Office of the Chief Financial Officer; Department of Agriculture Implementation of OMB Guidance on Nonprocurement Debarment and Suspension

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is establishing a new part 417 on nonprocurement debarment and suspension at 2 CFR Chapter 4 that adopts and supplements the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance at 2 CFR part 180 as USDA's policies and procedures for nonprocurement debarment and suspension. Part 417 of 2 CFR replaces the existing USDA implementation of the governmentwide common rule on nonprocurement debarment and suspension at 7 CFR part 3017, and 7 CFR part 3017 is removed. This action also modifies exclusions from covered transactions and codifies a statutory permanent debarment provision. This action also finalizes an earlier proposed rule to eliminate an appeal to a USDA administrative law judge (ALJ) of a suspension or debarment decision. USDA also makes adjustments to its current exclusions from covered transactions. Finally, this interim rule implements Section 14211 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, Public Law 110-246 (7 U.S.C. 2209j), which requires the Secretary to debar permanently from participation in USDA programs those convicted of having knowingly committed fraud in USDA programs.