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Panoptic Enterprises' FEDERAL CONTRACTS DISPATCH

DATE: December 1, 2003

SUBJECT: Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR); Excluded Parties System Enhancement

SOURCE: Federal Register, December 1, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 230 page 67353

AGENCIES: Department of Defense (DOD), General Services Administration (GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

ACTION: Proposed Rule

SYNOPSIS: It is proposed that the publication of the paper List of Parties Excluded from Federal Procurement and Nonprocurement Programs be terminated, and that it be replaced by the electronic Excluded Parties List System (EPLS).

EDITOR'S NOTE: The EPLS is available on-line at http://epls.gov/.

DATES: Comments on the proposed rule should be submitted on or before January 30, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments on response the proposed rule to General Services Administration, FAR Secretariat (MVA), 1800 F Street, NW, Room 4035, Attn: Laurie Duarte, Washington, DC 20405. Submit e-mail comments to: farcase.2002-023@gsa.gov. Cite "FAR case 2002-023" when referring to this proposed rule.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ralph De Stefano, 202-501-1758.

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION: By terminating the paper List of Parties and relying on the electronic EPLS, agencies will: (1) be able to enter their data directly to the EPLS; (2) improve the reliability of the content by allowing content owners to directly input entries; (3) provide access to historical data that was previously provided through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) procedures; (4) enhance the ability to verify entries by permitting search by exact name and social security number; and (5) shorten the lead time between exclusionary action taken by agencies and updating the content.

To implement this change, the following revisions would be made to the FAR:

• In FAR 2.101, Definitions, the definition of "List of Parties Excluded from Federal Procurement and Nonprocurement Programs" would be removed, and replaced with the following definition of "Excluded Parties List System": "An electronic database maintained and posted by the General Services Administration containing the list of all parties suspended, proposed for debarment, debarred, declared ineligible, disqualified or excluded by agencies, government corporations, or by the General Accounting Office."
  
  
• In FAR 9.403, Definitions, the following definitions would be added:
  
  "'Disqualified' means that a person is prohibited from participating in specified federal procurement or nonprocurement transactions as required under a statute, Executive order (other than Executive Orders 12549 [Debarment and Suspension] and 12689) [Debarment and Suspension], or other authority. Examples of disqualifications include persons prohibited under (1) the Davis-Bacon Act (40 U.S.C. 3141 et seq., formally 40 U.S.C. 276a); (2) the Equal Employment Opportunity Acts and Executive orders; or (3) the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 306), Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 508) and Executive Order 11738 (3 CFR, 1973 Comp., p. 799)."
  
  "'Excluded or exclusion' means (1) that a person or commodity is prohibited from being a participant in covered transactions, whether the person has been suspended, debarred, proposed for debarment under [FAR] Subpart 9.4 [Debarment, Suspension, and Ineligibility], voluntarily excluded; or (2) the act of excluding a person."
  
  
• The title of FAR 9.404 would be changed from "List of Parties Excluded from Federal Procurement and Nonprocurement Programs" to "Excluded Parties List System." FAR 9.404 would be revised to reflect the changed procedures for accessing and updating the electronic EPLS as opposed to the paper List of parties, and to permit agencies to include the contractor's Social Security Number (SSN) or Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) "if available and permitted by the laws or executive orders under which the action is undertaken, including the Computer Matching and Privacy Acts."
  
  
• "List of Parties Excluded from Federal Procurement and Nonprocurement Programs" would be changed to "Excluded Parties List System" in the following: paragraph (c)(1) of FAR 9.105-1, Obtaining Information; paragraph (a)(9) of FAR 9.207, Changes in Status Regarding Qualification Requirements; paragraphs (b), (d)(1), and (d)(4) of FAR 9.405, Effect of Listing: paragraphs (b) and (b)(2) of FAR 9.405-2, Restrictions on Subcontracting; FAR 22.1025, Ineligibility of Violators; paragraphs (c) and (d) of FAR 28.203-7, Exclusion of Individual Sureties; paragraph (a)(13) of FAR 44.202-2, Considerations; paragraph (c) of FAR 44.303, Extent of Review; and paragraphs (c), (c)(2), and (c)(3) of FAR 52.209-6, Protecting the Governments Interest When Subcontracting with Contractors Debarred, Suspended, or Proposed for Debarment.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Panoptic Enterprises at 703-451-5953 or by e-mail to Panoptic@FedGovContracts.com.

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