View Rule

Section 111 of the Department of Commerce Appropriations Act, 2015 permits the Secretary of Commerce to waive certain requirements for bonds associated with contracts for the repair and construction of the National Atmospheric and Oceanographic Administration's (NOAA) fleet of research and survey vessels operated by the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations. Section 111 is identical to language that the Administration requested in the FY15 President's Budget. This provision aligns the Department's authorities with those of other Federal agencies, and addresses difficulties NOAA has experienced in obtaining competitive bids for ship repairs to its fleet of vessels. This rule implements that waiver authority, and complies with report language from the Appropriations Committee requesting that NOAA promulgate regulations prior to implementing the waiver authority. Specifically, this action amends the Commerce Acquisition Regulations to provide guidelines for contracting officials within NOAA that issue contracts for ship repairs. The scope of the regulations is extremely limited and only pertains to NOAA. It is important that the regulations get issued in an expedited manner because the authority granted is presently limited to Fiscal Year 2015.