[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 190 (Tuesday, October 1, 2002)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 61519-61521]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-24774]
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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
48 CFR Parts 1852 and 1872
RIN 2700-AC33
Broad Agency Announcements
AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: This final rule adopts with changes the proposed rule
published in the Federal Register on August 31, 2001. This final rule
amends the NASA FAR Supplement (NFS) to require, when relevant,
consideration of safety and risk-based acquisition management in NASA's
broad agency announcements. This change will ensure consistency in the
way safety and risk based acquisition management are treated in all
NASA acquisitions.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2002.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Brundage, NASA, Office of
Procurement, Analysis Division (Code HC), (202) 358-0481, or e-mail:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Background
NASA recently made several changes to the NFS to address safety and
risk based acquisition management (RBAM) in the acquisition planning
processes for
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negotiated procurements. This final rule makes corresponding changes to
the proposal preparation processes for NASA's broad agency
announcements (BAA). Two types of BAAs used by NASA include the
Announcement of Opportunity (AO) and the NASA Research Announcement
(NRA). This final rule amends the NASA FAR Supplement (NFS) to require,
when relevant, consideration of safety and risk-based acquisition
management in NASA's broad agency announcements. This change allows
NASA to consider safety and RBAM as part of the proposal selection done
under NASA's broad agency announcements. This change will ensure
consistency in the way safety and RBAM are treated in all NASA
acquisitions.
NASA published a proposed rule in the Federal Register at 66 FR
45955 on August 31, 2001. NASA received one comment on the proposed
rule. The commenter suggested that risk analysis should not be imposed
at early stages of research solely for consistency when it is unlikely
there will be any identifiable risk that could benefit from a premature
risk analysis. The commenter further recommended that NASA not require
RBAM on BAAs unless the statement of work involved procurement,
development, manufacture, and operation of hardware and equipment.
NASA included the phrase ``where they are relevant'' in its
proposed rule because it agrees that in some cases the proposed work in
response to a BAA may be so early in the development cycle that
identification and discussion of risk factors may not be possible.
However, NASA disagrees with the suggestion that risk factor
identification and discussion occur only when the statement of work
involves procurement, development, manufacture, and operation of
hardware and equipment.
To ensure that the identification and discussion of risk factors is
conducted when appropriate, NASA's proposed rule required the
identification and discussion of risk factors and issues throughout the
proposal ``where they are relevant.''
Relevancy of risk should be easily determinable, even during the
initial BAA process. For example, research involving flight hardware,
hazardous material, or potentially dangerous operations includes
identifiable risks. In other cases, it may indeed be too early in the
research process to identify and discuss risk factors, so such a
discussion would not be relevant.
Moreover, BAAs include information that will help a proposer in
determining whether an identification and discussion of risks may be
relevant. For instance, AO's include, as applicable, safety,
reliability, and quality assurance provisions. NRAs contain
programmatic information and certain requirements and will generally
specify topics for which additional information or greater detail is
desirable. NASA is ensuring that areas that may involve potential risk
are highlighted in AOs and NRAs by requiring the participation of the
appropriate NASA Safety Offices in the NRA and AO (by this rule)
processes.
It is anticipated and understood that the identification of risk
factors where relevant will be consistent with the level of information
available at the time of the proposal. Therefore, no change is being
made as a result of comments received. Minor grammatical changes have
been made to NFS section 1872.307.
B. Regulatory Flexibility Act
NASA certifies that this final rule will not have a significant
economic impact on a substantial number of small business entities
under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601, et seq.) because it
does not impose new requirements. Rather, it focuses attention on
safety and risk management.
C. Paperwork Reduction Act
The Paperwork Reduction Act does not apply because the changes to
the NFS do not impose any record keeping or information collection
requirements, or collections of information from offerors, contractors,
or members of the public that require the approval of the Office of
Management and Budget under 44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.
List of Subjects in 48 CFR Parts 1852 and 1872
Government procurement.
Tom Luedtke,
Assistant Administrator for Procurement.
Accordingly, 48 CFR parts 1852 and 1872 are amended as follows:
1. The authority citation for 48 CFR 1852 and 1872 continues to
read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 2473(c)(1).
PART 1852--SOLICITATION PROVISIONS AND CONTRACT CLAUSES
2. Amend the clause at section 1852.235-72 by revising the clause
date, redesignating paragraph (c)(11)(ii) as (c)(11)(iii), and adding a
new paragraph (c)(11)(ii) to read as follows:
1852.235-72 Instructions for responding to NASA Research
Announcements.
* * * * *
Instructions for Responding to NASA Research Announcements (Oct. 2002)
* * * * *
(c) * * *
(11) * * *
(ii) Identify and discuss risk factors and issues throughout the
proposal where they are relevant, and your approach to managing these
risks.
* * * * *
PART 1872 --ACQUISITION OF INVESTIGATIONS
3. Amend paragraph (b) of section 1872.303 by adding the words
``Office of Safety and Mission Assurance,'' immediately after ``Office
of General Counsel,''.
4. Amend section 1872.307 by adding the following sentence at the
end of paragraph (b) to read as follows:
1872.307 Guidelines for proposal preparation.
* * * * *
(b) * * * Investigators shall be required to identify and discuss
risk factors and issues throughout the proposal where they are
relevant, and describe their approach to managing these risks.
5. Amend section 1872.402, by redesignating paragraph (b)(7) as
(b)(8), and adding a new paragraph (b)(7) to read as follows:
1872.402 Criteria for evaluation.
* * * * *
(b) * * *
(7) The proposed approach to managing risk (e.g., level of
technology maturity being applied or developed, technical complexity,
performance specifications and tolerances, delivery schedule, etc.).
* * * * *
6. Amend section 1872.705 by redesignating sections II, III, IV, V,
VI, VII, VIII, and IX as III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, and X
respectively, and adding a new section II to read as follows:
1872.705 Format of Announcement of Opportunity (AO).
* * * * *
II. NASA's Safety Priority
Safety is the freedom from those conditions that can cause death,
injury, occupational illness, damage to or loss of equipment or
property, or damage to the environment. NASA's safety priority is to
protect:
(1) The public,
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(2) Astronauts and pilots,
(3) The NASA workforce (including NASA employees working under NASA
instruments), and
(4) High-value equipment and property.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 02-24774 Filed 9-30-02; 8:45 am]
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