2011-16673. Federal Acquisition Regulation; Unique Procurement Instrument Identifier

AGENCIES:

Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration (GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

ACTION:

Final rule.

SUMMARY:

DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to standardize use of unique Procurement Instrument Identifiers (PIID) throughout the Government. The lack of consistent agency policies and procedures for PIIDs subjected users of contract data, including the Federal Government, contractors, and the public, to potential duplicate, overlapping, or conflicting information from the different Federal agencies.

DATES:

Effective Date: August 4, 2011.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mr. Karlos Morgan, Procurement Analyst, at [phone] for clarification of content. For information pertaining to status or publication schedules, contact the Regulatory Secretariat at [phone]. Please cite FAC 2005-53, FAR Case 2009-023.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

DoD, GSA, and NASA published a proposed rule in the Federal Register at 75 FR 50731 on August 17, 2010, to standardize the use of unique PIIDs throughout the Government. Four respondents submitted comments on the proposed rule.

II. Discussion and Analysis of the Public Comments

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (the Councils) reviewed the public comments in the development of the final rule. A discussion of the comments and the changes made to the rule as a result of those comments are provided as follows:

A. Agency and Office Identifier

Comment: A respondent provided a suggestion that the prescribed identifiers include not only an agency identifier, but an office identifier as well.

Response: At this time, not all agencies have an office-unique identifier. However, as data standardization efforts progress, this may be a future area of consideration.

B. Amendments

Comment: A respondent suggested that the term “amendments” be removed from the proposed FAR 4.605, as “amendments” are not reported to the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS).

Response: “Amendments” will be removed from the identified part, and replaced with “solicitations”, because solicitation numbers are included in FPDS contract action reports.

C. Consistent Government Format

Comment: Two respondents requested a consistent format for the PIIDs across the Government.

Response: At this time it is not cost effective to transition all Federal agencies to a single PIID format across the Government.

D. Linkage of Old and New PIIDs

Comment: A respondent suggested adding language to proposed FAR 4.1601(f) to require linking any new PIID assigned to an award to the old originating PIID.

Response: Language was added to FAR 4.1601(f) as suggested.

E. New Contractor Identification

Comment: Two respondents suggested the creation of a new contractor identification system within the public domain.

Response: This request is out of scope for this case.

III. Executive Orders 12866 and 13563

Executive Orders (E.O.s) 12866 and 13563 direct agencies to assess all costs and benefits of available regulatory alternatives and, if regulation is necessary, to select regulatory approaches that maximize net benefits (including potential economic, environmental, public health and safety effects, distributive impacts, and equity). E.O. 13563 emphasizes the importance of quantifying both costs and benefits, of reducing costs, of harmonizing rules, and of promoting flexibility. This is not a significant regulatory action and, therefore, was not subject to review under section 6(b) of E.O. 12866, Regulatory Planning and Review, dated September 30, 1993. This rule is not a major rule under 5 U.S.C. 804.

IV. Regulatory Flexibility Act

The Department of Defense, the General Services Administration, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration certify that this final rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities within the meaning of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601, et seq., because it will not impose new requirements on industry. It only provides internal Government policies and procedures.

V. Paperwork Reduction Act

The final rule does not contain any information collection requirements that require the approval of the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35).

List of Subjects in 48 CFR Part 4

• Government procurement

Dated: June 28, 2011.

Laura Auletta,

Acting Director, Office of Governmentwide Acquisition Policy, Office of Acquisition Policy.

Therefore, DoD, GSA, and NASA amend 48 CFR part 4 as follows:

PART 4—ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS

1. The authority citation for 48 CFR part 4 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 40 U.S.C. 121(c); 10 U.S.C. chapter 137; and 42 U.S.C. 2473(c).

2. Add section 4.001 to read as follows:

4.001

Definitions.

As used in this part—

Procurement Instrument Identifier (PIID) means the Government-unique identifier for each solicitation, contract, agreement, or order. For example, an agency may use as its PIID for procurement actions, such as delivery and task orders or basic ordering agreements, the order or agreement number in conjunction with the contract number (see 4.1602).

Supplementary procurement instrument identifier means the non-unique identifier for a procurement action that is used in conjunction with the Government-unique identifier. For example, an agency may use as its PIID for an amended solicitation, the Government-unique identifier for a solicitation number (e.g., N0002309R0009) in conjunction with a non-unique amendment number (e.g., 0001). The non-unique amendment number represents the supplementary PIID.

3. Amend section 4.605 by revising paragraph (a) to read as follows:

4.605

Procedures.

(a) Procurement Instrument Identifier (PIID). Agencies shall have in place a process that ensures that each PIID reported to FPDS is unique Governmentwide, for all solicitations, contracts, blanket purchase agreements, basic agreements, basic ordering agreements, or orders in accordance with 4.1601, and will remain so for at least 20 years from the date of contract award. Other pertinent PIID instructions for FPDS reporting can be found at https://www.fpds.gov.

* * * * *

4. Add subpart 4.16 to read as follows:

Subpart 4.16—Unique Procurement Instrument Identifiers

4.1600

Scope of subpart.

4.1601

Policy.

4.1602

Identifying the PIID and supplementary PIID.

Subpart 4.16—Unique Procurement Instrument Identifiers

4.1600

Scope of subpart.

This subpart prescribes policies and procedures for assigning unique Procurement Instrument Identifiers (PIID) for each solicitation, contract, agreement, or order and related procurement instrument.

4.1601

Policy.

(a) Procurement Instrument Identifier (PIID). Agencies shall have in place a process that ensures that each PIID used to identify a solicitation or contract action is unique Governmentwide, and will remain so for at least 20 years from the date of contract award.

(b) Agencies must submit their proposed identifier format to the General Services Administration's Integrated Acquisition Environment Program Office, which maintains a registry of the agency-unique identifier schemes.

(c) The PIID shall consist of alpha characters in the first positions to indicate the agency, followed by alpha-numeric characters according to agency procedures.

(d) The PIID shall be used to identify all solicitation and contract actions. The PIID shall also be used to identify solicitation and contract actions in designated support and reporting systems (e.g., Federal Procurement Data System, Past Performance Information Retrieval System), in accordance with regulations, applicable authorities, and agency policies and procedures.

(e) Agencies shall not change the PIID, unless the conditions in paragraph (f) of this section exist.

(f) If continued use of a PIID is not possible or is not in the Government's best interest solely for administrative reasons (e.g., for implementations of new agency contracting systems), the contracting officer may assign a new PIID by issuing a modification. The modification shall clearly identify both the original and the newly assigned PIID.

4.1602

Identifying the PIID and supplementary PIID.

(a) Identifying the PIID in solicitation and contract award documentation (including forms and electronic generated formats). Agencies shall include all PIIDs for all related procurement actions as identified in paragraphs (a)(1) through (5) of this section.

(1) Solicitation. Identify the PIID for all solicitations. For amendments to solicitations, identify a supplementary PIID, in conjunction with the PIID for the solicitation.

(2) Contracts and purchase orders. Identify the PIID for contracts and purchase orders.

(3) Delivery and task orders. For delivery and task orders placed by an agency under a contract (e.g., indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts, multi-agency contracts (MAC), Governmentwide acquisition contracts (GWACs), or Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contracts), identify the PIID for the delivery and task order and the PIID for the contract.

(4) Blanket purchase agreements and basic ordering agreements. Identify the PIID for blanket purchase agreements issued in accordance with 13.303, and for basic agreements and basic ordering agreements issued in accordance with subpart 16.7. For blanket purchase agreements issued in accordance with subpart 8.4 under a MAS contract, identify the PIID for the blanket purchase agreement and the PIID for the MAS contract.

(i) Orders. For orders against basic ordering agreements or blanket purchase agreements issued in accordance with 13.303, identify the PIID for the order and the PIID for the blanket purchase agreement or basic ordering agreement.

(ii) Orders under subpart 8.4. For orders against a blanket purchase agreement established under a MAS contract, identify the PIID for the order, the PIID for the blanket purchase agreement, and the PIID for the MAS contract.

(5) Modifications. For modifications to actions described in paragraphs (a)(2) through (4) of this section, and in accordance with agency procedures, identify a supplementary PIID for the modification in conjunction with the PIID for the contract, order, or agreement being modified.

(b) Placement of the PIID on forms. When the form (including electronic generated format) does not provide spaces or fields for the PIID or supplementary PIID required in paragraph (a) of this section, identify the PIID in accordance with agency procedures.

(c) Additional agency specific identification information. If agency procedures require additional identification information in solicitations, contracts, or other related procurement instruments for administrative purposes, identify it in such a manner so as to separate it clearly from the PIID.