30028 Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 115 / Thursday, June 13, 1996 / Proposed Rules

Dated: June 7, 1996.

Carol M. Browner,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 96–15034 Filed 6–12–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

GENERAL SERVICES

ADMINISTRATION

41 CFR Part 101–20

RIN 3090–AG00

Small Purchase Authority

AGENCY: General Services

Administration.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

SUMMARY: This General Services

Administration (GSA) proposed rule

revises the regulations regarding the

delegation of authority to occupant

agencies to contract for reimbursable

space alterations. The present FPMR

provisions stated in 101–20.106.1 cite a

project accomplishment threshold of

$25,000. This threshold was established

based on the small purchase authority

in place at the time of the original

publication of this provision.

Since the purpose of this FPMR

provision is to provide occupant

agencies choices in their use of a service

provider, it is recommended that the

Simplified Acquisition Procurement

threshold be used. Rather than establish

an authority at a selected value, the

reference should be changed to link it to

the Federal Acquisition Streamlining

Act of 1994. Therefore, if the value of

the statute changes the FPMR would not

require a change. The present

Simplified Acquisition Procedures

(SAP) authority is $50,000 for GSA

procurement activities.

Modifying the FPMR provisions to tie

to the SAP authority gives occupants

increased flexibility in accomplishing

alteration tasks and fully delegates the

authority to do the work.

No other changes are suggested.

DATES: Comments must be received on

or before July 15, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should

be sent to General Services

Administration, Office of Property

Management, Portfolio Customer Team

(PMX), 18th and F Streets, NW, Room

G118, Washington, DC 20405.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jeffrey Neely, Portfolio Customer Team,

PMX, (202) 208–1497.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

General Services Administration (GSA)

has determined that this rule is not a

significant regulatory action for the

purposes of Executive Order 12866.

The Paperwork Reduction Act does

not apply because the revisions do not

impose record keeping or information

collection requirements, or collections

of information from offerors,

contractors, or members of the public

which require the approval of the Office

of Management and Budget under 44

U.S.C. 3501, et seq.

This rule is not required to be

published in the Federal Register for

notice and comment. Therefore, the

Regulatory Flexibility Act does not

apply.

List of Subjects in 41 CFR Part 101–20

Concessions, Federal buildings and

facilities, Government property

management.

For the reasons set forth in the

preamble, it is proposed to amend 41

CFR Part 101–20 as follows:

PART 101–20—MANAGEMENT OF

BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS

1. The authority citation for Part 101–

20 continues to read as follows:

Authority: Sec. 205(c) of Pub. L. 152, 63,

Stat., 390, 40 U.S.C., 486(c).

Subpart 101–20.1—Buildings

Operations, Maintenance, Protection,

and Alterations

2. Section 202–20.106–1 is amended

by revising paragraphs (b) and (e) to

read as follows:

§ 101–20.106–1 Placing of orders for

reimbursable alterations by occupant

agencies.

* * * * *

(b) No individual order, or

combination of orders for a single

alteration project, shall exceed the

statutory limitation for a simplified

acquisition procedure, and agencies

shall not split orders so as to circumvent

this limitation.

* * * * *

(e) Where no GSA contracts or

agreements are in effect, an agency may

contract directly for services up to the

maximum of the statutory limitation for

simplified acquisition procedures per

project after obtaining written approval

of the GSA buildings manager. Agencies

contracting directly must provide the

GSA buildings manager with complete

documentation of the scope of work and

contract specifications at the time of

submission for approval. Each project

shall include appropriate reviews by the

regional safety staff. If contracting for

security systems, agencies must submit

the design work to the regional Federal

Protective Service Division for review

and approval. Agencies shall be

responsible for inspecting and certifying

satisfactory completion of the ordered

work. All work must conform to GSA

fire and safety standards. GSA at

anytime has the authority to make

inspections and require correction if the

project is found not in compliance with

GSA fire and safety standards. As-built

drawings must be submitted to the GSA

buildings manager within 30 days of

completion of work.

Dated: April 5, 1996.

Robert A. Peck,

Commissioner, Public Buildings Service.

[FR Doc. 96–15002 Filed 6–12–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6820–23–M

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS

COMMISSION

47 CFR Parts 36 and 69

[CC Docket 96–45; DA–96–926]

Federal-State Joint Board on Universal

Service; Meeting

AGENCY: Federal Communications

Commission.

ACTION: Notice of meeting.

SUMMARY: The purpose of the notice is

to inform the general public of a

meeting that will be held by the FederalState Joint Board on universal service.

DATES: The Federal-State Joint Board in

CC Docket 96–45 will hold an open

meeting on Wednesday, June 19, 1996 at

9 a.m.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held in

Room 856 at 1919 M Street, NW.,

Washington, DC.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Irene Flannery, Accounting and Audits

Division, Common Carrier Bureau, at

(202) 418–0847.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: At the

meeting, the Federal-State Joint Board

will hear from two panels of experts

addressing universal service issues set

forth in Section 254 of the

Telecommunications Act. Specifically,

the panelists will address what types of

functionalities schools, libraries, and

rural health care providers require of

telecommunications services, as well as

the cost, on a nationwide basis, of

providing services able to deliver those

functionalities.

Federal Communications Commission.

William F. Caton,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 96–15146 Filed 6–11–96; 11:17 am]

BILLING CODE 6712–01–M
Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 115 / Thursday, June 13, 1996 / Proposed Rules 30029

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Part 651

[Docket No. 960216032–6158–05; I.D.

052196A]

Northeast Multispecies Fishery;

Amendment 7; Resubmission of

Disapproved Measure for an Open

Access Permit for Nonregulated

Multispecies

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for

comments.

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes regulations to

implement a revised measure that was

disapproved in the preliminary

evaluation of Amendment 7 to the

Northeast Multispecies Fishery

Management Plan (FMP) as revised and

resubmitted by the New England

Fishery Management Council (Council).

This revision would rename the existing

open access Possession Limit Permit,

and allow certain fisheries to continue

under this permit category that would

otherwise be prohibited by Amendment

7. The intended effect of this action is

to continue to allow fishing for

nonregulated multispecies (silver hake,

red hake, and ocean pout) by vessels

that do not qualify for a limited access

multispecies permit.

DATES: Comments on this proposed rule

must be received by July 1, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to

Dr. Andrew A. Rosenberg, Director,

NMFS, Northeast Regional Office, 1

Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930.

Mark on the outside of the envelope

‘‘Comments on Possession Limit Permit

Category.’’

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Peter W. Christopher, Fishery

Management Specialist, 508–281–9288.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Council submitted Amendment 7 to the

FMP on February 5, 1996. After a

preliminary evaluation, the following

three measures in the amendment were

disapproved on February 14, 1996: An

additional allowance of days-at-sea

(DAS) for trawl vessels enrolled in the

Individual DAS category that use 8–inch

(20.32 cm) mesh, a 300–lb (136.1 kg)

possession limit of regulated species for

vessels that use 8–inch (20.32 cm) mesh

in an exempted fishery, and the

establishment of a limited access

category for vessels that fished in the

Possession Limit Open Access category

under Amendment 5. The remainder of

Amendment 7 was published as a

proposed rule on March 5, 1996 (61 FR

8540). The first two of the three

disapproved measures were resubmitted

by the Council. The measure that would

have allowed a 300–lb (136.1 kg)

regulated species possession limit for

vessels fishing with 8–inch (20.32 cm)

mesh in an exempted fishery was again

disapproved, and the measure that

would give additional multispecies DAS

to all limited access multispecies

vessels fishing exclusively with large

mesh was published as a proposed rule

on April 18, 1996 (61 FR 16892), and

was added to the final rule to

implement Amendment 7, which was

published on May 31, 1996 (61 FR

27710). Pursuant to section 304(b)(3)(A)

of the Magnuson Fishery Conservation

and Management Act (Magnuson Act),

the Council has resubmitted the

measure that would implement a

possession limit permit by revising it to

allow possession of nonregulated

multispecies, defined to be silver hake,

red hake, and ocean pout. This

proposed permit is now named the

‘‘open access nonregulated multispecies

permit.’’

On February 27–28, 1996, the Council

discussed the three disapproved

measures and voted to resubmit

revisions of the first and second while

deferring action on the third measure

pending further discussions. The third

measure disapproved by NMFS was the

proposed implementation of a limited

access possession limit permit under the

FMP. An inequity would have been

established if this measure were

implemented, because vessels would

have to qualify for a permit that would

not allow fishing for regulated

multispecies, whereas, if vessel owners

selected an open access category and

used appropriate gear, they would be

allowed to catch regulated and

nonregulated multispecies.

Furthermore, an administrative burden

would have been created because vessel

permit applications would have to be

processed through a review procedure

to qualify for the permit, with a

possibility that no fishing for

multispecies finfish would be allowed

after this time.

Subsequent to the disapproval of this

measure, several affected fishermen

contacted the Council and indicated

that, if an open access permit for

nonregulated multispecies were not

established, they would be denied an

opportunity to fish for or retain a

bycatch of nonregulated multispecies.

The fishermen indicated that this would

occur even though the impact of their

activities on regulated species would be

controlled by the fishery exemption

program that only allows those fisheries

that have a minimal bycatch of

regulated species.

On April 17–18, 1996, the Council

passed a motion to resubmit the

proposed possession limit permit

category, redefining it as an open access

permit category for nonregulated species

and renaming it the ‘‘Nonregulated

Multispecies’’ permit category. This

permit category would allow fishing for

nonregulated multispecies by vessels

using various gear types that do not

qualify for a limited access multispecies

permit and would eliminate any

inequity or administrative burden

associated with the need to qualify for

a permit. The Council believes that

implementation of this permit category

jeopardizes neither the nonregulated

multispecies, because they are not

currently categorized as overfished, nor

the regulated species, because a fishery

allowed under this permit would be

required to be exempted and meet the

regulated multispecies bycatch limit of

5 percent.

Classification

Section 304(a)(1)(D)(ii) of the

Magnuson Act, as amended, requires

NMFS to publish implementing

regulations proposed by a Council

within 15 days of the receipt of an

amendment and proposed regulations.

At this time, NMFS has not determined

whether the amendment this rule would

implement is consistent with the

national standards, other provisions of

the Magnuson Act, and other applicable

law. NMFS, in making that

determination, will take into account

the information, views and comments

received during the comment period.

This proposed rule has been

determined to be not significant for

purposes of E.O. 12866.

The Assistant General Counsel for

Legislation and Regulation of the

Department of Commerce certified to

the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the

Small Business Administration that this

proposed rule, if adopted, would not

have a significant economic impact on

a substantial number of small entities.

Vessels benefitting from this open

access permit could have an increase in

gross ex-vessel revenues of more than 5

percent compared to the status quo.

However, the number of small entities

being affected in this manner is believed

to be much less than 20 percent of the

vessels that are in the Northeast

multispecies fishery (all of which are

considered small entities). No vessels

are expected to cease operations if the

proposed action is implemented, nor are
30030 Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 115 / Thursday, June 13, 1996 / Proposed Rules

vessels expected to incur increased

operating costs. As a result, a regulatory

flexibility analysis was not prepared.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 651

Fisheries, Fishing, Reporting and

recordkeeping requirements.

Dated: June 6, 1996.

Gary Matlock,

Program Management Officer, National

Marine Fisheries Service.

For the reasons set out in the

preamble, 50 CFR part 651 is proposed

to be amended as follows:

PART 651—NORTHEAST

MULTISPECIES FISHERY

1. The authority citation for part 651

continues to read as follows:

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

2. In § 651.2, the definition for

‘‘Nonregulated Multispecies’’ is added

in alphabetical order to read as follows:

§ 651.2 Definitions.

* * * * *

Nonregulated Multispecies means the

subset of multispecies finfish that

includes silver hake, red hake, and

ocean pout.

* * * * *

3. In § 651.4, paragraph (c) is revised

to read as follows:

§ 651.4 Vessel permits.

* * * * *

(c) Open access permits. Subject to

the restrictions in § 651.33, a U.S. vessel

that has not been issued a limited access

multispecies permit may obtain an open

access Handgear, Charter/Party or

Nonregulated Multispecies permit.

Vessels that are issued a valid scallop

limited access permit under § 650.4 of

this chapter may obtain an open access

Scallop Multispecies Possession Limit

permit.

* * * * *

4. In § 651.33, paragraph (d) is added

to read as follows:

§ 651.33 Open access permit restrictions.

* * * * *

(d) A vessel issued a valid open

access Nonregulated Multispecies

permit issued under § 651.4(c) may

possess nonregulated multispecies,

provided it does not fish for, possess, or

land regulated species. The vessel is

subject to restrictions on gear, area, and

time of fishing specified in § 651.20.

[FR Doc. 96–14963 Filed 6–10–96; 12:26 pm]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–F