FEDERAL PROPERTY AND ADMINISTRATIVE 1 Sec. 101. General Services Administration. Sec. 102. Transfer of affairs of Bureau of Federal Supply. Sec. 103. Transfer of affairs of the Federal Works Agency. Sec. 104. Records management: Transfer of the National Archives. Sec. 201. Procurement, warehousing, and related activities. Sec. 202. Property utilization. Sec. 203. Disposal of surplus property. Sec. 204. Proceeds from transfer and disposition of property. Sec. 205. Policies, regulations, and delegations. Sec. 206. Surveys, standardization, and cataloging. Sec. 207. Applicability of antitrust laws. Sec. 208. Employment of personnel. Sec. 209. Civil remedies and penalties. Sec. 210. Operation of buildings and related activities.2 1 Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, Public Law 152, 81st Cong., approved June 30, 1949, 63 Stat. 377, "An Act To simplify the procurement, utilization, and disposal of Government property, to reorganize certain agencies of the Government, and for other purposes," as amended by Public Law 754, 81st Cong., approved September 5, 1950, 64 Stat. 578, "An Act To amend the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, and for other purposes," by Public Law 245, 82d Cong., approved October 31, 1951, 65 Stat. 700, "An Act To amend section 304 of the Federal Property and Admin- istrative Services Act of 1949 and section 4 of the Armed Services Procurement Act of 1947", and by Public Law 522, 82d Cong., approved July 12, 1952, 66 Stat. 593, "An Act To amend further the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended, 2 "Sec. 210" and "sec. 211" were inserted in the table of contents by section 5 (b) of Pub- lic Law 754. Sec. 210 was redesignated as sec. 212 in the table of contents and wherever such section TITLE III-PROCUREMENT PROCEDURE Sec. 301. Declaration of purpose. Sec. 302. Application and procurement methods. Sec. 303. Advertising requirements. Sec. 304. Requirements of negotiated contracts. Sec. 305. Advance payments. [Sec. 306. Waiver of liquidated damages] (Repealed-see note under this section number) Sec. 307. Administrative determinations and delegations. Sec. 308. Statutes continued in effect. Sec. 309. Definitions. Sec. 310. Statutes not applicable. TITLE IV-FOREIGN EXCESS PROPERTY Sec. 401. Disposal of foreign excess property. Sec. 403. Proceeds; foreign currencies. Sec. 404. Miscellaneous provisions. Sec. 501. Short title. TITLE V-FEDERAL RECORDS Sec. 502. Custody and control of property. Sec. 503. National Historical Publications Commission. Sec. 504. Federal Records Council. Sec. 505. Records management; the Administrator. Sec. 506. Records management; agency heads. Sec. 507. Archival administration. Sec. 508. Reports. Sec. 509. Legal status of reproductions. Sec. 510. Limitation on liability. Sec. 511. Definitions. TITLE VI-GENERAL PROVISIONS" Sec. 601. Applicability of existing procedures. Sec. 602. Repeal and saving provisions. Sec. 603. Authorization for appropriations. Sec. 605. Effective date. ANALYSIS Section 1. Short title (Sec. 1, 63 Stat. 377, as amended by sec. 5, 64 Stat. 580, and sec. 6, 64 Stat. 583; 40 U. S. C. 471, note) This section provides the short title "Federal Property Administrative Services Act of 1949", and follows with a table of contents. "TITLE V-FEDERAL RECORDS" and "Sec. 501" to "Sec. 511," inclusive, were added to the table of contents by section 6 (c) of Public Law 754. 5 Section 6 (a) of Public Law 754 redesignated Title V of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as originally enacted, to be title VI, and provided that wherever "title V" appeared therein, it is amended to read "title VI." Section 6 (b) of Public Law 754 redesignated sections 501-505, inclusive, of the Act, respectively, as sections 601-605, inclusive, and provided that, wherever any such section number appears in the Act as originally enacted, it is amended to conform in numbering to the redesignation prescribed by section 6 (b). DECLARATION OF POLICY SEC. 2. It is the intent of the Congress in enacting this legislation to provide for the Government an economical and efficient system for (a) the procurement and supply of personal property and nonpersonal services, including related functions such as contracting, inspection, storage, issue, specifications, property identification and classification, transportation and traffic management, management of public utility services, repairing and converting, establishment of inventory levels, establishment of forms and procedures, and representation before Federal and State regulatory bodies; (b) the utilization of available property; (c) the disposal of surplus property; and (d) records management. ANALYSIS Section 2. Declaration of policy (Sec. 2, 63 Stat. 378; 40 U. S. C. 471) This is very brief and states the intent of the Congress to provide for the Government an economical and efficient system for (a) the procurement and supply of personal property and nonpersonal services and performance of related functions; (b) the utilization of available property; (c) the disposal of surplus property; and (d) records management. Other sections of Public Law 152 implemented items (a), (b), and (c) by consolidating scattered property functions and by providing a new uniform charter for property management. Item (d) was implemented by Public Law 152 only by the transfer of the National Archives Establishment to the General Services Administration and by the provisions of section 104, but an effective system of records management was provided for by the addition of title V, pertaining to Federal records, by section 6 of Public Law 754. DEFINITIONS SEC. 3. As used in this Act (a) The term "executive agency" means any executive department or independent establishment in the executive branch of the Government, including any wholly owned Government Corporation. (b) The term "Federal agency" means any executive agency or any establishment in the legislative or judicial branch of the Government (except the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Architect of the Capitol and any activities under his direction). (c) The term "Administrator" means the Administrator of General Services provided for in title I hereof. (d) The term "property" means any interest in property of any kind except (1) the public domain (including lands withdrawn or reserved from the public domain which the Administrator, with the concurrence of the Secretary of the Interior, determines are suitable for return to the public domain for disposition under the general public land laws because such lands are not substantially changed in character by improvements) and lands reserved or dedicated for national forest or national park purposes; (2) naval vessels of the following categories: Battleships, cruisers, aircraft carriers, destroyers, and submarines; and (3) records of the Federal Government. (e) The term "excess property" means any property under the control of any Federal agency which is not required for its needs and the discharge of its responsibilities, as determined by the head thereof. (f) The term "foreign excess property" means any excess property located outside the continental United States, Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. (g) The term "surplus property" means any excess property not required for the needs and the discharge of the responsibilities of all Federal agencies, as determined by the Administrator. (h) The term "care and handling" includes completing, repairing, converting, rehabilitating, operating, preserving, protecting, insuring, packing, storing, handling, conserving, and transporting excess and surplus property, and, in the case of property which is dangerous to public health or safety, destroying or rendering innocuous such property. (1) The term "person" includes any corporation, partnership, firm, association, trust, estate, or other entity. (j) The term "nonpersonal services" means such contractual serv-. ices, other than personal and professional services, as the Administrator shall designate. (k) The term "contractor inventory" means (1) any property acquired by and in the possession of a contractor or subcontractor under a contract pursuant to the terms of which title is vested in the Government, and in excess of the amounts needed to complete full performance under the entire contract; and (2) any property which the Government is obligated or has the option to take over under any type of contract as a result either of any changes in the specifications or plans thereunder or of the termination of such contract (or subcontract thereunder), prior to completion of the work, for the convenience or at the option of the Government. ANALYSIS Section 3. Definitions (Sec. 3, 63 Stat. 378, as amended by Sec. 7 (a), 64 Stat. 590, sec. 8 (a), 64 Stat. 591, and secs. 1 (a) and 1 (b), 66 Stat. 593; 40 U. S. C. 472) Three definitions require special note. "Federal agency" (section 3 (b)): section 8 (a) of Public Law 754 amended section 3 (b) to read as above. Prior to being amended, it read as follows: "The term 'Federal agency' means any executive agency or any establishment in the legislative or judicial branch of the Government (except the Senate and the House of Representatives)." Thus the amendment made by section 8 (a) of Public Law 754 excluded from the definition of "Federal agency" the Architect of the Capitol and any activities under his direction. Services and facilities authorized by the Act to be rendered or furnished shall be made available to the Houses of Congress and the Architect of the Capitol, but only upon their request, as provided in section 602 (e) of the Act which was inserted by section 8 (c) of Public Law 754. Thus the autonomy of the Congress and of the Architect of the Capitol is preserved, except insofar as they may desire to be included in the procurement and related services provided by the Administrator. It is appropriate at this point to make note of Public Law 394 of the 81st Congress, approved October 26, 1949, 63 Stat. 920, 40 U. S. C. 482, reading as follows: "JOINT RESOLUTION "To clarify the status of the Architect of the Capitol under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949. "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the term 'the Senate and the House of Representatives', as used in the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, shall be construed to include the Architect of the Capitol and any activities under his direction, and any of the services authorized by such Act shall (as far as practicable) be made available to the Architect of the Capitol, upon his request." "Property" (section 3 (d)): section 7 (a) of Public Law 754 amended section 3 (d) as it appeared originally in Public Law 152 by striking out the word "and" preceding "(2)", substituting a semicolon for the period which appeared after "submarines" at the end of the subsection, and adding at the end the words "and (3) records of the Federal Government." The exclusion of records of the Federal Government from the definition of the term "property" was made in connection with the addition by section 6 of Public Law 754 of the new title V relating to Federal records, and was appropriate for the reason that statutes relating to real and personal property are not applicable to records, and vice versa. The text in parenthesis in clause (1) of subsection (d), immediately following the word "domain", was inserted by subsection (a) of section 1 of Public Law 522 of the 82d Congress, approved July 12, 1952. The amendment thus means that lands previously withdrawn or reserved from the public domain for other Governmental use shall also be treated as public domain and not as property under the Act when the Administrator, with the concurrence of the Secretary of the Interior, determines that they are suitable for return to the public domain for disposition under the general public land laws because such lands are not substantially changed in character by improvements. Lands so withdrawn or reserved would be treated as property subject to the Act in the absence of such a determination. Excess lands, originally withdrawn or reserved from the public domain, which are unimproved or contain only minor improvements, can more effectively be disposed of under the public land laws which operate with respect to the balance of public domain lands. Lands which have been so extensively improved as substantially to change their character can be better disposed of under the Act. |