2011-7367. Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-51; Introduction

AGENCIES:

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

ACTION:

Summary presentation of final and interim rules.

SUMMARY:

This document summarizes the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) rules agreed to by DoD, GSA, and NASA in this Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-51. A companion document, the Small Entity Compliance Guide (SECG), follows this FAC. The FAC, including the SECG, is available via the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov.

DATES:

For effective dates and comment dates, see separate documents, which follow.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

The analyst whose name appears in the table below in relation to each FAR case. Please cite FAC 2005-51 and the specific FAR case numbers. 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 (WOSB) Program (Interim)	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.

Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-51 is issued under the authority of the Secretary of Defense, the Administrator of General Services, and the Administrator for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Unless otherwise specified, all Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and other directive material contained in FAC 2005-51 is effective April 1, 2011, except for Item II which is effective May 2, 2011.

Dated: March 23, 2011.

Richard Ginman,

Deputy Director, Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy (Contingency Contracting and Acquisition Policy).

Dated: March 23, 2011.

Joseph A. Neurauter,

Senior Procurement Executive/Deputy CAO, Office of Acquisition Policy, U.S. General Services Administration.

Dated: March 18, 2011.

Leigh Pomponio,

Procurement Analyst, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.