2010-6331. Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-40; 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 of 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. It consists of the summary of the rule appearing in Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-40 which amends the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). Interested parties may obtain further information regarding this rule by referring to FAC 2005-40 which precedes this document. These documents are also available via the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

The analyst whose name appears in the table below. Please cite FAC 2005-40 and the specific FAR case number. For information pertaining to status or publication schedules, contact the FAR Secretariat at [phone].

Rule Listed in FAC 2005-40

Subject	FAR case	Analyst
Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS)	2008-027	Gary.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A summary for the FAR rule follows. For the actual revisions and/or amendments made by this FAR case, refer to FAR Case 2008-027.

FAC 2005-40 amends the FAR as specified below:

Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS) (FAR case 2008-027)

This final rule adopts, with changes, the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on September 3, 2009 (74 FR 45579); and amends the FAR to implement section 872 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009. Section 872 requires the establishment of a data system, Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS), containing specific information on the integrity and performance of covered Federal agency contractors and grantees. FAPIIS is available for use in award decisions at www.ppirs.gov. Government input to FAPIIS is accomplished at www.cpars.csd.disa.mil.

FAPIIS is intended to significantly enhance the scope of information available to contracting officers as they evaluate the integrity and performance of prospective contractors competing for Federal contracts and to protect taxpayers from doing business with contractors that are not responsible sources. This final rule impacts Government contracting officers and contractors. The Government contracting officers will be required to—

• Check the FAPIIS website, available at www.ppirs.gov, before awarding a contract over the simplified acquisition threshold, consider all the information in FAPIIS and PPIRS when making a responsibility determination, and notify the agency official responsible for initiating debarment or suspension action if the information appears appropriate for the official's consideration; and
• Enter a non-responsibility determination into FAPIIS.

The contractor will be required to:

1. Confirm, at the time of offer submission, information pertaining to criminal, civil and administrative proceedings through which a requisite determination of fault was made, and report this information into FAPIIS; and

2. Update the information in FAPIIS on a semi-annual basis, throughout the life of the contract, by entering the required information into FAPIIS via the Central Contractor Registration database, available at http://www.ccr.gov.

Dated: March 18, 2010.

Al Matera,

Director, Acquisition Policy Division.