OMB Clearance No. 0704-0477
Organizational Conflicts of Interest
in Major Defense Acquisition Programs
A. Justification
1. Requirements. This justification supports renewal of an information collection requirement approved under OMB Control Number 0704-0477. This information collection concerns organizational conflicts of interest in Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs). This collection requirement is necessary to implement section 207 of the Weapons System Acquisition Reform Act of 2009 (WSARA). Section 207 requires that DoD provide uniform guidance in the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) and tighten existing requirements for organizational conflicts of interest (OCIs) by contractors in major defense programs.
This statutory requirement is implemented in DFARS 209.571-8 and the associated solicitation provision 252.209-7008, Notice of Prohibition Relating to Organizational Conflict of Interest–Major Defense Acquisition Program. Notwithstanding the section 207 information collection language, the requirement to submit a mitigation plan when there was an organizational conflict of interest that can be resolved trough mitigation has existed for many years. It was formalized under this information collection clearance because of the new explicit statutory requirement to address organizational conflicts of interest in MDAPs. In order to comply with the statute, DoD requires the following information:
252.209-7008. Paragraph (d) requires an offeror to submit a mitigation plan if requesting an exemption from the statutory limitation on future contracting.
2. Purpose. DoD will use this information to resolve organizational conflicts of interest arising in a systems engineering and technical assistance contract for an MDAP, as required by section 207 of WSARA.
3. Information Technology. Improved information technology will be used to the maximum extent practicable. Offerors and contractors may submit the required information electronically.
4. Duplication. As a matter of policy, DoD reviews the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to determine if adequate language already exists. This information collection does not duplicate any other requirement at this time. It corresponds to the coverage of OCIs in FAR subpart 9.5 and solicitation provision, concerning mitigation of organizational conflicts of interests in MDAPs, which is unique to DoD and is required by the statute.
5. Small Business. The information collection associated with small businesses is the minimum consistent with applicable laws, Executive orders, regulations, and prudent business practices.
6. Consequences for Non-Collection. Less frequent collection of the information would not permit DoD to comply with the statutory requirements to identify and resolve organizational conflicts of interest.
7. Special Circumstances. Collection is consistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(d). The information will not be collected in a manner that requires an explanation of special circumstances. If the information relating to OCIs is not collected, DoD could pay more for contracts that were awarded to companies only because the companies obtained an advantage due to the conflict. If the mitigation information is not collected and there is no other means for resolving the OCI, conflicts cannot be resolved.
8. Public Comments and Consultation. Public comments were solicited in the Federal Register on October 24, 2013 (78 FR 63462), as required by 5 CFR 1320.8(d). No comments were received in response to the Notice of Request for Public Comments. On January 7, 2014, DARS published a notice in the Federal register at 79 FR 817 stating that the proposed information collection had been submitted to OMB for approval and any public comments should be provided to OMB by February 6, 2014.
9. Payment to Respondents. No payment or gift will be provided to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors under their contracts.
10. Confidentiality. The information collected will be discussed only to the extent consistent with prudent business practice, current regulations, and statutory requirements. No assurance of confidentiality is provided to respondents.
11. Sensitive Questions. No sensitive questions are involved.
12. Estimated total annual public hour burden. The burden requirements were discussed with specialists in industrial policy. Although definitive information is not available, DoD relied on the judgment and expertise of subject matter experts within DoD, which has resulted in a downward adjustment in the estimated burden hours. The annual total burden hours are estimated as follows:
DFARS 252.209-7008, Notice of Prohibition Relating to Organizational Conflict of Interest—Major Defense Acquisition Program.
Mitigation Plan required. DoD estimates that there are approximately 150 MDAP and pre-MDAP programs and that there is approximately one Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance (SETA) contract per MDAP and pre-MDAP. DoD further estimates that there are four offers per solicitation for a SETA contract and that approximately 10 to 15 percent of the offerors may submit a mitigation plan with their offer. This estimate is lower than the previous estimate of 40 percent, partially because, since enactment of the statute, many companies have divested themselves of divisions or subsidiaries that could cause a hindrance to participation by the company in subsequent phases of the MDAP, either as a prime contractor or a major subcontractor. That would equal about 75 mitigation plans per year (150 x 4 x .125). If an offeror submitting a mitigation plan submits approximately 3 per year, then there are 25 respondents that submit mitigation plans in a given year (75/3). DoD estimates that it takes approximately 40 hours for the preparation and submission of the mitigation plan.
A. Number of respondents 25
B. Responses per respondent 3
C. Total annual responses 75
D. Hours per response 40
E. Total hours 3,000
F. Cost per hour ($75 + 36.25% OH) $102
G. Annual cost to respondents $306,000
13. Estimated Nonrecurring Costs. None.
14. Estimated Annual Cost to the Government. The time required for the Government review of the mitigation plans is calculated as follows:
Mitigation Plan:
Responses/yr 75
Reviewing time/response (hours) 8
Review time/yr (hours) 600
Average wages ($34/hr. + 36.25% OH) $46
Government cost $27,600
Note: The cost is based on the average hourly wage salary of a GS-13 step 1, plus 36.25% overhead.
15. Program Changes. This decrease from an estimated annual public burden of 15,000 hours to 3,000 hours is due to a downward adjustment in the estimated number of responses, partially offset by an increase in the estimated hours per response.
16. Publication. Results of this information collection will not be tabulated or published.
17. Expiration Date. DoD does not seek approval to not display the expiration dates for OMB approval of the information collection.
18. Certifications. There are no exceptions to the certification accompanying this Paperwork Reduction Act submission.
B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods
Statistical methods will not be employed.
| File Type | application/msword |
| Author | OUSD(AT&L) |
| Last Modified By | Mary Overstreet |
| File Modified | 2014-03-06 |
| File Created | 2014-03-06 |