Browse regulations

Authorizes the Director to publish 'The United States Government Manual' as a special Federal Register edition containing information about federal branches, agencies, and officials, with updates when in the public interest.

This provides an essential, centralized directory that helps citizens navigate government bureaucracy and access public services. Deleting it would create information asymmetry, making it harder for Americans to find agencies, contact officials, or understand program functions - while insiders retain knowledge.

Regulation governs fishing for Pacific Island management unit and ecosystem component species across U.S. territories and island areas in the Pacific. It establishes annual catch limits based on scientific recommendations, accountability measures, permit requirements with fees, extensive reporting and recordkeeping obligations, gear restrictions, and marine protected areas. The system is administered by NMFS and the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council under the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

Imposes massive compliance costs on fishermen—permits, fees, daily recordkeeping, reporting deadlines, gear restrictions, and area closures—while creating regulatory capture through industry-dominated councils. The centralized knowledge problem prevents regulators from optimally managing thousands of species across vast ocean areas; market-based alternatives like individual transferable quotas or local/territorial management could achieve sustainability more efficiently. Federal overreach violates Tenth Amendment principles, as fisheries management properly belongs to states and territories. The burden falls disproportionately on small fishing operations, raising barriers to entry and protecting incumbents—exactly the unintended consequences Mises warned of when planners substitute bureaucratic judgment for decentralized market processes.

Federal fisheries assistance programs providing capacity-neutral long-term direct loans for fisheries and aquaculture, with credit investigations, determinations, and collateral management handled by the National Marine Fisheries Service

Creates market distortions through subsidized lending that disadvantages unsubsidized competitors, promotes regulatory capture by establishing government as lender in a commercial industry, and violates constitutional federalism by federalizing what should be state-managed fisheries resources

This Federal Railroad Administration regulation establishes mandatory safety standards for railroad bridges with track gauge of two feet or more, with limited exceptions. It assigns compliance responsibility to track owners, requiring bridge safety management programs that include inventory, load capacity documentation, annual inspections, and qualified personnel (engineers, inspectors, supervisors). It also sets rules for assignments of responsibility, civil penalties, waivers, recordkeeping, and audits.

Compliance costs are enormous and fall disproportionately on small railroads, raising barriers to entry and protecting large incumbents. Private property rights, liability, and insurance already provide strong incentives for bridge safety; the marginal safety benefit does not justify the hidden tax on consumers, the distortion of resource allocation, or the regulatory capture risk. The one-size-fits-all federal mandate ignores local knowledge and stifles innovation.

Prohibits discrimination against passengers with disabilities on passenger vessels, requires vessel accessibility, and mandates accommodations for passengers with disabilities including auxiliary aids and services, accessible cabins, and reasonable modifications to policies and procedures.

Imposes massive compliance costs on vessel operators through mandatory accessibility retrofits, auxiliary aids requirements, and administrative burdens that increase prices for all passengers. Creates regulatory capture opportunities where established operators use accessibility mandates to raise barriers to entry for new competitors. The Commerce Clause is stretched to regulate intrastate maritime commerce and foreign vessels that briefly touch US ports, exceeding federal constitutional authority.

The DOT OSDBU Short-Term Loan Program (STLP) provides government-guaranteed working capital loans up to $750,000 to Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs) and Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDBs) for transportation-related contracts. The program partners with certified lenders who receive government guarantees and reimbursement for administrative costs, with heavy oversight and reporting requirements.

This program violates free market principles by having government pick winners and losers through race/gender-based preferences and loan guarantees that distort capital allocation. It creates moral hazard (lenders make riskier loans with taxpayer guarantees), imposes massive administrative burdens, and perpetuates dependency rather than allowing businesses to succeed through merit. The unseen costs include: taxpayer exposure to defaults, unfair competitive advantage for connected firms, bureaucratic bloat, and the insulting premise that minorities and women cannot compete without government subsidies. Federal credit intervention crowds out private lending and prevents market discipline. Constitutional problems abound under the 10th Amendment and recent Supreme Court restrictions on racial classifications.

HSAR 48 CFR 3009.570 governs the use of lead system integrators in federal acquisition, requiring justifications, certifications, and approvals to ensure appropriate use and prevent conflicts of interest.

Imposes significant compliance burdens that increase costs, delay procurements, and create barriers for small contractors; existing competition requirements and market discipline already mitigate risks, making this regulation an unnecessary bureaucratic expansion that primarily benefits incumbents and reduces efficiency.

This regulation establishes policy for acquisition strategies that consider using lead system integrators in federal procurement, providing guidelines for when and how to use LSIs in complex system acquisitions.

Lead system integrators can reduce integration risks and costs in complex federal acquisitions by providing single-point accountability, though oversight mechanisms must remain strong to prevent vendor lock-in and cost overruns.

Department of the Interior acquisition provisions and clauses covering contract administration, insurance requirements, tribal business preferences, and various contractual terms and conditions.

These regulations create excessive bureaucratic complexity, impose costly insurance mandates, and establish preferential contracting programs that distort free market competition. The provisions expand federal control beyond constitutional limits and burden businesses with compliance costs that disproportionately harm small enterprises.

Requires Contracting Officers to obtain a FEDSTRIP activity address code via written request when authorizing contractors to use Government supply sources under FAR 51.102.

Imposes unnecessary administrative costs and procedural complexity on federal procurement. This minor requirement contributes to the overall burden that distorts incentives, increases overhead, and creates barriers to efficient contracting. The same authorization control could be achieved more directly without the FEDSTRIP-specific process.

Establishes multi-layered approval process for extraordinary federal contract actions, indemnifications, and residual powers, requiring reviews by Contracting Officer, Solicitor, Head of Contracting Activity, and Secretary for certain actions exceeding $55,000 or involving indemnification.

Imposes excessive bureaucratic layers, delays, and compliance costs on contractors; concentrates discretionary power; creates barriers to efficient contract modifications; arbitrary thresholds and vague 'extraordinary actions' concept invite regulatory capture and mission creep; small businesses disproportionately burdened by complex procedures that increase transaction costs and uncertainty.

Internal agency procedures for federal contracting officers regarding: 1) reporting suspected fraud/criminal conduct up the chain to BPC/OIG/HCA/PAM; 2) audit request procedures per FAR 49.107; 3) settlement agreement approvals by SOL and one level above CO, with $250k+ requiring BPC approval; 4) termination notice content requirements including government property disposition and liquidated damages statements. This is an operational manual for federal employees, not a regulation imposing obligations on the public.

While this is an internal procedure document rather than a public-facing regulation, its existence illustrates bureaucracy inflating without constitutional authority. The multi-layered approval chains (BPC, OIG, HCA, PAM, SOL) and redundant reporting requirements exemplify administrative bloat. Such procedures should be handled by agency management via internal guidance, not codified as 'regulation.' Deleting it would reduce internal red tape, accelerate decision-making, and force agencies to streamline operations through common sense management rather than rigid memoranda. The $250k approval threshold creates arbitrary classifications that may delay legitimate settlements. These types of documents contribute to the 185,000-page CFR problem despite affecting only internal processes.

Mandates that the Head of Contracting Activity establish procedures for evaluating Value Engineering Change Proposals (VECPs) according to existing federal acquisition regulations and departmental guidance.

Without standardized procedures, contractors would be less inclined to submit cost-saving proposals, leading to higher government spending and missed efficiency gains. The structured evaluation and equitable sharing of savings mechanism works best with a consistent, mandated approach that would be hard to replicate voluntarily.

A regulation requiring government contractors to participate in GIDEP (Government-Industry Data Exchange Program) for sharing engineering and reliability data, and establishing documentation requirements for inspection, acceptance, and quality assurance of supplies and services.

Creates unnecessary bureaucratic overhead for contractors with mandatory participation in a government data exchange program and rigid documentation requirements that increase compliance costs without clear evidence of significant benefits to taxpayers.

Requires the Head of Contracting Activity (HCA), in coordination with the relevant Project Management Office (PMO), to establish procedures for recovering use costs when foreign governments or international organizations request access to government production and research property.

Deleting this regulation would risk inconsistent or absent cost recovery, forcing American taxpayers to subsidize foreign use of government assets. The mandated procedures ensure fair compensation for publicly funded resources, a safeguard that would be difficult to achieve uniformly without a clear requirement.