[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 7, Volume 15, Parts 2000 to end]
[Revised as of January 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 7CFR3017.110]

[Page 138-139]
 
                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
 
                         CHAPTER XXX--OFFICE OF
                      THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER,
                        DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 
PART 3017--GOVERNMENTWIDE DEBARMENT AND SUSPENSION (NONPROCUREMENT) AND GOVERNMENTWIDE REQUIREMENTS FOR DRUG-FREE WORKPLACE (GRANTS)--Table of Contents
 
                           Subpart A--General
 
Sec. 3017.110  Coverage.

    (a) These regulations apply to all persons who have participated, 
are currently participating or may reasonably be expected to participate 
in transactions under Federal nonprocurement programs. For purposes of 
these regulations such transactions will be referred to as ``covered 
transactions.''
    (1) Covered transaction. For purposes of these regulations, a 
covered transaction is a primary covered transaction or a lower tier 
covered transaction. Covered transactions at any tier need not involve 
the transfer of Federal funds.
    (i) Primary covered transaction. Except as noted in paragraph (a)(2) 
of this section, a primary covered transaction is any nonprocurement 
transaction between an agency and a person, regardless of type, 
including: Grants, cooperative agreements, scholarships, fellowships, 
contracts of assistance, loans, loan guarantees, subsidies, insurance, 
payments for specified use, donation agreements and any other 
nonprocurement transactions between a Federal agency and a person. 
Primary covered transactions also include those transactions specially 
designated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 
such agency's regulations governing debarment and suspension.
    (ii) Lower tier covered transaction. A lower tier covered 
transaction is:
    (A) Any transaction between a participant and a person other than a 
procurement contract for goods or services, regardless of type, under a 
primary covered transaction.
    (B) Any procurement contract for goods or services between a 
participant and a person, regardless of type, expected to equal or 
exceed the Federal procurement small purchase threshold fixed at 10 
U.S.C. 2304(g) and 41 U.S.C. 253(g) (currently $25,000) under a primary 
covered transaction.
    (C) Any procurement contract for goods or services between a 
participant and a person under a covered transaction, regardless of 
amount, under which that person will have a critical influence on or 
substantive control over that covered transaction. Such persons are:
    (1) Principal investigators.
    (2) Providers of federally-required audit services.
    (2) Exceptions. The following transactions are not covered:
    (i) Statutory entitlements or mandatory awards (but not subtier 
awards thereunder which are not themselves mandatory), including 
deposited funds insured by the Federal Government;
    (ii) Direct awards to foreign governments or public international 
organizations, or transactions with foreign governments or foreign 
governmental entities, public international organizations, foreign 
government owned (in whole or in part) or controlled entities, entities 
consisting wholly or partially of foreign governments or foreign 
governmental entities;
    (iii) Benefits to an individual as a personal entitlement without 
regard to the individual's present responsibility (but benefits received 
in an individual's business capacity are not excepted);
    (iv) Federal employment;
    (v) Transactions pursuant to national or agency-recognized 
emergencies or disasters;
    (vi) Incidental benefits derived from ordinary governmental 
operations; and

[[Page 139]]

    (vii) Other transactions where the application of these regulations 
would be prohibited by law.
    (3) Department of Agriculture covered transactions. (i) With respect 
to paragraph (a)(1) of this section, for USDA's export and foreign 
assistance programs, covered transactions will include only primary 
covered transactions. Any lower tier transactions with respect to UDSA's 
export and foreign assistance programs will not be considered lower tier 
covered transactions for the purposes of this part. The export or 
substitution of Federal timber governed by the Forest Resources 
Conservation and Shortage Relief Act of 1990, 16 U.S.C. 620 et seq. (the 
``Export Act''), is specifically excluded from the coverage of this 
rule. The Export Act provides separate statutory authority to debar 
persons engaged in both primary covered transactions and lower tier 
transactions.
    (ii) With respect to paragraph (a)(1)(ii)(B) of this section, for 
USDA's domestic food assistance programs, only the initial such 
procurement contract and the first tier subcontract under that 
procurement contract shall be considered lower tier covered 
transactions.
    (iii) With respect to paragraph (a)(2) of this section, the 
following USDA transactions also are not covered: transactions under 
programs which provide statutory entitlements and make available loans 
to individuals and entities in their capacity as producers of 
agricultural commodities; transactions under conservation programs; 
transactions under warehouse licensing programs; the receipt of 
licenses, permits, certificates, and indemnification under regulatory 
programs conducted in the interest of public health and safety and 
animal and plant health and safety; the receipt of official grading and 
inspection services, animal damage control services, public health and 
safety inspection services, and animal and plant health and safety 
inspection services; if the person is a State or local government, the 
provision of official grading and inspection services, animal damage 
control services, public health and safety inspection services, animal 
and plant health and safety inspection services; and permits, licenses, 
exchanges and other acquisitions of real property, rights of way, and 
easements under natural resource management programs.
    (b) Relationship to other sections. This section describes the types 
of transactions to which a debarment or suspension under the regulations 
will apply. Subpart B, ``Effect of Action,'' Sec. 3017.200, ``Debarment 
or suspension,'' sets forth the consequences of a debarment or 
suspension. Those consequences would obtain only with respect to 
participants and principals in the covered transactions and activities 
described in Sec. 3017.110(a). Sections 3017.325, ``Scope of 
debarment,'' and 3017.420, ``Scope of suspension,'' govern the extent to 
which a specific participant or organizational elements of a participant 
would be automatically included within a debarment or suspension action, 
and the conditions under which affiliates or persons associated with a 
participant may also be brought within the scope of the action.
    (c) Relationship to Federal procurement activities. In accordance 
with E.O. 12689 and section 2455 of Public Law 103-355, any debarment, 
suspension, proposed debarment or other governmentwide exclusion 
initiated under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) on or after 
August 25, 1995 shall be recognized by and effective for Executive 
Branch agencies and participants as an exclusion under this regulation. 
Similarly, any debarment, suspension or other governmentwide exclusion 
initiated under this regulation on or after August 25, 1995 shall be 
recognized by and effective for those agencies as a debarment or 
suspension under the FAR.

[54 FR 4731, Jan. 30, 1989, as amended at 60 FR 33041, 33043, June 26, 
1995; 61 FR 250, Jan. 4, 1996]