The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing this rule to amend the EPA Acquisition Regulation (EPAAR) to provide for the use, in certain circumstances and under certain conditions, of a letter contract known as a Notice to Proceed (NTP), to carry out emergency response actions as authorized under sections 104(a)(1) and (h) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986; sections 311(c)(2) and (e)(1)(B) of the Clean Water Act, as amended by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990; and the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP).