[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 17 (Friday, January 25, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5450-5451]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-01565]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
[Docket 2012-0076; Sequence 49; OMB Control No. 9000-0102]
Information Collection; Prompt Payment
AGENCY: Department of Defense (DOD), General Services Administration
(GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
ACTION: Notice of request for public comments regarding an extension to
an existing OMB clearance.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, the
Regulatory Secretariat will be submitting to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve an extension to a
previously approved information collection requirement concerning
prompt payment.
DATES: Submit comments on or before March 26, 2013.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments identified by Information Collection 9000-
0102, Prompt Payment, by any of the following methods:
Regulations.gov: http://www.regulations.gov. Submit
comments via the Federal eRulemaking portal by searching the OMB
control number. Select the link ``Submit a Comment'' that corresponds
with ``Information Collection 9000-0102, Prompt Payment''. Follow the
instructions provided at the ``Submit a Comment'' screen. Please
include your name, company name (if any), and ``Information Collection
9000-0102, Prompt Payment'' on your attached document.
Fax: 202-501-4067.
Mail: General Services Administration, Regulatory
Secretariat (MVCB), 1275 First Street NE., Washington, DC 20417. ATTN:
Hada Flowers/IC 9000-0102, Prompt Payment.
Instructions: Please submit comments only and cite Information
Collection 9000-0102, Prompt Payment, in all correspondence related to
this collection. All comments received will be posted without change to
http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal and/or business
confidential information provided.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Edward Chambers, Procurement
Analyst, Office of Acquisition Policy, GSA, (202) 501-3221 or email
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Purpose
Part 32 of the FAR and the clause at FAR 52.232-5, Payments Under
Fixed-Price Construction Contracts, require that contractors under
fixed-price construction contracts certify, for every progress payment
request, that payments to subcontractors/suppliers have been made from
previous payments received under the contract and timely payments will
be made from the proceeds of the payment covered by the certification,
and that this payment request does not include any amount which the
contractor intends to withhold from a subcontractor/supplier. Part 32
of the FAR and the clause at 52.232-27, Prompt Payment for Construction
Contracts, further require
[[Page 5451]]
that contractors on construction contracts--
(a) Notify subcontractors/suppliers of any amounts to be withheld
and furnish a copy of the notification to the contracting officer;
(b) Pay interest to subcontractors/suppliers if payment is not made
by 7 days after receipt of payment from the Government, or within 7
days after correction of previously identified deficiencies;
(c) Pay interest to the Government if amounts are withheld from
subcontractors/suppliers after the Government has paid the contractor
the amounts subsequently withheld, or if the Government has
inadvertently paid the contractor for nonconforming performance; and
(d) Include a payment clause in each subcontract which obligates
the contractor to pay the subcontractor for satisfactory performance
under its subcontract not later than 7 days after such amounts are paid
to the contractor, include an interest penalty clause which obligates
the contractor to pay the subcontractor an interest penalty if payments
are not made in a timely manner, and include a clause requiring each
subcontractor to include these clauses in each of its subcontractors
and to require each of its subcontractors to include similar clauses in
their subcontracts.
These requirements are imposed by Public Law 100-496, the Prompt
Payment Act Amendments of 1988.
Contracting officers will be notified if the contractor withholds
amounts from subcontractors/suppliers after the Government has already
paid the contractor the amounts withheld. The contracting officer must
then charge the contractor interest on the amounts withheld from
subcontractors/suppliers. Federal agencies could not comply with the
requirements of the law if this information were not collected.
B. Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden
Data from the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) regarding
fixed price construction contracts for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 revealed
that the number of affected contracts and, therefore, respondents has
been reduced from the previously approved information collection. Time
required to assemble and prepare notification or certification
regarding withhold is estimated at .11 hours per notice. This estimate
is based on the assumption that some construction contractors will be
required to notify the Government of withholding and others will have
to provide their payment certification, and that 2,679 contractors
under a total of 4,450 contracts will have to notify the Government 11
times per year. This estimate assumes automation of contractor records.
The recordkeeping burden is based on the revised number of contracts
for FY11 and the estimated hours from the previously approved
collection.
Annual Reporting Burden
Respondents: 2,679.
Responses per Respondent: 18.27.
Total Responses: 48,950.
Hours per Response: .11.
Total Burden Hours: 5,384.
Annual Recordkeeping Burden
Recordkeepers: 4,450.
Hours per Recordkeeper: 18.
Total Recordkeeping Burden Hours: 80,100.
Obtaining Copies of Proposals: Requesters may obtain a copy of the
information collection documents from the General Services
Administration, Regulatory Secretariat (MVCB), 1275 First Street NE.,
Washington, DC 20417, telephone (202) 501-4755. Please cite OMB Control
No. 9000-0102, Prompt Payment, in all correspondence.
Dated: January 18, 2013.
William Clark,
Acting Director, Federal Acquisition Policy Division, Office of
Governmentwide Acquisition Policy, Office of Governmentwide Policy.
[FR Doc. 2013-01565 Filed 1-24-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820-EP-P