at such level as the head of the procuring activity may direct but in any event not lower than the Branch Chief level.

(c) In the case of any individual procurement action where a set-aside is not considered feasible, the reasons for not making a set-aside shall be summarized in the procurement contract file. In addition, if the Regional Director of Business Affairs has recommended a set-aside for that procurement action, a copy of a summary of the reasons shall be furnished to him. In other cases, the procurement contract files containing reasons for not making set-asides shall be made available for review by the Regional Director of Business Affairs, or his desig→ nee, on an on-site basis.

(d) In the case of procurement actions conducted on an annual or other periodic cycle, Regional Directors of Business Affairs shall furnish any available information indicating that a small business set-aside should be made as far in advance of the regularly scheduled procurment action as is feasible. In cases where recommendations as to set-aside actions were not made by him, the Regional Director of Business Affairs shall review contract files on which set-asides were not made by the contracting officer on a selective basis. In such cases the Regional Directors of Business Affairs should consult with the heads of procuring activities in order to identify the commodities or services for which review actions may be applied most productively in the interest of taking action to develop additional small business sources and to enhance the possibilities for small busi, ness set-asides on future procurements.

(e) In any case where the Regional Director of Business Affairs, or his designee, disagrees with a contracting activity's determination not to make a small business set-aside on a proposed procurement, or in any case where the Regional Director of Business Affairs, or his designee, develops information which indicates that a small business set-aside should be made on a scheduled procurement action, he shall promptly so notify the contracting officer.

(f) If there is disagreement between the Regional Director of Business Affairs, or his designee, and the contracting officer concerning the initiation of a small business set-aside, such disagreement shall be referred to the head of the procuring activity involved. In the event the disagreement is not resolved, the following referrals shall be made by the

Regional Director of Business Affairs, or his designee:

(1) In the case of regional procurement actions, to the Regional Administrator for decision;

(2) In the case of Central Office procurement actions, to the Head of the Service or Staff Office concerned for decision.

(g) Under no circumstances will procurement actions be initiated until small business set-aside disagreements have been formally resolved by the appropriate officials in accordance with the requirements of paragraph (f) of this § 5-1.706-50.

(h) Contracting officers will provide the appropriate Regional Director of Business Affairs with a monthly report on procurements required to be reported on Standard Form 37 (see FPR § 116.901-37 of this title), as follows:

(1) The number and dollar volume of total contracts awarded;

(2) The number and dollar volume of contracts awarded to small business firms; and

(3) The number and dollar volume of contracts awarded through use of small business set-asides.

§ 5-1.708 Certificate of competency pro

gram.

The certificate of competency procedure does not apply where the contracting officer has found that a small business concern is not a responsible bidder for reasons other than lack of capacity or credit. Normally, the contracting officer should obtain the advice of counsel before determining that the certificate of competency procedure does not apply. § 5-1.710 Subcontracting with small business concerns.

GSA Form 1790, Subcontracting Programs (illustrated in § 5-16.950-1790), may be incorporated in contracts which include the small business subcontracting program as a contract requirement. Subpart 5-1.9-Reporting Possible

Antitrust Violations

§ 5-1.901 General.

Whenever circumstances arise that, in the opinion of the contracting officer; may indicate collusive practices or any other type of suspect bidding procedure, which may result in other than truly competitive prices to the Government and violation of the antitrust laws, he

Where a short time for submitting bids or proposals is involved, every effort shall be made to publicize proposed procurements before issuance of invitations for bids or requests for proposals. In such cases, information as to when and where bidding sets or requests for proposals will be available shall be included in the Synposis.

Subpart 5-1.50-Reports

SOURCE: The provisions of this Subpart 5-1.50 appear at 32 F.R. 9165, June 28, 1967, unless otherwise noted.

§ 5-1.5000 Scope of subpart.

This subpart sets forth the reports required by this Chapter 5 and provides instructions for the preparation and submission of the reports or cites the applicable section containing such instructions.

§ 5-1.5001 Report on procurement by civilian executive agencies.

§ 5-1.5001-1 Submission.

(a) This section provides instructions which implement the reporting requirements prescribed by § 1-16.804 of this title.

(b) Reports on procurement shall be prepared quarterly on a cumulative basis by the services and staff offices in the Central Office and in each regional office having reportable procurements.

(c) Central Office service and staff office reports shall be submitted on an individual basis in accordance with paragraph (e) of this § 5-1.5001-1.

(d) Regional service and staff office reports shall be forwarded to the Regional Director of Administration who shall prepare a summary report based on the individual reports received. (Public Buildings Service regional reports shall be prepared to show separately the procurements of each regional PBS division, as well as a summarization of the data developed by the divisions.) The summary report, together with the component regional service and staff office reports, shall be submitted to the Central Office in accordance with paragraph (e) of this § 5-1.5001-1.

(e) Reports shall be submitted through normal channels in an original and one copy to reach the Central Office, Accounting Division, Office of Finance, Office of Administration, within 15 working days after the close of the report period.

This report shall be prepared on Standard Form 37, Report on Procurement by Civilian Executive Agencies (June 1961 edition), illustrated at § 116.901-37 of this title. The "Period Covered" block on Standard Form 37 shall be appropriately modified to indicate the reporting period, e.g., July 1 through September 30; July 1 through December 31; July 1 through March 31; or July 1 through June 30.

§ 5-1.5001-3 Reports control.

Reports Control Symbol GS-28-OA has been assigned to this reporting requirement.

(a) Standard Form 37 shall be prepared in accordance with the instructions on the reverse of the form and this § 5-1.5001-4.

(b) Where Standard Form 37 refers to "reporting agency" the instructions shall apply to each service or staff office in the Central Office having reportable procurements and to each regional office.

(c) Procurements reportable on lines 3, 5, and 6 of Standard Form 37 are the definite quantity contracts awarded by the reporting office and the orders placed against indefinite quantity contracts (ex

cluding Federal Supply Schedule contracts) which were awarded by any GSA office. (Estimated values of indefinite quantity contracts are not to be reported.) On line 7, report orders placed by GSA against Federal Supply Schedules and under indefinite quantity contracts awarded by agencies other than GSA. (d) Under "Remarks," set forth the following:

(1) Dollar amount of procurements made for the Agency for International Development contained in line 2, and show appropriate entries for columns b, c, and d; and

(2) Dollar amount of orders placed under Federal Supply Schedules with subtotals thereof showing the amounts that were placed under advertised and negotiated contracts.

§ 5-1.5004 Synopsis of proposed pro

§ 5-1.5006 Consolidated List of Administrative Debarments by Executive Agencies.

See § 5-1.607-51.

§ 5-1.5008 Report on preference procurement in labor surplus areas.

§ 5-1.5008-1 Submission.

(a) This § 5-1.5008 provides instructions which implement the reporting requirements prescribed by § 1-1.807 of this title.

(b) Reports shall be prepared by each service and staff office in the Central Office and in the regional offices. Regional office service and staff office reports shall be forwarded to the Regional Director of Administration who shall consolidate them and submit the consolidated report to the Central Office. (The Regional Administrator shall be furnished an information copy of the report.) Central Office service and staff office reports shall be submitted on an individual basis.

(c) Reports shall be submitted to reach the Central Office, Accounting Division, Office of Finance, Office of Administration, within 30 working days after the close of each calendar quarter. § 5-1.5008-2 Form.

No form has been prescribed for this report.

§ 5-1.5008-3 Reports control.

Reports Control Symbol GS-34-OA has been assigned to this reporting requirement.

See § 5-12.603 of this chapter.

§ 5-1.5011 Report of transactions of Board of Contract Appeals.

§ 5-1.5011-1 Submission.

This report shall be submitted annually to the Administrator by the Board of Contract Appeals.

§ 5-1.5011-2 Form. 1

No form has been prescribed for this report.

§ 5-1.5011-3 Reports control. Reports Control Symbol OA-19 is required for this report.

§ 5-1.5011-4 Instructions.

See § 5–60.105 of this chapter. Subpart 5-1.52-Testing Articles and Commodities

SOURCE: The provisions of this Subpart 5-1.52 appear at 25 F.R. 14032, Dec. 31, 1960. § 5-1.5201 General.

(a) Article testing is conducted to determine conformance with specification and standard requirements and to aid in the development of new or revised specifications and standards. This subpart establishes certain types of article testing, including the facilities therefor, and prescribes policy regarding the fixing and collection of fees for such testing.

(b) The facilities of the General Services Administration, other Federal agencies, independent testing laboratories, manufacturers and others, as appropriate, may be used in the conduct of tests. § 5-1.5202 Acceptance testing.

(a) Acceptance testing is conducted to determine conformance with requirements of purchase descriptions or specifications before a shipment is accepted. Such testing shall not be undertaken solely for the purpose of furnishing information to a producer or vendor as a conformance of his article or commodity with specification requirements.

(b) Normally, the cost of services for acceptance testing of representative samples of a shipment shall be borne by GSA. However, if the samples tested fail to meet the requirements of the specification or purchase description, the contractor shall be required to pay any additional costs incurred as a result of such failure. Consequently, where it is anticipated that testing may be required, the contract shall contain a specific provision for charging contractors with any additional test costs.

(c) The contracting officer shall, upon request, inform the contractor of test charges involved when testing will be performed by a Federal Supply Service testing laboratory. When a testing facility other than a Federal Supply Service laboratory performs all or part of the required tests, the contractor shall be assessed the amount of the costs

incurred by Government as a result

of testing in such a facility.

§ 5-1.5203 Certification testing.

(a) Certification testing is conducted to determine conformance of an article or commodity with a specification requirement for the purpose of executing a certificate of compliance where such certification is called for by the specification. 13

(b) A certificate of compliance with specification requirements from a recognized laboratory may be a requirement in a Federal Specification. When there is a lack of suitable commercial testing facilities, producers or vendors may obtain such certification from a Government laboratory such as the National Bureau of Standards, and shall be required to bear the cost of such testing, including all components of such cost. GSA will arrange for the required testing upon receipt of a request from a pro

ducer or vendor and payment of the required test fee.

§ 5-1.5204 Qualification (QPL) testing. (a) Qualification testing is conducted to determine conformance of an article or commodity with the qualification requirements of a specification for inclusion of the article or commodity in a Qualified Products List (QPL).

(b) Where such tests will serve predominantly the interest of producer or vendor, GSA shall fix the test fee in such an amount as will recover the cost of conducting such test, including all components of such cost, determined in accordance with accepted accounting principles. Usually the producer or vendor shall be required to bear the cost of testing to qualify an article or commodity for inclusion in a qualified products list, except when it is determined that making such tests will not serve predominantly the interest of the producer or vendor. This may be the case where adequate competition has not been developed in industry because of the issuance of an insufficient number of qualification approvals or sources of supply have not been sufficiently established to assure availability. Where it is determined that making such tests will not serve predominantly the interest of the producer or vendor, GSA shall determine the test fee in an amount determined to be reasonable, giving due consideration to the interests of the Government.

(c) Normally, payment shall be made to the General Supply Fund and appropriate reimbursement shall be made by GSA to an agency whose laboratory conducted the tests. In certain cases the producer or vendor may be required to submit his product to one or more independent testing laboratories approved by GSA. In such cases, the producer or vendor may be directed to pay the testing fee directly to the laboratory which conducted the test.

(d) The original and four copies of all QPL test reports, where testing is conducted outside of GSA facilities, shall be forwarded to and be retained in GSA. § 5-1.5205 Research or development

testing.

(a) Research or development testing is conducted to determine whether a new article or commodity which is not covered by an existing specification may be suitable for Government use or to aid

in the development of contemplated specifications and standards.

(b) Where tests are conducted in the development of specifications or standards, those procedures in § 5-1.5204 (b) and (c) pertaining to test fees shall apply.

Subpart 5-1.53-Procurement
Authority and Responsibility

SOURCE: The provisions of this Subpart 5-1.53 appear at 26 F.R. 7806, Aug. 22, 1961. § 5-1.5301 General.

(a) This subpart deals with the authority to designate contracting officers and sets forth the general authorities and responsibilities of such officers.

(b) An employee ordinarily binds the Government only when his actions are in accordance with authority actually granted to him. Contracting officers are agents of the Government and shall act in accordance with law, regulations including FPR and GSPR, other pertinent directives, and sound judgment, and within the limits of their prescribed duties and authorities.

§ 5-1.5302 Designation of contracting officers.

(a) Contracting officers, as defined in § 1-1.207, shall be those employees in whom contracting authority is vested by the Administrator or his designees by means of appropriate delegations of authority and by redelegations of authority. The authority of such contracting officers shall be in accordance with the applicable delegations or redelegations of authority and with this Subpart 5-1.53.

(b) Delegations and redelegations of authority are generally directive on specific positions, rather than specific individuals. When a specific position carries delegated or redelegated contracting authority, an individual appointed to such a position is, therefore, a contracting officer. Such appointments are normally made by means of administrative personnel actions. When an individual is designated as a contracting officer by an instrument other than a personnel action, a copy of the designating instrument shall be forwarded to the appropriate personnel office for inclusion in the file of the individual affected. Designations shall be rescinded in the same manner upon termination of the assignment (but special assignments may be self-rescinding, as, for example, an as