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Panoptic Enterprises' FEDERAL CONTRACTS DISPATCH
DATE: May 7, 2002
SUBJECT: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Supplement (NFS); Miscellaneous Administrative and Technical Revisions
SOURCE: Federal Register, May 7, 2002, Vol. 67, No. 88, page 30602
AGENCIES: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
ACTION: Final Rule
SYNOPSIS: NASA is amending the NFS to conform with the changes made to the FAR by Item (4) of Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2001-01, Veterans' Employment; Item (2) of FAC 2001-02, Energy Efficiency of Supplies and Services; Item (3) of FAC 2001-02, Prompt Payment and the Recovery of Overpayment; and Item (4) of FAC 2001-06, Procurement Integrity Rewrite. In addition, this final rule makes various editorial and miscellaneous changes dealing with NASA internal and administrative matters.
EDITOR'S NOTE: For more on FAC 2001-01, see the October 22, 2001, FEDERAL CONTRACTS DISPATCH "Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2001-01, Miscellaneous Amendments."
For more on FAC 2001-02, see the December 18, 2001, FEDERAL CONTRACTS DISPATCH "Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2001-02, Miscellaneous Amendments."
For more on FAC 2001-06, see the March 20, 2002, FEDERAL CONTRACTS DISPATCH "Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2001-06, Miscellaneous Amendments."
EFFECTIVE DATE: May 22, 2002.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Celeste Dalton, NASA Headquarters Office of Procurement, Contract Management Division (Code HK), Washington, DC 20546; 202-358-1645; e-mail: celeste.dalton@hq.nasa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION: FAR Subpart 1.3, Agency Acquisition Regulations, permits agencies to issue "agency acquisition regulations that implement or supplement the FAR..." (FAR 1.301, Policy). FAR 1.303, Publication and Codification, requires that agency acquisition regulations "parallel the FAR in format, arrangement, and numbering system...coverage in an agency acquisition regulation that implements a specific part, subpart, section or subsection of the FAR shall be numbered and titled to correspond to the appropriate FAR number and title."
Several recent changes to the FAR revised its format and made other changes that must be reflected in the NFS, NASA's agency acquisition regulation. This final rule makes necessary changes to conform with the following four changes made to the FAR:
- Item (4) of FAC 2001-01 amended various FAR subparts and clauses to implement recent statutory and regulatory changes relating to veterans' employment opportunities and reporting. Accordingly, NFS Subpart 1822.13 is retitled "Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam ERA, and Other Eligible Veterans" (formerly titled "Disabled Veterans and Veterans of the Vietnam Era"), and the two sections in NFS Subpart 1822.13 are redesignated to conform with the revised format of FAR Subpart 22.13 (NFS 1822.1305, Waivers, used to be NFS 1822.1303; and NFS 1822.1308, Complaint Procedures, used to be NFS 1822.1306).
- Item (2) of FAC 2001-02 amended various FAR subparts to implement Executive Order 13123 of June 3, 1999, Greening the Government through Efficient Energy Management. To conform with these changes, NFS is amended as follows:
- NFS 1811.101, Order of Precedence for Requirements Documents, is revised to state, "Requirements for the use of environmentally preferable products will be established in accordance with NPG [NASA Procedures and Guidance] 8830.1, 'Affirmative Procurement Plan for Environmentally Preferable Products.' Requirements for the use of energy and water efficient products and the use of renewable energy technology will be established in accordance with NPG 8570.1, 'Energy Conservation Technologies and Practices.'"
- The title of NFS Part 1823 is changed from "Environment, Conservation, Occupational Safety, and Drug-Free Workplace" to "Environment, Energy and Water Efficiency, Renewable Energy Technologies, Occupational Safety, and Drug-Free Workplace." In addition, NFS Subpart 1823.2, Energy and Water Efficiency and Renewable Energy is added (consisting of NFS 1823.203, Energy-Efficient Products, which cites NPG 8570.1); NFS Subpart 1823.4, Use of Recovered Materials is added (consisting of NFS 1823.404, Agency Affirmative Procurement Programs, which cites NPG 8830.1); and NFS Subpart 1823.7, Contracting for Environmentally Preferable Products, is added (consisting of NFS 1823.703, Policy, which cites NPG 8570.1 once again).
- Item (3) of FAC 2001-02 amended various FAR subparts and clauses to reflect changes to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) prompt payment requirements and to clarify existing FAR prompt payment coverage. To conform to these changes, NFS 1832.906, Contract Financing Payments, is redesignated as NFS 1832.007.
- Item (4) of FAC 2001-06 amended various FAR subparts to rewrite procurement integrity coverage in plain language. To conform to these changes, NFS 1803.104-3, Definitions, is redesignated as NFS 1803.104-1. Also, NFS 1803.104-5 is redesignated as NFS 1803.104-4, its title is changed from "Disclosure, Protection, and Marking of Proprietary and Source Selection Information" to "Disclosure, Protection, and Marking of Contractor Bid or Proposal Information and Source Selection Information", and other changes are made to conform to the FAR.
Additional changes are made to the NFS which deal NASA internal and administrative matters (such as replacing "Associate Administrator for Procurement" with "Assistant Administrator for Procurement" wherever it appears in the NFS), and:
- To clarify that the word "instrument" means the award document when referring to contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, or other agreements (NFS 1835.016-71, NASA Research Announcements).
- To delete the last sentence of NFS 1806.303-170, Sole-Source Purchases by Contractors (regarding "brand name or equal" purchase descriptions), and NFS 1819.7001, Definitions, because they duplicate coverage in the FAR.
- To identify optional (though preferable) forms for submission of information about technology innovations under NASA contracts (the electronic or paper versions of NASA Form 1679, Disclosure of Invention and New Technology (Including Software)), and to identify the web site where these forms are available (http://invention.nasa.gov), NFS 1852.227-11, Patent Rights -- Retention by the Contractor (Short Form), and NFS 1852.227-70, New Technology, are amended.
- To update the website address for the Central Contractor Registration from "http://www.ccr2000.com" to "http://www.ccr.gov", NFS 1804.7403, Procedures, and NFS 1852.204-74, Central Contractor Registration, are amended.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Panoptic Enterprises at 703-451-5953 or by e-mail to Panoptic@FedGovContracts.com.
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