part 27 policies 

or procedures, except where necessary 

to comply with current statutory or 

regulatory requirements, or to resolve 

internal inconsistencies within FAR 

Part 27 and its associated clauses. 

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Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 215 / Wednesday, November 7, 2007 / Rules and Regulations 63095 

Item IV—Federal Computer Network 

(FACNET) Architecture (FAR Case 

2006–015) 

This final rule amends the Federal 

Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to remove 

FACNET references and provide the 

opportunity to recognize the evolution 

of alternative technologies, processes, 

etc. that Federal agencies are using and 

will use to satisfy their acquisition 

needs without removing the use of 

FACNET for Federal agencies that may 

use the system. Where necessary in the 

FAR, the term has been replaced with a 

more appropriate term that incorporates 

various electronic data interchange 

systems. The proposed rule published 

February 1, 2007 is adopted as final 

without change. 

Item V—Exemption of Certain Service 

Contracts from the Service Contract Act 

(SCA) (2001–004) (Interim) 

This interim rule amends Federal 

Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Parts 4, 

15, 17, 22, and 52 to implement the U.S. 

Department of Labor’s (DoL) final rule 

issued January 18, 2001 (66 FR 5327) 

amending the regulations at 29 CFR part 

4 to exempt certain contracts for 

services meeting specific criteria from 

coverage under the Service Contract 

Act. This rule imposes the DoL criteria 

and does not utilize the term 

‘‘commercial services.’’ The rule 

incorporates slight revisions to the 

current exemption for consistency with 

the current DoL regulations and 

clarification of appropriate course of 

action for the contracting officer. 

Item VI—Local Community Recovery 

Act of 2006 (FAR Case 2006–014) 

(Interim) 

The Civilian Agency Acquisition 

Council and the DefenseAcquisition 

Regulations Council (Councils) have 

agreed on a second interim rule 

amending the Federal Acquisition 

Regulation (FAR) to implement 

legislative amendments to the Stafford 

Act at 42 U.S.C. 5150. 

The first rule implemented The Local 

Community Recovery Act of 2006, 

Pub.L. 109–218, which addressed setasides for major disaster or emergency 

assistance acquisitions to businesses 

that reside or primarily do business in 

the geographic area affected by the 

disaster or emergency. This local area 

set-aside could be done along with a 

small business set-aside. 

After the first rule was published for 

comments in August, 2006, Congress 

further amended the same area of the 

Stafford Act in the Department of 

Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 

2007, Public Law 109–295. The 

amended statute contains requirements 

for transitioning work to local firms in 

the geographic area affected by the 

disaster or emergency and for 

justifications for expenditures to entities 

outside the major disaster or emergency 

area. This second interim rule 

encompasses all of these changes. 

Item VII—Labor Standards for 

Contracts Containing Construction 

Requirements-Contract Pricing Method 

References (FAR Case 2007–001) 

This final rule amends the Federal 

Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to revise 

references to published pricing sources 

available to the contracting officer in 

FAR 22.404–12(c)(2). The rule removes 

the reference to ‘‘R.S. Means Cost 

Estimating System’’ as a commercial 

source for pricing data. The revision 

will provide greater flexibilities for 

contracting officers when selecting 

sources of pricing data. 

Item VIII—Technical Amendments 

Editorial changes are made at FAR 

1.106, 25.003, 52.212–5, 52.219-9, 

52.225–5, 52.225–17, 53.213, 53.302–

347, and 53.302–348 in order to update 

references. 

Dated: October 31, 2007. 

Al Matera, 

Director, Office of Acquisition Policy. 

[FR Doc. 07–5485 Filed 11–6–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6820–EP–S 

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