Federal regulators have proposed exempting commercial off-the-shelf purchases from the Buy American and Trade Agreement Acts, freeing agencies to buy products without regard for their country of manufacture.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council published the proposed rule in the Jan. 15. Federal Register. Comments are due by March 15.

The Buy American Act requires agencies to buy U.S. products, although Congress has created many exemptions. The Trade Agreements Act gives preference to items made in countries that have trade agreements with the United States.

The FAR councils also listed 17 other procurement laws that should not apply to commercial items.

“The proposed rule does not represent a final decision on any of those laws,” the councils said. “Rather, the proposed rule lists the universe of laws that could be determined inapplicable to COTS. The Council is seeking public comments that the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy will use in making the statutory determination that it would be in the best interest of the Government to maintain certain of those proposed laws.”

The Buy-American provision of the proposed rule runs counter to recent efforts in Congress to strengthen protections for U.S. manufacturers.

The interest rate under the Prompt Payment Act increased to 4% effective Jan. 1, from 3.125%. It is the first increase since July 2000. The rate is fixed for six months.

A government contractor can collect interest when payment is not made within 30 days of the submission of a proper invoice. Prompt Payment interest is calculated from the day after payment was due until the day payment is made.

Financial services specialists at the Energy Department won a job competition involving 181 jobs, GovExec.com reported.

The government team hung on to the work by developing a plan to eliminate 63 positions and restructure its operations. Fifteen accounting offices will be folded into two centers, in Germantown, MD, and Oak Ridge, TN. The department expects to save $31 million over five years.

A competition for 80 Forest Service mechanics’ jobs was won by contractor Serco Management Services Inc., a U.S. affiliate of a British company. Serco won a $27 million contract to handle fleet maintenance for the Forest Service in California.

The National Federation of Federal Employees said it will appeal the decision within the agency.

The National Federation of Independent Business Legal Foundation is appealing a federal court decision that it says would undermine legal protections against excessive regulation.

A federal judge dismissed the foundation’s lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to kill a streamlined permitting process for small projects in wetlands. The foundation and the National Association of Home Builders contended the decision would create unnecessary regulatory burdens on small firms.

“This decision threatens to render the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) meaningless,” said Karen Harned, the foundation’s executive director. She said the Corps violated the act by refusing to consider the impact on small business. Under the expedited permit process, she said, a business could get a ruling within about 14 days for a small project that had minimal impact on wetlands. Without the expedited process, permit applications take an average of 104 days.

The case is Civ. No. 00-379, consolidated under the caption of National Association of Homebuilders et al. v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers et al.