[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 169 (Friday, August 30, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53761-53763]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-21183]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
[OMB Control No. 9000-0136; Docket 2012-0076; Sequence 63]
Federal Acquisition Regulation; Submission for OMB Review;
Commercial Item Acquisitions
AGENCY: Department of Defense (DOD), General Services Administration
(GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
ACTION: Notice of request for comments regarding an extension, with
changes, to an existing OMB clearance.
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SUMMARY: Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, the
Regulatory Secretariat will be submitting to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve an extension of a
previously approved information collection requirement concerning the
clauses and provisions required for use in commercial item
acquisitions. A notice was published in the Federal Register at 78 FR
18349, on March 26, 2013. Comments were received from two respondents.
DATES: Submit comments on or before September 30, 2013.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments identified by Information Collection 9000-
0136, Commercial Item Acquisitions, by any of the following methods:
Regulations.gov: http://www.regulations.gov. Submit
comments via the Federal eRulemaking portal by searching the OMB
control number. Select the link ``Submit a Comment'' that corresponds
with ``Information Collection 9000-0136, Commercial Item
Acquisitions''. Follow the instructions provided at the ``Submit a
Comment'' screen. Please include your name, company name (if any), and
``Information Collection 9000-0136, Commercial Item Acquisitions'' on
your attached document.
Fax: 202-501-4067.
Mail: General Services Administration, Regulatory
Secretariat (MVCB), 1800 F Street NW., 2nd Floor, Washington, DC,
20405-0001.
ATTN: Hada Flowers/IC 9000-0136, Commercial Item
Acquisitions.
Instructions: Please submit comments only and cite Information
Collection 9000-0136, Commercial Item Acquisitions, in all
correspondence related to this collection. Submit comments regarding
this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of
information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to: FAR
Desk Officer, OMB, Room 10102, NEOB, Washington, DC 20503. All comments
received will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov,
including any personal and/or business confidential information
provided.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Michael O. Jackson, Procurement
Analyst, Office of Governmentwide Acquisition Policy, GSA (202) 208-
4949 or email at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Purpose
The Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 included Title
VIII, entitled Commercial Items. The title made numerous additions and
revisions to both the civilian agency and Armed Service acquisition
statutes to encourage and facilitate the acquisition of commercial
items and services by Federal Government agencies.
To implement these changes, DoD, NASA, and GSA amended the Federal
Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to include several streamlined and
simplified clauses and provisions to be used in place of existing
clauses and provisions. These clauses and provisions were designed to
simplify solicitations and contracts for commercial items. The
simplified clauses and provisions are used by Federal agencies to
facilitate the acquisition of commercial items and services.
Pertinent to this information collection is the FAR provision at
52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications--Commercial Items.
The provision is among the representations and certifications that are
available for completion in the On-line Representation and
Certification Application (ORCA). ORCA as a stand-alone system no
longer exists; however, its functionality is incorporated into the
System for Award Management (SAM).
B. Analysis of Public Comments
Two respondents submitted public comments on the extension of the
previously approved information collection. The analysis of the public
comments is summarized as follows:
[[Page 53762]]
Comment: The respondent commented that the extension of the
information collection contradicts the fundamental purposes of the
Paperwork Reduction Act because of the burden it puts on the entity
submitting the information and the agency collecting the information.
Response: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA),
agencies can request an extension to an existing OMB approved
information collection. The PRA requires that agencies use the Federal
Register notice and comment process, to extend the OMB's approval, at
least every three years. This extension, to a previously approved
information collection, pertains to the FAR provision at 52.212-3,
Offeror Representations and Certifications--Commercial Items. The
provision is among the representations and certifications that are
available for completion in the ORCA function of the SAM database. This
provision is required by statute. In accordance with Section 8002 of
Public Law 103-355 (41 U.S.C. 264), contracts for the acquisition of
commercial items shall, to the maximum extent practicable, include only
those clauses--
(1) Required to implement provisions of law or executive orders
applicable to the acquisition of commercial items; or
(2) Determined to be consistent with customary commercial practice.
Not granting this extension would consequently eliminate a primary
means of complying with this statutory requirement.
Comment: Two respondents commented that the agency did not
accurately estimate the public burden challenging that the agency's
methodology for calculating it is insufficient and inadequate and does
not reflect the total burden. One respondent commented that the
``estimate of four responses per contractor per year is unrealistically
low.'' The respondent also commented that if the estimate accounted for
the totality of the information collection requirement, including
recordkeeping, compiling and reporting, the burden hours would be six
to ten hours per response. For this reason, the respondent asserted
that the agency should reassess the estimated total burden hours and
revise the estimate upward to be more accurate, as was done in FAR Case
2007-006. A second respondent commented that on average, the time
burden is approximately 215 hours per company, per response, for the
end-to-end process. Further, both respondents commented that the
estimate of 0.5 hours of burden per response was unrealistically low
when considering the time and effort necessary for a company to gather
the data.
Response: Serious consideration is given, during the open comment
period, to all comments received and adjustments are made to the
paperwork burden estimate based on reasonable considerations provided
by the public. This is evidenced, as the respondent notes, in FAR Case
2007-006 where an adjustment was made from the total preparation hours
from three to 60. This change was made considering particularly the
hours that would be required for review within the company, prior to
release to the Government.
The burden is prepared taking into consideration the necessary
criteria in OMB guidance for estimating the paperwork burden put on the
entity submitting the information. For example, consideration is given
to an entity reviewing instructions; using technology to collect,
process, and disclose information; adjusting existing practices to
comply with requirements; searching data sources; completing and
reviewing the response; and transmitting or disclosing information. The
estimated burden hours for a collection are based on an average between
the hours that a simple disclosure by a very small business might
require and the much higher numbers that might be required for a very
complex disclosure by a major corporation. Also, the estimated burden
hours should only include projected hours for those actions which a
company would not undertake in the normal course of business.
Careful consideration went into assessing the estimated burden
hours for this collection. It has been determined that an upward
adjustment is not required at this time. The estimate of four responses
per respondent is based upon contractor use of the ORCA function in SAM
rather than the completion of representations and certifications for
each solicitation/contract for which a vendor submits an offer. The
ORCA function was developed to eliminate the administrative burden for
contractors of submitting the same information to various contracting
offices, and to establish a common source for this information to
procurement offices across the Government. Prior to ORCA, prospective
contractors were required to submit representations and certifications
in paper form for each individual contract award. Under these
conditions, a response rate of 20 to more than 100 times per year may
have been necessary. However, using the ORCA function in SAM, a
contractor can enter their representations and certification
information once for use on all Federal contracts and solicitations.
FAR 4.1201(a) requires prospective contractors to complete electronic
annual representations and certifications at the SAM Internet site in
conjunction with required registration in the Central Contractor
Registration (CCR) function in SAM. The representations and
certifications are effective until one year from the date of submission
or update to the ORCA function in SAM. For purposes of this information
collection, initial data entry plus three updates per year was
considered reasonable and was used to estimate the number of responses
per respondent per year.
Subject matter experts were consulted to obtain additional
information that helped in estimating the hours of burden per response.
After reviewing the average estimated burden hours per response, and
the respondent's comments to the burden hours per response in
conjunction with consultation with subject matter experts, it has been
determined that the estimate of thirty minutes (0.500), or
approximately 10 minutes more than the original estimate of 0.312
published in the Federal Register at 75 FR 6668 on February 2, 2010,
was a valid measure of the average time required to complete and review
each response. However, at any point, members of the public may submit
comments for further consideration, and are encouraged to provide data
to support their request for an adjustment.
C. Annual Reporting Burden
Respondents: 162,000.
Responses per Respondent: 4.
Total Responses: 648,000.
Hours per Response: .500.
Total Burden Hours: 324,000.
D. Public Comments
Public comments are particularly invited on: Whether this
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of
functions of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), and whether it
will have practical utility; whether our estimate of the public burden
of this collection of information is accurate, and based on valid
assumptions and methodology; ways to enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be collected; and ways in which we can
minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are
to respond, through the use of appropriate technological collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
[[Page 53763]]
Obtaining Copies of Proposals: Requesters may obtain a copy of the
information collection documents from the General Services
Administration, Regulatory Secretariat (MVCB), 1800 F Street NW., 2nd
Floor, Washington, DC 20405-0001, telephone (202) 501-4755. Please cite
OMB Control No. 9000-0136 regarding Commercial Item Acquisitions in all
correspondence.
Dated: August 22, 2013.
Karlos Morgan,
Acting Director, Federal Acquisition Policy Division, Office of
Governmentwide Acquisition Policy, Office of Acquisition Policy, Office
of Governmentwide Policy.
[FR Doc. 2013-21183 Filed 8-29-13; 8:45 am]
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