24850 Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 96 / Thursday, May 16, 1996 / Notices

small businesses to the various

processes associated with participating

in EC/EDI. The SBA is exploring the

possibility of soliciting proposals from

interested offerors at a later date.

However, at this time, no decision has

been made on proceeding with a

procurement action.

Background

The mission of the SBA’s Office of

Government Contracting is to advocate,

facilitate and create an environment

conducive to the maximum practicable

participation by small, small

disadvantaged, and women-owned

businesses in Federal procurement. This

includes awards made by the U.S.

Government and subcontracts awarded

by its large prime contractors. The

direction of Federal procurement policy

was substantially altered by a 1993

memorandum from the President

directing the heads of departments and

agencies to re-engineer the procurement

process by developing and

implementing a system for Federal EC/

EDI. The Federal Acquisition

Streamlining Act (FASA) of 1994

dubbed the resulting systems

architecture as FACNET, and

established the initial statutory

framework necessary to transition

Federal purchasing activities to EC/EDI.

Consistent with the provisions of the

President’s memorandum, electronic

purchasing initially focused on the

millions of requirements filled using

simplified acquisition procedures, the

ceiling for which was raised by FASA

to a maximum of $100K for FACNETcertified purchasing activities.

Simplified acquisitions, which are

reserved primarily for small businesses,

have been conducted increasingly via

FACNET.

A major component of the current

FACNET systems architecture is its

Centralized Contractor Registration

(CCR) data base. The purposes of the

FACNET CCR include: (1) Eliminating

redundancy by standardizing the

contractor registration procedure across

the Government; and (2) providing a

common data base for compiling and

sharing trading partner information. The

concept for which the SBA is seeking

comments is rooted in the critical need

for increased contractor participation in

EC/EDI. The concept is centered around

the identification, pricing and delivery

of value added services (VAS) to small

businesses by a single provider.

Purpose

The purpose of this request for

comments is to solicit information,

observations and suggestions on the

feasibility and nature of establishing

and supporting a VAS provider with a

vehicle that would:

1. Offer lower introductory VAS

prices to small businesses for a period

not to exceed one year so that small

businesses would be encouraged to

participate in EC/EDI, and, based on

that exposure, make informed decisions

about continued participation.

2. Provide those SBA offices who are

actively involved in EC/EDI outreach

and counseling, with an established

source of affordable VAS to which small

businesses could be directed.

3. Dramatically increase the

population of firms centrally registered

for FACNET.

General Specifications: Any Value

Added Network (VAN) services

provided by the established source

would be provided through a VAN

certified by the Defense Information

Services Agency Contracting Office

(DITCO), and such VAN services would

be provided in accordance with the

VAN licensing agreement signed by the

VAN and DITCO. Additionally, the

established VAS provider would ensure

that each small business recruited

pursuant to any agreement is

successfully registered on the CCR and

certified for FACNET transactions.

SBA’s Role in Outreach: SBA would

distribute information on the services

and pricing of the established VAS to

the Agency’s Regional and District

Offices, Business Information Centers

(BICs), Government Contracting Area

Directors, Procurement Center

Representatives, Women’s

Demonstration Project Sites, Small

Business Development Centers,

Management and Technical Assistance

Providers, One-Stop Capital Shops,

Small Business Utilization Staffs, and

other entities involved in promoting or

assisting in small business

development.

The following individual is

designated as the point of contact for

responses which must be submitted in

writing before the close of business on

June 21, 1996. Submission of comments

by mail, FAX or INTERNET E-mail is

acceptable: Oliver H. Snyder III, 409 3rd

Street SW, Office Code-6254,

Washington, D.C. 20416. Phone

Number: 202–205–7650.FAX Number:

202–205–7324. Internet Address:

ohs@pa.sba.gov.

Judith A. Roussel

Associate Administrator, for Government

Contracting.

[FR Doc. 96–12331 Filed 5–15–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8025–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

[Public Notice No. 2385]

Advisory Committee on International

Law; Notice of Meeting

A meeting of the Advisory Committee

on International Law will take place on

Tuesday, June 11, 1996, from 2:00 to

approximately 5:00 p.m., as necessary in

Room 1406 of the U.S. Department of

State, 2201 C Street, NW., Washington,

DC. The meeting will be chaired by the

Legal Adviser of the Department of

State, Conrad K. Harper, and will be

open to the public up to the capacity of

the meeting room. The meeting will

focus on a review of current

International Court of Justice litigation,

International Court of Justice and

International Law Commission elections

during 1996, and other current

developments.

Entry to the building is controlled and

will be facilitated by advance

arrangements. Members of the public

desiring access to the session should, by

Friday, June 7, 1996 notify the Office of

the Assistant Legal Adviser for United

Nations Affairs (telephone (202) 647–

2767) of their name, Social Security

number, date of birth, professional

affiliation, address and telephone

number in order to arrange admittance.

The above includes government and

non-government attendees. All

attendees must use the ‘‘C’’ Street

entrance. One of the following valid IDs

will be required for admittance: Any

U.S. driver’s license with photo, a

passport, or a U.S. Government agency

ID.

Dated: May 6, 1996.

John R. Crook,

Assistant Legal Adviser for United Nations

Affairs; Executive Director, Advisory

Committee on International Law.

[FR Doc. 96–12248 Filed 5–15–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4710–08–M

[Public Notice No. 2387]

Shipping Coordinating Committee;

Subcommittee for the Prevention of

Marine Pollution; Notice of Meeting

The Subcommittee for the Prevention

of Marine Pollution (SPMP), a

subcommittee of the Shipping

Coordinating Committee, will conduct

an open meeting on Tuesday, June 25,

1996, at 9:30 am in Room 2415 of the

U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, 2100

Second Street, SW., Washington, DC.

The purpose of this meeting will be to

review the agenda items to be

considered at the thirty-eighth session

of the Marine Environment Protection