General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation; Immediate and Highest Level Owner for High-Security Leased Space (2021)

What is a significant rule? Significant regulatory action is a term used to describe an agency rule that has had or might have a large impact on the economy, environment, public health, or state or local governments. These actions may also conflict with other rules or presidential priorities. As part of its role in the regulatory review process, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) determines which rules meet this definition. |
Administrative State |
---|
![]() |
Five Pillars of the Administrative State |
•Agency control • Executive control • Judicial control •Legislative control • Public Control |
Click here for more coverage of the administrative state on Ballotpedia.
|
Click here to access Ballotpedia's administrative state legislation tracker. |
The General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation; Immediate and Highest Level Owner for High-Security Leased Space rule is a significant rule issued by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) effective June 30, 2021, that implemented Sections 3 and 5 of the Secure Federal Leases from Espionage and Suspicious Entanglement (LEASE) Act.[1]
Timeline
The following timeline details key rulemaking activity:
- August 30, 2021: Comment period closed.[1]
- July 1, 2021: Interim final rule published and comment period opened.[1]
- June 30, 2021: Interim final rule took effect.[1]
Background
The Secure Federal LEASEs Act, enacted in December 2020, mandates disclosure of foreign ownership, particularly beneficial ownership, of prospective lessors of high-security leased space to federal agencies excluding the Department of Defense and the intelligence community. The Act addresses national security risks highlighted in a 2017 GAO report, requiring agencies like the General Services Administration (GSA) to modify existing leases to reflect the disclosure requirements.[1]
Summary of the rule
The following is a summary of the rule from the rule's entry in the Federal Register:[1]
“ | GSA is amending the General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation (GSAR) to implement Section 3 and Section 5 requirements of the Secure Federal Leases from Espionage and Suspicious Entanglement Act (the Act or Secure Federal LEASEs Act). The Act addresses the risks of foreign ownership of Government-leased real estate and requires the disclosure of ownership information for high-security space leased to accommodate a Federal agency.[2] | ” |
Summary of provisions
The following is a summary of the provisions from the rule's entry in the Federal Register:[1]
“ | With this rule, GSA is implementing Section 3 and Section 5 of the Act.
Section 3—
Section 5—
Section 4 of the Act requires the identification of beneficial owners of high-security leased spaces and will be addressed in a subsequent rulemaking through GSAR Case 2021-G522 and FMR Case 2021-102-1. In addition, the FAR Council has opened FAR Case 2021-005 which will implement sections 885 and 6403 of the NDAA for FY 2021 (Pub. L. 116-283) to require certain offerors to disclose beneficial ownership information in their offers for contracts over the simplified acquisition threshold. Finally, other agencies may need to do additional rulemaking because the GSAR only governs the contract terms and conditions for leased space procured by GSA and its delegated agencies.[2] |
” |
Significant impact
- See also: Significant regulatory action
Executive Order 12866, issued by President Bill Clinton (D) in 1993, directed the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to determine which agency rules qualify as significant rules and thus are subject to OMB review.
Significant rules have had or might have a large impact on the economy, environment, public health, or state or local governments. These actions may also conflict with other rules or presidential priorities. Executive Order 12866 further defined an economically significant rule as a significant rule with an associated economic impact of $100 million or more. Executive Order 14094, issued by President Joe Biden (D) on April 6, 2023, made changes to Executive Order 12866, including referring to economically significant rules as section 3(f)(1) significant rules and raising the monetary threshold for economic significance to $200 million or more.[1]
The text of the General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation; Immediate and Highest Level Owner for High-Security Leased Space rule states that OMB deemed this rule significant, but not economically significant:
“ | This interim rule has been reviewed in accordance with E.O. 12866 Section 6(b) and determined by OMB to be a significant regulatory action.[2] | ” |
Text of the rule
The full text of the rule is available below:[1]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Federal Register, "General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation; Immediate and Highest Level Owner for High-Security Leased Space," July 1, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.