B-230883, B-230884, Jun 9, 1988, Office of General Counsel

B-230883, B-230884, Jun 9, 1988, Office of General Counsel

PROCUREMENT - Payment/Discharge - Federal procurement regulations/laws - Amendments - Progress payments - First-article testing DIGEST: The General Accounting Office supports a proposed amendment to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Sec. 32.501 to provide for the inclusion of a contract provision limiting progress payments on first article work by a stated amount or percentage.

Ms. Margaret A. Willis

FAR Secretariat

General Services Administration:

This responds to your request for our comments on two proposals to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) with respect to progress payments, and mistake-in-bid procedures. These are FAR Case Nos. 88-15 and 88-16.

FAR Case No. 88-15 would amend FAR Sec. 32.501 to provide that contracting officers may include in a solicitation a contract provision limiting progress payments on first article work by a stated amount or percentage. We support this change and note that the use of such a provision by the Department of Defense has been the subject of a recent decision of this Office. See Claim of Nebraska Aluminum Castings, Inc. - Second Request for Reconsideration, B-222476.9, Mar. 16, 1988, 88-1 CPD Para. 269 (copy enclosed).

FAR Case No. 88-16 would amend FAR Sec. 14.406-3(g)(l)(iv) to emphasize the importance for the contracting officer to fully describe to the contractor all conditions which cause the contracting officer to suspect a potential mistake in bid. We have no objection to this change.