GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION (GSA) - Regulatory Plan - October 2015

I. Mission and Overview

GSA oversees the business of the Federal Government by supplying Federal purchasers with cost-effective, high-quality products and services from commercial vendors providing workplaces for Federal employees, overseeing the preservation of historic Federal properties, providing tools, equipment, and non-tactical vehicles to the U.S. military, and providing State and local governments with law enforcement equipment, firefighting and rescue equipment, and disaster recovery products and services.

GSA's work is done through the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), the Public Buildings Service (PBS), and the Office of Government-wide Policy (OGP).

Federal Acquisition Service (FAS)

FAS is the lead organization for procurement of products and services (other than real property) for the Federal Government and leverages the buying power of the Government by consolidating Federal agencies' requirements for common goods and services.

Public Buildings Service (PBS)

PBS is the largest public real estate organization in the United States, providing facilities and workspace solutions to more than 60 Federal agencies PBS' activities fall into two broad areas. The first is space acquisition through both leases and construction. PBS translates general needs into specific requirements, marshals the necessary resources, and delivers the space necessary to meet the respective missions of its Federal clients. The second area is management of space. This involves making decisions on maintenance, servicing tenants, and ultimately, deciding when and how to dispose of a property at the end of its useful life.

Office of Government-wide Policy (OGP)

OGP sets Government-wide policy in the areas of personal and real property, travel and transportation, information technology, regulatory information, and use of Federal advisory committees. OGP also helps direct how all Federal supplies and services are acquired as well as GSA's own acquisition programs.

OGP's policy regulations are described below:

Office of Asset and Transportation Management (Federal Travel Regulation)

Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) enumerates the travel and relocation policy for all title 5 Executive agency employees. The FTR is the regulation contained in 41 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), chapters 300 through 304, that implements statutory requirements and executive branch policies for travel by Federal civilian employees and others authorized to travel at Government expense.

Office of Asset and Transportation Management (Federal Management Regulation)

Federal Management Regulation (FMR) establishes policy for aircraft, transportation, personal property, real property, and mail management. The FMR is the successor regulation to the Federal Property Management Regulation (FPMR), and it contains updated regulatory policies originally found in the FPMR.

Office of Acquisition Policy (General Services Administration Acquisition Manual (GSAM) and the General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation (GSAR))

GSA's internal rules and practices on how it buys goods and services from its business partners are covered by the General Services Administration Acquisition Manual (GSAM), which implements and supplement the Federal Acquisition Regulation at GSA. The GSAM comprises both a non-regulatory portion (GSAM), which reflects policies with no external impact, and a regulatory portion, the General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation (GSAR). The GSAR establishes agency acquisition regulations that affect GSA's business partners (e.g. prospective offerors and contractors) and acquisition of leasehold interests in real property.

Federal Acquisition Regulation

On behalf of the General Services Administration (GSA), the Office of Government-wide Policy, in conjunction with Department of Defense (DOD) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), write and sign the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), the rule book for all federal agency procurements that governs the billions of contract dollars expended by the Government every year.

II. Statement of Regulatory and Deregulatory Priorities

FTR Regulatory Priorities

In fiscal year 2016, GSA plans to amend the FTR by:

• Revising Chapter 301, Temporary Duty Travel, ensuring accountability and transparency. This revision will ensure agencies' travel for missions is efficient and effective, reduces costs, promotes sustainability, and incorporates industry best practices at the lowest logical travel cost.

• Revising Chapter 302, Relocation Allowances for miscellaneous items based on administrative changes, case decisions, and agency review.

FMR Regulatory Priorities

In fiscal year 2016, GSA plans to amend the FMR by:

Revising rules regarding management of Federal real property;

Revising rules regarding management of Federal personal property.

Revising rules under management of mail and transportation.

GSAR Regulatory Priorities

GSA plans, to update the GSAR to maintain consistency with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and to implement streamlined and innovative acquisition procedures that contractors, offerors, and GSA contracting personnel can utilize when entering into and administering contractual relationships. Current GSAR initiatives are focused on-

Providing consistency with the FAR;

Eliminating coverage that duplicates the FAR or creates inconsistencies within the GSAR;

Rewriting sections that have become irrelevant because of changes in technology or business processes or that place unnecessary administrative burdens on contractors and the Government;

Streamlining or simplifying the regulation;

Rolling up coverage from the services and regions/zones that should be in the GSAR, specifically targeting PBS's construction contracting policies and the GSA Schedules Program;

Streamlining the evaluation process for contracts containing commercial supplier agreements; and

• Reviewing pricing practices for the GSA Schedules Program.

Regulations of Concern to Small Businesses

GSAR rules are relevant to small businesses that do or wish to do business with the Federal Government. GSA is reviewing regulations that govern the GSA Schedules program; approximately 17,300 businesses, most of whom are small, have GSA Schedule contracts.

GSAR Case 2013-G504, Transactional Data Reporting and GSAR Case 2013-G502, Federal Supply Schedules Administrative Changes are both of interest to GSA proposed a rule to capture transactional data, and in return eliminate the requirement for contractors to track prices offered to the customer or class of customers designated for purposes of the Price Reductions Clause. Among other benefits, GSA anticipates this rule to result in a net burden reduction to GSA Schedule contractors and reduce the need for costly, duplicative contract vehicles, thereby reducing the barrier to entry for small businesses in the Federal marketplace. GSAR Case 2013-G502, Federal Supply Schedules Administrative Changes updates the GSA Schedules program to implement long standing Schedules clauses that had previously never received public comment.

Additionally, GSAR case 2015-G512 Unenforceable Commercial Supplier Agreement Terms will propose a way to streamline the evaluation process to award contracts containing commercial supplier agreements. By streamlining this process, GSA anticipates reducing barriers to entry for small businesses.

Regulations Which Promote Open Government and Disclosure

There are currently no regulations which promote open Government and disclosure.

III. Retrospective Review of Existing Regulations

Pursuant to section 6 of Executive Order 13563 "Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review" (July, 2015), the GSA retrospective review and analysis final and updated regulations plan can be found at www.gsa.gov/improvingregulations.

	Completed Actions
3090-AI79	Federal Management Regulation (FMR); FMR Case 2008-102-4, Mail Management, Financial Requirements for All Agencies
3090-AI81	General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation (GSAR); GSAR Case 2008-G509, Rewrite GSAR 536, Construction and Architect-Engineer Contracts (Withdrawn)
3090-AI82	General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation(GSAR); GSAR Case 2006-G506, Environment, Conservation, Occupational Safety, and Drug-Free Workplace
3090-AI95	Federal Travel Regulation (FTR); FTR Case 2009-307, Temporary Duty (TDY) Travel Allowances (Taxes); Relocation Allowances (Taxes)
3090-AJ23	Federal Travel Regulation (FTR); FTR Case 2011-310; Telework Travel Expenses Test Programs
3090-AJ26	Federal Management Regulation (FMR); FMR Case 2012-102-2; Donation of Surplus Personal Property
3090-AJ27	Federal Travel Regulation (FTR); FTR Case 2012-301; Removal of Conference Lodging Allowance Provisions
3090-AJ31	General Service Administration Acquisition Regulation (GSAR); GSAR Case 2012-G503, Industrial Funding Fee (IFF) and Sales Reporting
3090-AJ34	Federal Management Regulation (FMR); FMR Case 2012-102-5, Restrictions on International Transportation of Freight and Household Goods
3090-AJ35	Federal Management Regulation (FMR); FMR Case 2013-102-1; Obligating Authority
3090-AJ36	General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation (GSAR); GSAR Case 2012-G501, Electronic Contracting Initiative
3090-AJ42	General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation (GSAR); GSAR Case 2010-G511, Purchasing by Non-Federal Entities
3090-AJ46	General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation (GSAR); GSAR Case 2013-G501; Qualifications of Offerors
3090-AJ47	General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation (GSAR); GSAR Case 2014-G501; Progressive Awards and Monthly Quantity Allocations

DATED: September 18, 2015.

NAME: Christine Harada,

Associate Administrator

Office of Government-wide Policy.