DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

48 CFR Chapter 1

Federal Acquisition Regulation; 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 for 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 (Public Law 104-121). It consists of a summary of rules appearing in Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2001-10 which amend the FAR. An asterisk (*) next to a rule indicates that a regulatory flexibility analysis has been prepared in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 604. Interested parties may obtain further information regarding these rules by referring to FAC 2001-10 which precedes this document. These documents are also available via the Internet at http://www.acqnet.gov/far.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laurie Duarte, FAR Secretariat, (202) 501-4225. For clarification of content, contact the analyst whose name appears in the table below.

Item I--General Records Schedule (FAR Case 2002-016)

This final rule amends the FAR to reflect the previous language of FAR 4.705-2 exactly as it was written prior to revision of this subsection by FAC 97-18, Item IV, General Records Schedule (FAR case 1999-615) published in the Federal Register on June 6, 2000 (65 FR 36012). It was brought to the attention of the Councils that the prior change to FAR 4.705-2 made in FAC 97-18 inadvertently resulted in longer record retention periods for contractors and subcontractors.

This final rule-- Revises the subsection title of FAR 4.705-2 to read ``Pay administration records'' instead of ``Construction contract pay administration records,'' thus, making all record retention requirements in the entire subsection applicable to all contracts rather than limiting it to construction contracts;

Revises FAR 4.705-2(a) to change from a record retention period of 3 years after completion of contract unless contract performance is the subject of enforcement action, to 4 years after generation of the records.

With respect to the structuring of orders and the consideration given to contract holders prior to order placement, the rule (1) increases attention to modular contracting principles to help agencies avoid unnecessarily large and inadequately defined orders, (2) facilitates information exchange during the fair opportunity process so that contractors may develop and propose solutions that enable the Government to award performance-based orders, and (3) revises existing documentation requirements to address tradeoff decisions as well as the issuance of sole-source orders as logical follow-ons to orders already issued under the contract. This rule also adds a separate definition for the terms ``Governmentwide acquisition contract (GWAC)'' and ``Multi-agency contract (MAC)'' to the FAR to clarify the difference between the terms and the purpose of each contract vehicle.

Item II--Temporary Emergency Procurement Authority (FAR Case 2002-003)

This interim rule implements Section 836 of the Fiscal Year 2002 National Defense Authorization Act which increases the amount of the micro-purchase threshold and the simplified acquisition threshold for procurements of supplies or services by or for DoD during fiscal years 2002 and 2003, where those procurements are to facilitate the defense against terrorism or biological or chemical attack against the United States. Also, contracting officers acquiring biotechnology supplies or biotechnology services, for use to facilitate the defense against terrorism or biological or chemical attack against the United States, may treat the supplies or services as commercial items.

Item III--Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999 (FAR Case 2000-302)

This final rule finalizes two interim rules published previously at 65 FR 60542, October 11, 2000 (FAC 97-20), and 66 FR 53492, October 22, 2001 (FAC 2001-01), respectively. The first interim rule implemented portions of the Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999 (Pub. L. 106-50), which added a subcontracting plan goal for veteran-owned small businesses and a 3 percent Governmentwide agency goal for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses. The second interim rule implemented Section 803 of the Small Business Reauthorization Act of 2000 (part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2001, Pub. L. 106-554), which added an additional subcontracting plan goal for service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns. Both rules, and the correction published at 67 FR 1858, January 14, 2002 (FAC 2001-01 Correction), are adopted as final without change.

Item IV--Trade Agreements Thresholds (FAR Case 2002-009)

This final rule amends FAR Subparts 22.15, 25.2, 25.4, 25.6, 25.11, and the clauses at 52.213-4 and 52.222-19 to implement new dollar thresholds for application of the Trade Agreements Act and North American Free Trade Agreement as published by the U.S. Trade Representative in the Federal Register at 67 FR 14763, March 27, 2002. Contracting officers must review the new thresholds when acquiring supplies, services, or construction in order to select the appropriate clauses to implement the Buy American Act, trade agreements, and sanctions of European Union country end products and services.

Item V--Payments Under Fixed-Price Construction Contracts (FAR Case 2001-012)

This final rule amends the FAR to clarify in the certification language of the clause entitled Payments Under Fixed-Price Construction Contracts that all payments due to subcontractors and suppliers have been made by the prime contractor from previous progress payments received from the Government. The rule is of special interest to contracting officers that administer construction contracts.

Item VI--Technical Amendments

These amendments update sections and make editorial changes at FAR 22.1503, 36.606, and 52.232-16.