870 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 6 / Friday, January 9, 2009 / Proposed Rules 

Executive Order 13132—Federalism 

This rule does not have Federalism 

implications. SMCRA delineates the 

roles of the Federal and State 

governments with regard to the 

regulation of surface coal mining and 

reclamation operations. One of the 

purposes of SMCRA is to ‘‘establish a 

nationwide program to protect society 

and the environment from the adverse 

effects of surface coal mining 

operations.’’ Section 503(a)(1) of 

SMCRA requires that State laws 

regulating surface coal mining and 

reclamation operations be ‘‘in 

accordance with’’ the requirements of 

SMCRA, and section 503(a)(7) requires 

that State programs contain rules and 

regulations ‘‘consistent with’’ 

regulations issued by the Secretary 

pursuant to SMCRA. 

Executive Order 13175—Consultation 

and Coordination With Indian Tribal 

Governments 

In accordance with Executive Order 

13175, we have evaluated the potential 

effects of this rule on Federallyrecognized Indian tribes and have 

determined that the rule does not have 

substantial direct effects on one or more 

Indian tribes, on the relationship 

between the Federal Government and 

Indian tribes, or on the distribution of 

power and responsibilities between the 

Federal Government and Indian tribes. 

This determination is based on the fact 

that the Oklahoma program does not 

regulate coal exploration and surface 

coal mining and reclamation operations 

on Indian lands. Therefore, the 

Oklahoma program has no effect on 

Federally-recognized Indian tribes. 

Executive Order 13211—Regulations 

that Significantly Affect the Supply, 

Distribution, or Use of Energy 

On May 18, 2001, the President issued 

Executive Order 13211 which requires 

agencies to prepare a Statement of 

Energy Effects for a rule that is (1) 

considered significant under Executive 

Order 12866, and (2) likely to have a 

significant adverse effect on the supply, 

distribution, or use of energy. Because 

this rule is exempt from review under 

Executive Order 12866 and is not 

expected to have a significant adverse 

effect on the supply, distribution, or use 

of energy, a statement of energy effects 

is not required. 

National Environmental Policy Act 

This rule does not require an 

environmental impact statement 

because section 702(d) of SMCRA (30 

U.S.C. 1292(d)) provides that agency 

decisions on proposed State regulatory 

program provisions do not constitute 

major Federal actions within the 

meaning of section 102(2)(C) of the 

National Environmental Policy Act (42 

U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)). 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

This rule does not contain 

information collection requirements that 

require approval by the Office of 

Management and Budget under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 

3507 et seq.). 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Department of the Interior 

certifies that this rule will not have a 

significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities 

under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 

U.S.C. 601 et seq.). The State submittal, 

which is the subject of this rule, is based 

upon counterpart Federal regulations for 

which an economic analysis was 

prepared and certification made that 

such regulations would not have a 

significant economic effect upon a 

substantial number of small entities. In 

making the determination as to whether 

this rule would have a significant 

economic impact, the Department relied 

upon the data and assumptions for the 

counterpart Federal regulations. 

Small Business Regulatory Enforcement 

Fairness Act 

This rule is not a major rule under 5 

U.S.C. 804(2), the Small Business 

Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act. 

This rule: (a) Does not have an annual 

effect on the economy of $100 million; 

(b) Will not cause a major increase in 

costs or prices for consumers, 

individual industries, Federal, State, or 

local government agencies, or 

geographic regions; and (c) Does not 

have significant adverse effects on 

competition, employment, investment, 

productivity, innovation, or the ability 

of U.S. based enterprises to compete 

with foreign-based enterprises. This 

determination is based upon the fact 

that the State submittal, which is the 

subject of this rule, is based upon 

counterpart Federal regulations for 

which an analysis was prepared and a 

determination made that the Federal 

regulation was not considered a major 

rule. 

Unfunded Mandates 

This rule will not impose an 

unfunded mandate on State, local, or 

tribal governments or the private sector 

of $100 million or more in any given 

year. This determination is based upon 

the fact that the State submittal, which 

is the subject of this rule, is based upon 

counterpart Federal regulations for 

which an analysis was prepared and a 

determination made that the Federal 

regulation did not impose an unfunded 

mandate. 

List of Subjects in 30 CFR Part 936 

Intergovernmental relations, Surface 

mining, Underground mining. 

Dated: December 9, 2008. 

William Joseph, 

Acting Regional Director, Mid-Continent 

Region. 

[FR Doc. E9–204 Filed 1–8–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–05–P 

GENERAL SERVICES 

ADMINISTRATION 

41 CFR Part 102–192 

[FMR Amendment 200X–XXX; FMR Case 

2008–102–4; Docket 2008–0001; Sequence 

1] 

RIN 3090–AI79 

Federal Management Regulation; FMR 

Case 2008–102–4, Mail Management; 

Financial Requirements for All 

Agencies 

AGENCY: Office of Governmentwide 

Policy, General Services Administration 

(GSA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The General Services 

Administration is amending the mail 

management section of the Federal 

Management Regulation (FMR). The 

proposed changes will help agencies 

show accountability for their costs 

regardless of whether they choose to use 

commercial payment processes. 

DATES: Interested parties should submit 

comments in writing on or before March 

10, 2009 to be considered in the 

formulation of a final rule. 

ADDRESSES: Submit comments 

identified by FMR case 2008–102–4 by 

any of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Search for any 

document by first selecting the proper 

document types and selecting ‘‘General 

Services Administration’’ as the agency 

of choice. At the ‘‘Keyword’’ prompt, 

type in the FMR case number (for 

example, FMR Case 2008–102–4) and 

click on the ‘‘Submit’’ button. You may 

also search for any document by 

clicking on the ‘‘Advanced search/ 

document search’’ tab at the top of the 

screen, selecting from the agency field 

‘‘General Services Administration’’, and 

typing the FMR case number in the 

keyword field. Select the ‘‘Submit’’ 

button. 

• Fax: 202–501–4067. 


yshivers on PROD1PC62 with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 6 / Friday, January 9, 2009 / Proposed Rules 871 

• Mail: General Services 

Administration, Regulatory Secretariat 

(VPR), 1800 F Street, NW., Room 4041, 

ATTN: Hada Flowers, Washington, DC 

20405. Instructions: Please submit 

comments only and cite FMR case 

2008–102–4 in all correspondence 

related to this case. All comments 

received will be posted without change 

to http://www.regulations.gov, including 

any personal information provided. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

clarification of content, contact Mr. 

Henry Maury, Office of 

Governmentwide Policy, Office of 

Travel, Transportation, and Asset 

Management (MT), (202) 208–7928 or email at henry.maury@gsa.gov. For 

information pertaining to status or 

publication schedules contact the 

Regulatory Secretariat, 1800 F Street, 

NW., Room 4041, Washington, DC, 

20405, (202) 501–4755; please cite FMR 

case 2008–102–4, Amendment XXXX. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Background 

On June 6, 2002, the General Services 

Administration (GSA) published an 

interim rule for mail management in the 

Federal Register (67 FR 38896) that 

required agencies to stop using the U.S. 

Postal Service’s Official Mail 

Accounting System (OMAS) and start 

using commercial payment for postage 

no later than October 31, 2003. A final 

rule published in the Federal Register 

on September 29, 2003 (68 FR 56112) 

extended the date for conversion to 

December 31, 2003. If agencies did not 

convert by that date, they were required 

to submit a deviation request that 

included a detailed plan of how they 

were going to make the conversion in 

order to be granted the deviation. 

Deviation requests could be for no 

longer than a period of two years. On 

August 25, 2008, GSA published a final 

rule (73 FR 49955) that completely 

replaced Federal Management 

Regulation 102–192, Mail Management; 

that final rule clarified the requirement 

to stop using OMAS. 

The primary goal behind converting 

to commercial payment was to show 

accountability for postage, both in terms 

of who was spending money on postage 

within agencies as well as ensuring that 

agencies pay for postage costs up front 

like other individuals and private 

businesses, therefore encouraging better 

planning of resources. Reducing costs 

was also a key goal of the initiative. 

When commercial payment was 

introduced at the Department of 

Defense, dramatic reductions in postage 

costs were realized. 

Rule’s Unintended Effects Lead to New 

Solutions 

Since the final rule was published in 

2003, many agencies have successfully 

converted to commercial payment. 

However, some agencies have found it 

challenging to fully convert to 

commercial payment, and have 

submitted multiple requests for 

deviations as they worked toward a 

solution. Therefore, for these agencies, 

the interim rule has created the 

unintended effect of a cycle of deviation 

requests and paperwork between 

agencies and GSA, which was not the 

intent of the initiative and is not an 

efficient use of government resources. 

As it became clear the deviation cycle 

was not going to end anytime soon, GSA 

needed to devise alternative strategies to 

ensure agencies could meet the primary 

goal of accountability and still achieve 

cost savings even if the agencies did not 

implement commercial payment 

processes. The impetus to make the 

change came from agencies that stated 

they can meet the intent of the 

initiative, either by continuing to use 

OMAS or through other means. 

GSA issued a bulletin on April 11, 

2008 that gave an automatic additional 

one-year deviation to all of the agencies 

with outstanding deviation requests as 

GSA developed additional options for 

meeting the intent of the initiative. (An 

announcement of this bulletin was 

published in the Federal Register on 

May 13, 2008 (73 FR 27540).) Upon 

implementation of this proposed rule, 

no further deviations will be granted for 

this subpart. 

New Options Also Show Accountability 

Before the final rule was implemented 

in 2003, many agencies did not use 

OMAS or any other process to track 

their costs. Especially in larger agencies, 

mail managers had no way to determine 

who was using postage or if there were 

any ways they could be saving money. 

Even when the commercial payment 

process idea was first introduced, it was 

recognized that implementing it alone 

did not completely show accountability; 

implementing other measures also helps 

round out an agency’s accountability 

picture. Therefore, this proposed rule 

allows agencies a choice of measures to 

best show their accountability portrait. 

The options, outlined more fully in the 

proposed rule, include: 

1. Convert to commercial payment 

processes (unchanged). 

2. Show quantified dollar savings in 

mail costs that result from management 

action, with a clear explanation of how 

the savings were achieved. 

3. Provide a detailed breakdown of all 

agency mail costs. 

4. Provide names, responsibility areas, 

and mail costs for program officials who 

are accountable for 75 percent (or more) 

of the agency’s postage. 

5. Provide cost-per-piece data for at 

least 75 percent of all outgoing mail. 

If an agency can implement at least 

two of five of these options, GSA 

believes the agency will have shown 

accountability for its operations. GSA 

will use the annual reporting process to 

collect information about how the large 

agencies are meeting the requirements 

of this rule. 

The additional strategies presented in 

this proposed rule do not imply that an 

agency now must choose two options 

other than commercial payment; if 

commercial payment has already been 

successfully implemented or will be 

implemented soon in an agency that 

spends less than $1 million per year on 

postage, then commercial payment by 

itself will be deemed as meeting the 

accountability requirement. 

B. Executive Order 12866 

This proposed rule is excepted from 

the definition of ‘‘regulation’’ or ‘‘rule’’ 

under Section 3(d)(3) of Executive Order 

12866, Regulatory Planning and Review, 

dated September 30, 1993 and, 

therefore, was not subject to review 

under Section 6(b) of that Executive 

Order. 

C. Regulatory Flexibility Act 

This proposed rule is not required to 

be published in the Federal Register for 

notice and comment as per the 

exemption specified in 5 U.S.C. 553 

(a)(2); therefore, the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601, et seq., 

does not apply. 

D. Paperwork Reduction Act 

The Paperwork Reduction Act does 

not apply because the proposed changes 

to the FMR do not impose information 

collection requirements that require the 

approval of the Office of Management 

and Budget under 44 U.S.C. 3501, et 

seq. 

E. Small Business Regulatory 

Enforcement Fairness Act 

This proposed rule is exempt from 

Congressional review under 5 U.S.C. 

801 since it relates solely to agency 

management and personnel. 

List of Subjects in 41 CFR Part 102–192 

Government contracts, Mail, 

Performance measurement, Records 

management, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements, Security. 


yshivers on PROD1PC62 with PROPOSALS
872 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 6 / Friday, January 9, 2009 / Proposed Rules 

Dated: November 18, 2008. 

Gary Klein, 

Associate Administrator. 

For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, GSA proposes to amend 41 

CFR part 102–192 as set forth below: 

PART 102–192—MAIL MANAGEMENT 

1. The authority citation for 41 CFR 

part 102–192 continues to read as 

follows: 

Authority: 44 U.S.C. 2904; 40 U.S.C. 

121(c). 

2. Revise Subpart B of 41 CFR part 

102–192 to read as follows: 

Subpart B—Financial Requirements for 

All Agencies 

§ 102–192.50 What payment processes are 

we required to use? 

All payments to all service providers 

must be made through a process that 

ensures accountability to the program 

level, as defined in § 102–192.55. 

§ 102–192.55 What options are available to 

show accountability? 

(a) Your agency must show 

accountability by using at least two of 

the following methods: 

(1) Implement or continue using 

commercial payment processes. 

(2) Show quantified dollar savings in 

mail costs that result from management 

action, with a clear explanation of how 

the savings were achieved. Dollar 

savings must be recent, defined as 

occurring within the last five fiscal 

years. That is, after five fiscal years, 

additional information about how the 

agency has achieved recent savings and/ 

or will continue to achieve dollar 

savings will be required in the annual 

mail management report. 

(3) Provide a detailed breakdown of 

all agency mail costs. 

(4) Provide names, responsibility 

areas, and mail costs for program 

officials who are accountable for 75 

percent (or more) of the agency’s 

postage. 

(5) Provide cost-per-piece data for at 

least 75 percent of all outgoing mail. 

(b) Agencies that spend more than $1 

million per year on postage must 

describe how they are showing 

accountability by responding fully, 

beginning with the Fiscal Year 2009 

report, to the questions on 

accountability in the annual report 

format. Agencies that do not respond 

fully or whose responses do not, in the 

judgment of the GSA Office of 

Governmentwide Policy, meet the 

standard established in this paragraph, 

will be considered out of compliance 

with this regulation. 

§ 102–192.60 If my agency spends less 

than $1 million per year on postage and has 

already converted to commercial payment 

processes, are we responsible for selecting 

one of the additional options? 

Any agency that spends less than $1 

million on postage per year and has 

already successfully converted to 

commercial payment is in compliance 

with this regulation and does not need 

to select any additional options 

presented in § 102–192.55. 

§ 102–192.65 If my agency still wants to 

implement the commercial payment 

process, how do we do so? 

Guidance on implementing a 

compliant payment process is in the 

GSA Policy Advisory, Guidelines for 

Federal Agencies on Converting to 

Commercial Payment Systems for 

Postage, which can be found at http:// 

www.gsa.gov/mailpolicy. 

3. Amend § 102–192.90 by revising 

paragraph (f) read as follows: 

§ 102–192.90 What must we include in our 

annual mail management report to GSA? 

* * * * * 

(f) Describe how your agency is 

ensuring accountability for postage by 

identifying which two of the five 

methods (see § 102–192.55) you use to 

meet this objective and explaining in 

detail how these two apply to your 

agency. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. E9–172 Filed 1–8–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6820–14–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

GENERAL SERVICES 

ADMINISTRATION 

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND 

SPACE ADMINISTRATION 

48 CFR Parts 22 and 52 

[FAR Case 2007–021; Docket 2009-0014; 

Sequence 1] 

RIN 9000–AL14 

Federal Acquisition Regulation; FAR 

Case 2007–021, Fair Labor Standards 

Act and Service Contract Act Price 

Adjustment Clauses 

AGENCIES: Department of Defense (DoD), 

General Services Administration (GSA), 

and National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (NASA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Civilian Agency 

Acquisition Council and the Defense 

Acquisition Regulations Council 

(Councils) are proposing to amend the 

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to 

specifically require the incorporation of 

the FAR clauses regarding Fair Labor 

Standards Act and Service Contract ActPrice Adjustment (Multi-Year and 

Option Contracts) and Fair Labor 

Standards Act and Service Contract ActPrice Adjustment in time-and-materials 

and labor—hour service contracts that 

are subject to the Service Contract Act. 

DATES: Interested parties should submit 

written comments to the Regulatory 

Secretariat on or before March 10, 2009 

to be considered in the formulation of 

a final rule. 

ADDRESSES: Submit comments 

identified by FAR case 2007–021 by any 

of the following methods: 

• Regulations.gov: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Submit comments 

via the Federal eRulemaking portal by 

inputting ‘‘FAR Case 2007–021’’ under 

the heading ‘‘Comment or Submission’’. 

Select the link ‘‘Send a Comment or 

Submission’’ that corresponds with FAR 

Case 2007–021. Follow the instructions 

provided to complete the ‘‘Public 

Comment and Submission Form’’. 

Please include your name, company 

name (if any), and ‘‘FAR Case 2007– 

021’’ on your attached document. 

• Fax: 202–501–4067. 

• Mail: General Services 

Administration, Regulatory Secretariat 

(VPR), 1800 F Street, NW, Room 4035, 

ATTN: Hada Flowers, Washington, DC 

20405. 

Instructions: Please submit comments 

only and cite FAR case 2007–021 in all 

correspondence related to this case. All 

comments received will be posted 

without change to http:// 

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal and/or business confidential 

information provided. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT Ms. 

Meredith Murphy, Procurement 

Analyst, at (202) 208–6925 for 

clarification of content. For information 

pertaining to status or publication 

schedules, contact the Regulatory 

Secretariat at (202) 501–4755. Please 

cite FAR case 2007–021. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Background 

This rule proposes to amend the 

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to 

revise the clause prescriptions at FAR 

22.1006(c)(1) and (2) to specifically 

require that time-and-materials and 

labor-hour service contracts subject to 

the Service Contract Act contain the 

appropriate price adjustment clauses set 

forth at 52.222–43 and 52.222–44. 

Despite the current prescriptions 

which do not require use of the clauses 

in time-and-materials or labor-hour 


yshivers on PROD1PC62 with PROPOSALS