110 STAT. 3240 PUBLIC LAW 104-264—OCT. 9, 1996 Federal Register, publication. 49 USC 40101 note. "(1) Air traffic control and related services provided to aircraft other than military and civilian aircraft of the United States government or of a foreign government that neither take off from, nor land in, the United States. "(2) Services (other thsm air traffic control services) provided to a foreign government. "(b) LIMITATIONS.— "(1) AUTHORIZATION AND IMPACT CONSIDERATIONS.— In establishing fees under subsection (a), the Administrator— "(A) is authorized to recover in fiscal year 1997 $100,000,000; and "(B) shall ensure that each of the fees required by subsection (a) is directly related to the Administration's costs of providing the service rendered. Services for which costs may be recovered include the costs of air traffic control, navigation, weather services, training and emergency services which are available to facilitate safe transportation over the United States, and other services provided by the Administrator or by programs financed by the Administrator to ffights that neither take off nor land in the United States. "(2) PUBLICATION; COMMENT.—The Administrator shall publish in the Federal Register an initial fee schedule and associated collection process as an interim final rule, pursuant to which public comment will be sought and a final rule issued. "(c) USE OF EXPERTS AND CONSULTANTS. — In developing the system, the Administrator may consult with such nongovernmental experts as the Administrator may employ and the Administrator may utilize the services of experts and consultants under section 3109 of title 5 without regard to the limitation imposed by the last sentence of section 3109(b) of such title, and may contract on a sole source basis, notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the Administrator may retain such experts under a contract awarded on a basis other than a competitive basis and without regard to any such provisions requiring competitive bidding or precluding sole source contract authority.". (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT. —The table of sections for chapter 453 is amended by striking the item relating to section 45301 and inserting the following: "45301. General provisions.". SEC. 274. INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT OF FAA FINANCIAL REQUIKE- MENTS; ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION REVIEW COMMISSION. (a) INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT.— (1) INITIATION.—Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall contract with an entity independent of the Administration and the Department of Transportation to conduct a complete independent assessment of the financial requirements of the Administration through the year 2002. (2) ASSESSMENT CRITERIA.— The Administrator shall provide to the independent entity estimates of the financial requirements of the Administration for the period described in paragraph (1), using as a base the fiscal year 1997 appropriation levels established by Congress. The independent assess-
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