98-919. Use of Direct Final Rulemaking

[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 36 (Tuesday, February 24, 1998)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 9158]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-919]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Office of Procurement and Property Management

48 CFR Chapter 4


Use of Direct Final Rulemaking

AGENCY: Office of Procurement and Property Management, USDA.

ACTION: Policy Statement.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Procurement and Property Management (OPPM) 
publishes rules governing USDA acquisition in 48 CFR chapter 4. OPPM 
also has proposed adding 7 CFR chapter XXXII to publish rules governing 
personal property management (63 FR 3481-3483, January 23, 1998). OPPM 
is implementing a new rulemaking procedure to expedite making 
noncontroversial changes to its regulations. Rules that the agency 
judges to be non-controversial and unlikely to result in adverse 
comments will be published as ``direct final'' rules. (``Adverse 
comments'' are comments that suggest that a rule should not be adopted 
or suggest that a change should be made to the rule.) Each direct final 
rule will advise the public that no adverse comments are anticipated, 
and that unless written adverse comments or written notice of intent to 
submit adverse comments are received within 30 days, the revision made 
by the rule will be effective 60 days from the date the direct final 
rule is published in the Federal Register. This new policy should 
expedite the promulgation of routine or otherwise noncontroversial 
rules by reducing the time that would be required to develop, review, 
clear, and publish separate proposed and final rules.

EFFECTIVE DATE: February 24, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joseph J. Daragan, U.S. Department of 
Agriculture, Office of Procurement and Property Management, Procurement 
Policy Division, STOP 9303, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 
20250-9303, telephone [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: OPPM is committed to improving the 
efficiency of its regulatory process. In pursuit of this goal, we plan 
to employ the rulemaking procedure known as ``direct final rulemaking'' 
to promulgate some of OPPM's rules.

OPPM Regulations

    OPPM promulgates USDA-wide policies, standards, techniques and 
procedures pertaining to procurement (acquisition), property 
management, disaster management, and coordination of emergency 
programs. To accomplish this function, OPPM may publish rules governing 
USDA acquisition in 48 CFR chapter 4. In a notice of proposed 
rulemaking (63 FR 3481-3483, January 23, 1998) OPPM proposed to publish 
rules governing personal property management by adding 7 CFR chapter 
XXXII.

The Direct Final Rule Process

    Rules that OPPM judges to be noncontroversial and unlikely to 
result in adverse comments will be published as direct final rules. 
Each direct final rule will advise the public that no adverse comments 
are anticipated, and that unless written adverse comments or written 
notice of intent to submit adverse comments are received within 30 
days, the revision made by the direct final rule will be effective 60 
days from the date the direct final rule is published in the Federal 
Register.
    ``Adverse comments'' are comments that suggest that the rule should 
not be adopted, or that suggest that a change should be made to the 
rule. A comment expressing support for the rule as published will not 
be considered adverse. Further, a comment suggesting that requirements 
in the rule should, or should not, be employed by OPPM in other 
programs or situations outside the scope of the direct final rule will 
not be considered adverse.
    In accordance with the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative 
Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553), the direct final rulemaking procedure 
gives the public general notice of OPPM's intent to adopt a rule, and 
gives interested persons an opportunity to participate in the 
rulemaking through submission of comments. The major feature of direct 
final rulemaking is that if OPPM receives no written adverse comments 
and no written notice of intent to submit adverse comments within 30 
days of the publication of the direct final rule, the rule will become 
effective without the need to publish a separate final rule. However, 
OPPM will publish a notice in the Federal Register stating that no 
adverse comments were received regarding the direct final rule, and 
confirming that the direct final rule is effective on the date stated 
in the direct final rule.
    If OPPM receives written adverse comments or written notice of 
intent to submit adverse comments within 30 days of the publication of 
a direct final rule, a notice of withdrawal of the direct final rule 
will be published in the Federal Register. If OPPM intends to proceed 
with the rulemaking, the direct final rule will be republished as a 
proposed rule and we will proceed with the normal notice-and-comment 
rulemaking procedures.

Determining When to Use Direct Final Rulemaking

    Not all OPPM rules are good candidates for direct final rulemaking. 
OPPM intends to use the direct final rulemaking procedure only for 
rules that we consider to be non-controversial and unlikely to generate 
adverse comments. The decision to use direct final rulemaking for a 
rule will be based on OPPM's experience with similar rules.

Electronic Access Address

    You may request additional information by sending electronic mail 
(E-mail) to [email protected], or via fax at [phone].

    Done in Washington, D.C., this 7th day of January, 1998.
W.R. Ashworth,
Director, Office of Procurement and Property Management.
[FR Doc. 98-919 Filed 2-23-98; 8:45 am]
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