[Federal Register: July 13, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 135)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 36711]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr13jy01-8]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army
32 CFR Part 668
Report On Use of Employees of Non-Federal Entities To Provide
Services to Department of the Army
AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and
Reserve Affairs), and Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army
(Acquisition, Logistics and Technology), Department of Army, DOD.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: This action removes the Department of the Army regulations on
Contractor Manhour Reporting Requirement. The Director of Defense
Procurement directed the Department of the Army to withdraw the
regulations pending approval of, and further rulemaking on, the
repetitive use provisions employed in covered Army contracts. In
addition, the Office of Management and Budget concluded that the final
rule made significant changes to the interim rule in apparent conflict
with the Paperwork Reduction Act.
DATES: Effective July 13, 2001.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. John R. Conklin, at john.
conklin@saalt.army.mil, or Dr. John C. Anderson at 703-614-8247 or
John.Anderson@hqda.army.mil.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 1. Applicability: No new contract actions
containing the requirements cited in 32 CFR Part 668 may be awarded
after the effective date of this rule. Contracting officers shall
timely notify, in writing, all contractors whose existing contracts
contain 32 CFR Part 668 requirements, that the requirement has been
eliminated and that no further reporting is required under those
contract actions. Any actual modification of such contracts to formally
eliminate the requirement must take into account such issues as
consideration and best interest of the Government on a case-by-case
basis.
2. Background: The Department of the Army, in the Federal Register
(65 FR 13906) dated Wednesday, March 15, 2000, announced an interim
rule to establish and implement basic contractor-reporting requirements
to identify the number and value of direct, and associated indirect,
labor work year equivalents for contracted services in support of the
Army. This requirement was Army's implementation of statutory mandates
and FY 2000 Congressional data requirements (10 U.S.C. 129a, 10 U.S.C.
2461(g) and Section 343 of the FY 2000 DoD Authorization Act).
Army contracting officers were directed to include the reporting
requirements in all covered contracts involving services for Research
and Development or Other Services and Construction. The interim rule
was effective on the date of publication. A final rule, published at 65
FR 81357-81362, December 26, 2000, codified regulations at 32 CFR Part
668 that mandated the inclusion of a reporting requirement in certain
contract actions as described in the rule.
As a result of a number of legal and technical/procedural issues
and significant complaints from industry about the scope and
methodology of the Army final rule and the rulemaking process, the
Director of Defense Procurement (DDP) in memorandums dated May 5, and
June 5, 2001, directed the Army to cease using the standard contract
requirements language (``repetitive use clause'') in covered contracts
absent approval by the DDP and rulemaking in 40 CFR (covering
acquisition regulations supplementing and implementing the Federal
Acquisition Regulations System). The Office of Management and Budget
concluded that the final rule made significant changes to the interim
rule without changing the Paperwork Reduction Act estimates and
assumptions, and without allowing for additional public comment
thereon, in apparent conflict with the requirements of the Paperwork
Reduction Act.
Based on the foregoing, the Army hereby removes the resulting
regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations (32 CFR Part 668).
General: The Army's requirement for information on unit level
contractor manpower equivalents, as stated in the December 26, 2000,
final rule, remains. The Army needs this information for a host of
reasons, including planning, programming and budgeting, and
priortization and allocation of resources. From March 2000 to the
present, the Army collected over $9.2 billion in contract data from
approximately 1,200 contractors. Although this data has yet to be
validated and analyzed in depth, initial indications are that the
numbers of contract manpower equivalents reported by contractors were
lower (for the associated values) than those estimated employing
algorithms currently used by the Department of the Army and the
Department of Defense for reporting to Congress.
List of Subjects in 32 CFR Part 668
Government contracting, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
PART 668--[REMOVED AND RESERVED]
Accordingly, for the reasons set out in the preamble, 32 CFR
Chapter V, Subchapter L, Part 668, Contractor Manhour Reporting
Requirement, is removed in its entirety.
Luz D. Ortiz,
Army Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 01-17613 Filed 7-12-01; 8:45 am]
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