Information Collection Requirement; Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) Part 270, Defense Contracting Programs; Pilot Program To Incentivize Contracting With Employee-Owned Businesses

<NOTICE> DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE <SUBAGY>Defense Acquisition Regulations System</SUBAGY> <DEPDOC>[Docket Number DARS-2024-0017; OMB Control Number 0750-0012]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Information Collection Requirement; Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) Part 270, Defense Contracting Programs; Pilot Program To Incentivize Contracting With Employee-Owned Businesses</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Defense Acquisition Regulations System, Department of Defense (DoD). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Notice. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Defense Acquisition Regulations System has submitted to OMB for clearance the following proposal for collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act. </SUM> <DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Consideration will be given to all comments received by October 30, 2024. </DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to <E T="03">https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.</E> Find this particular information collection by selecting “Currently under 30-day Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function. You may also submit comments, identified by docket number and title, by the following method: Federal eRulemaking Portal: <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> Follow the instructions for submitting comments. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Tucker Lucas, 571-372-7574, or <E T="03">whs.mc-alex.esd.mbx.dd-dod-information-collections@mail.mil.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <E T="03">Title and OMB Number:</E> Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) Part 270, Defense Contracting Programs; Pilot Program to Incentivize Contracting with Employee-Owned Businesses; OMB Control Number 0750-0012. <E T="03">Type of Request:</E> New submission. <E T="03">Affected Public:</E> Businesses or other for-profit and not-for-profit institutions. <E T="03">Respondent's Obligation:</E> Required to obtain or retain benefits. <E T="03">Frequency:</E> On Occasion. <E T="03">Number of Respondents:</E> 16. <E T="03">Responses per Respondent:</E> 1. <E T="03">Annual Responses:</E> 16. <E T="03">Average Burden per Response:</E> 1 hour. <E T="03">Annual Burden Hours:</E> 16. <E T="03">Needs and Uses:</E> This information collection is a result of a new DFARS requirement to implement the data collection required by section 874 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 (Pub. L. 117-81), as amended by section 872 of the NDAA for FY 2024 (Pub. L. 118-31). The DFARS implementation of this requirement includes a new contract clause, which requires contractors to provide data on the following: (1) the number of years the contractor has been wholly-owned by its employee stock ownership plan; (2) the contractor's challenges in attracting and retaining a talented workforce; (3) challenges the contractor experienced due to its corporate ownership structure that hinder its ability to contract with DoD in order to scale its technologies and capabilities; and (4) challenges the contractor experienced due to its corporate ownership structure in obtaining capital necessary to bridge funding gaps, for example, between prototype demonstration and full-scale development. The data will be used to develop and share best practices relating to the pilot program and to provide information to DoD leadership and the congressional defense committees. <E T="03">DoD Clearance Officer:</E> Mr. Tucker Lucas. Requests for copies of the information collection proposal should be sent to Mr. Lucas at <E T="03">whs.mc-alex.esd.mbx.dd-dod-information-collections@mail.mil.</E> <SIG> <NAME>Jennifer D. Johnson,</NAME> Editor/Publisher, Defense Acquisition Regulations System. </SIG> </SUPLINF> <FRDOC>[FR Doc. 2024-22389 Filed 9-27-24; 8:45 am]</FRDOC> </NOTICE>