OCR Text |
Show SBA set Coal Deposit Lease Standards in the Federal Register with a request for further public comment. Following this second comment period, a final rule on the matter will be set and published in that publication. The size standard will then be used by the Department of the Interior in its coal mining land leasing programs. The U.S. Small Business Administration has announced an-nounced plans to establish a small business size standard for firms that are interested in obtaining leases of Government owned land containing coal deposits. The plans, which propose that the size standard be based on a company's average annual number of employees, and requests for public comment on them were published in the Federal Register on December 8. The Agency proposes that the size standard of a maximum of employees be set somewhere between the range of 50 to 250 employees for the owning firm and it affiliates. SBA initiated the process of establishing this small business size standard to help the U.S. Department of the Interior provide a small business set-aside program for the public lands it leases to the private sector for the purpose of coal mining. Most Government department and agencies, in cooperation with SBA, establish procedures to reserve, or "set aside", a certain portion of their purchases, sales, and leases for small businesses. The new standard size will be selected on the basis of the comments which are received from the public by the Agency about its proposal i and further analysis of the coal mining industry. Comments and opinions, which should be addressed to Mr. Kaleel C. Skeirik, DirectorSize Standards Division, U.S. Small Business Administration, Ad-ministration, 1441 "L" Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20416, should be submitted sub-mitted no later than January 8, 1979. After the agancy has selected a specific size standard for the coal mining industry for these leasing purposes, it will be published |