2011-7370. Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-51; 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 DOD, GSA, and NASA. 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 a summary of rules appearing in Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-51, which amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). An asterisk (*) next to a rule indicates that a regulatory flexibility analysis has been prepared. Interested parties may obtain further information regarding these rules by referring to FAC 2005-51, which precedes this document. These documents are also available via the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov.

DATES:

For effective dates see separate documents, which follow.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

The analyst whose name appears in the table below. Please cite FAC 2005-51 and the specific FAR case number. For information pertaining to status or publication schedules, contact the Regulatory Secretariat at [phone].

List of Rules in FAC 2005-51

Item	Subject	FAR case	Analyst
*I	Women-Owned Small Business Program (Interim) (WOSB)	2010-015	Morgan.
II	Clarification of Standard Form 26—Award/Contract	2009-029	Jackson.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Summaries for each FAR rule follow. For the actual revisions and/or amendments made by these FAR cases, refer to the specific item numbers and subject set forth in the documents following these item summaries. FAC 2005-51 amends the FAR as specified below:

Item I—Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Program (FAR Case 2010-015) (Interim)

This interim rule amends the FAR to add subpart 19.15, Women-Owned Small Business Program, which will assist Federal agencies in achieving the 5 percent statutory goal for contracting with women-owned small business (WOSB) concerns.

Agencies may restrict competition to economically disadvantaged women-owned small business (EDWOSB) concerns for contracts assigned a North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) code in an industry in which the Small Business Administration has determined that WOSB concerns are underrepresented in Federal procurement. For NAICS code industries where WOSB concerns are not just underrepresented, but substantially underrepresented, agencies may restrict competition to WOSB concerns eligible under the WOSB Program.

EDWOSB concerns and WOSB concerns eligible under the WOSB Program must be owned and controlled by one or more women who are citizens of the United States. An EDWOSB concern is automatically a WOSB concern eligible under the WOSB Program.

Item II—Clarification of Standard Form 26—Award/Contract (FAR Case 2009-029)

This final rule amends the FAR to revise FAR part 53 to amend the Standard Form (SF) 26, Award/Contract, above blocks 17 and 18 and in block 18 to clarify that block 18 should not be used when awarding a negotiated procurement and should only be checked when awarding a sealed bid contract. The changes will not prevent contracting officers from using block 17 of the SF 26 when awarding negotiated procurements in which the signature of both parties, on a single document, is required; it will only prohibit them from using block 18 of the SF 26 when awarding negotiated procurements.

Dated: March 24, 2011.

Millisa Gary,

Acting Director, Office of Governmentwide Acquisition Policy.