DATE: September 11, 2003
SUBJECT: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Supplement (NFS); Format and Numbering of Award Documents
SOURCE: Federal Register, September 11, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 179, page 53525
AGENCIES: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
ACTION: Final Rule
SYNOPSIS: NASA is revising NFS Subpart 1804.71, Uniform Acquisition Instrument Identification, to change the scheme used for numbering procurement award instruments. This change is required to comply with the requirements of the Federal Procurement Data System -- Next Generation (FPDS-NG) requirement that each agency establish unique document numbers on award instruments.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2003.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Childs, NASA, Office of Procurement, Analysis Division (Code HC), 202-358-0454, e-mail: wchilds@nasa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION: On August 6, 2003, OFPP Administrator Angela Styles issued a memorandum to all agency senior procurement executives asking for "your assistance in establishing a unique prefix for the scheme your agency uses to identify procurement instruments (contracts, orders, and agreements) for FPDS-NG reporting and other purposes." The FPDS-NG is to become operational on October 1, 2003.
The FPDS was established in 1978 by Congress as a system for collecting, developing, and disseminating data on the $265 billion a year the government spends on supplies and services. FPDS has become out-of-date, and its data has become unreliable, so FPDS-NG is being developed to be Internet based and available to the public at no cost.
"Among its many features, FPDS-NG will maintain an historical trail of all transactions, including interagency transactions conducted through government-wide acquisition contracts (GWACs), multi-agency contracts, and Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts," wrote Ms. Styles. "In order to provide this important visibility...FPDS-NG must be able to distinguish each reported transaction. Accordingly, you are requested to establish and register with the FPDS-NG program office a unique set prefix for the beginning of the labeling scheme your agency uses to identify procurement instruments. This unique prefix will ensure that the numbers and letters assigned to identify any specific procurement action are distinct from those used by any other agency. Agencies should register the unique prefix...no later than October 1, 2003."
To comply with this requirement, NASA has developed a new numbering scheme, and to implement that scheme it is making the following changes to the NFS:
| A | Cooperative agreement |
| B | Basic ordering agreement (BOA), GWAC, or other indefinite delivery type contract |
| C | Contract (except facilities or indefinite delivery type) |
| D | Delivery order or call against a supply contract (BOA, FSS, or other indefinite delivery contract, or blanket purchasing agreement (BPA)) |
| F | Facilities contract |
| G | Grant (other than training) |
| H | Training grant |
| I | Intragovernmental transaction (that is, a request to another government agency to furnish supplies or services. It does not include an award by NASA to fulfill a request from another agency.) |
| P | Purchase order (This does not include a call or task or delivery order, regardless of whether it is issued on a purchase order form.) |
| S | Space Act agreement |
| T | Task order against a service (including R&D) contract (BOA, FSS, or other indefinite delivery contract or BPA) |
| Z | BPA |
"NNG04AA01C" would be a Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) action issued in FY 2004. It would be the first one issued at GSFC, and the alphanumeric sequence would contain the following information:
| NN | NASA |
| G | GSFC |
| 04 | FY 2004 |
| AA01 | Serial Number 1 |
| C | Contract |
In addition, NFS 1804.7103, Serial Numbers, is removed, and NFS 1804.7104, Modifications of Contracts or Agreements, is redesignated as NFS 1804.7103.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Panoptic Enterprises at 703-451-5953 or by e-mail to Panoptic@FedGovContracts.com.
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