(a) This part governs Peace Corps (Agency) employees and contractors involved with all phases of issuing Agency guidance documents.
(b) For purposes of this part, the term “guidance document” means a statement of Agency policy or interpretation concerning a statute, regulation, or technical matter within the jurisdiction of the Agency intended to have general applicability and future effect on the behavior of the public, but which is not intended to have the force or effect of law and is not otherwise required by statute to satisfy the rulemaking procedures specified in 5 U.S.C. 553 or 5 U.S.C. 556. The term is not limited to formal written documents and may include, without limitation, letters, memoranda, circulars, bulletins, advisories, as well as video, audio, and web-based formats. See OMB Bulletin 07-02, “Agency Good Guidance Practices,” (January 25, 2007) (“OMB Good Guidance Bulletin”).
(c) The following shall not be considered “guidance documents” for purposes of this part:
(1) Rules exempt from rulemaking requirements under 5 U.S.C. 553(a);
(2) Rules of agency organization, procedure, or practice;
(3) Decisions of agency adjudications under 5 U.S.C. 554 or similar statutory provisions;
(4) Internal executive branch legal advice or legal advisory opinions addressed to executive branch officials;
(5) Agency statements of specific applicability, including advisory or legal opinions directed to particular parties about circumstance-specific questions (e.g., case or investigatory letters responding to complaints, warning letters), notices regarding particular locations or facilities (e.g., guidance pertaining to the use, operation, or control of a government facility or property), and correspondence with individual persons or entities (e.g., congressional correspondence), except documents ostensibly directed to a particular party but designed to guide the conduct of the broader regulated public;
(6) Legal briefs, other court filings, or positions taken in litigation or enforcement actions;
(7) Agency statements that do not set forth a policy on a statutory, regulatory, or technical issue or an interpretation of a statute or regulation, including speeches and individual presentations, editorials, media interviews, press materials, or congressional testimony that do not set forth for the first time a new regulatory policy;
(8) Guidance pertaining to military or foreign affairs functions;
(9) Grant solicitations and awards;
(10) Contract solicitations and awards; or
(11) Purely internal Agency policies or guidance directed solely to Agency employees, contractors, volunteers, trainees, or invitees or to other Federal agencies that are not intended to have substantial future effect on the behavior of regulated parties.
(d) The Peace Corps will not cite, use, or rely upon a guidance document that is rescinded, except for the purpose of establishing historical fact. Guidance documents not on an Agency website, as set forth in this part, are considered to be rescinded.