Safety of Facilities, Infrastructure, and Equipment for Military Operations (DFARS Case 2009-D029)

Summary:

DCN 20110317 adopts as final, without change, an interim rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to implement section 807 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010. Section 807 requires that facilities, infrastructure, and equipment that are intended for use by military or civilian personnel of the Department of Defense (DoD), in current or future military operations, should be inspected for safety and habitability prior to use, and that such facilities should be brought into compliance with generally accepted standards for the safety and health of personnel to the maximum extent practicable consistent with the requirements of military operations and the best interests of DoD to minimize the safety and health risk posed to such personnel.

Supplementary Information:

I. Background

DoD published an interim rule at 75 FR 66683 on October 29, 2010, to implement section 807 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (Pub. L. 111-84), which was signed on October 28, 2009. Section 807 requires that-

•  Each contract, including task or delivery orders, entered into for the construction, installation, repair, maintenance, or operation of facilities, infrastructure, and equipment for use by DoD military or civilian personnel should be inspected for safety and habitability prior to use to minimize the safety and health risk posed to such personnel;

•  The term "generally accepted standards" shall be defined with respect to fire protection, structural integrity, electrical systems, plumbing, water treatment, waste disposal, and telecommunications networks for the purposes of this section; and

•  Exceptions and limitations shall be provided as may be needed to ensure that this section can be implemented in a manner that is consistent with the requirements of military operations and the best interests of the Department of Defense.

There were no comments submitted on the interim rule.

Dates:

The Effective Date for this final rule is 17 March 2011.

Click here to read the entire Federal Register notice for this rule.