2022-20484. Information Collection Requirement; Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) Part 237, Service Contracting, and Related Clauses

AGENCY:

Defense Acquisition Regulations System, Department of Defense (DoD).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The Defense Acquisition Regulations System has submitted to OMB, for clearance, the following proposed revision and extension of a collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act.

DATES:

Consideration will be given to all comments received by October 24, 2022.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title, Associated Form, and OMB Number: Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) Part 237 Clauses 252.237-7025 and 252.237-7026; OMB Control Number 0750-0006.

Affected Public: Businesses and other for-profit and not-for profit institutions.

Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain benefits.

Type of Request: New collection.

Number of Respondents: 12.

Responses per Respondent: 35.

Annual Responses: 420.

Average Burden per Response: 0.062, approximately.

Annual Burden Hours: 26.

Frequency: On occasion.

Needs and Uses: This information collection is required to implement section 1006 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 (Pub. L. 115-232), as amended by section 1011 of the NDAA for FY 2020 (Pub. L. 116-92). Section 1006 applies to accounting firms that provide financial statement auditing to DoD in support of the audit under 31 U.S.C. 3521 or audit remediation services in support of the Financial Improvement and Audit Remediation Plan described in 10 U.S.C. 240b. Such firms, when responding to a solicitation or awarded a contract for the acquisition of covered services, must disclose to DoD before any contract action (including award, renewals, and amendments) the details of any disciplinary proceedings with respect to the accounting firm or its associated persons before any entity with the authority to enforce compliance with rules or laws applying to audit services offered by the accounting firm. DoD, as a matter of policy to provide a level playing field between firms that provide audit services to support certain DoD audits, is extending this requirement to firms other than accounting firms that provide such services. Section 1011 amended section 1006 to require any disclosures to be treated as confidential to the extent required by the court or agency in which the proceeding occurred and to be treated in a manner consistent with any protections or privileges established by any other provision of Federal law.

a. DFARS provision 252.237-7025, Preaward Transparency Requirements for Firms Offering to Support Department of Defense Audits—Representation and Disclosure, is prescribed at DFARS 237.270(e)(3) for use in solicitations for the acquisition of financial statement auditing or audit remediation services.

b. DFARS clause 252.237-7026, Postaward Transparency Requirements for a Firm that Supports Department of Defense Audits, is prescribed at DFARS 237.270(e)(4) for use in solicitations and contracts for the acquisition of financial statement auditing or audit remediation services.

Comments and recommendations on the proposed information collection should be sent to Ms. Susan Minson, DoD Desk Officer, at [e-mail]. Please identify the proposed information collection by DoD Desk Officer and the Docket ID number and title of the information collection.

You may also submit comments, identified by docket number and title, by the following method: Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.

DoD Clearance Officer: Ms. Angela Duncan. Requests for copies of the information collection proposal should be sent to Ms. Duncan at [e-mail].

Jennifer D. Johnson,

Editor/Publisher, Defense Acquisition Regulations System.