other necessary resources. In certain circumstances, contracts with certain parties are restricted by DOE's implementation, in 10 CFR part 1036, of E.O.'s 12549 and 12689, "Debarment and Suspension."

(e) Recipients shall, on request, make available for DOE, pre-award review and procurement documents, such as request for proposals or invitations for bids, independent cost estimates, etc., when any of the following conditions apply.

(1) A recipient's procurement procedures or operation fails to comply with the procurement standards in this subpart.

(2) The procurement is expected to exceed the small purchase threshold fixed at 41 U.S.C. 403 (11) (currently $25,000) and is to be awarded without competition or only one bid or offer is received in response to a solicitation.

(3) The procurement, which is expected to exceed the small purchase threshold, specifies a "brand name" product.

(4) The proposed award over the small purchase threshold is to be awarded to other than the apparent low bidder under a sealed bid procurement.

(5) A proposed contract modification changes the scope of a contract or increases the contract amount by more than the amount of the small purchase threshold.

(f) By agreement of the recipient or subrecipient and the contractor, if consistent with the recipient's or subrecipient's usual business practices and applicable state and local law, any contract to which this section applies may provide for the payment of interest penalties on amounts overdue under such contract except that—

(1) In no case shall any obligation to pay such interest penalties be construed to be an obligation of the Federal government, and

(2) Any payment of such interest penalties may not be made from DOE funds nor be counted toward meeting a cost sharing requirement of a DOE award.

600.145 Cost and price analysis.

Some form of cost or price analysis shall be made and documented in the

procurement files in connection with every procurement action. Price analysis may be accomplished in various ways, including the comparison of price quotations submitted, market prices and similar indicia, together with discounts. Cost analysis is the review and evaluation of each element of cost to determine reasonableness, allocability and allowability.

§ 600.146 Procurement records.

Procurement records and files for purchases in excess of the small purchase threshold shall include the following at a minimum:

(a) Basis for contractor selection,

(b) Justification for lack of competition when competitive bids or offers are not obtained, and

(c) Basis for award cost or price.

§ 600.147 Contract administration.

A system for contract administration shall be maintained to ensure contractor conformance with the terms, conditions and specifications of the contract and to ensure adequate and timely follow up of all purchases. Recipients shall evaluate contractor performance and document, as appropriate, whether contractors have met the terms, conditions and specifications of the contract.

§ 600.148 Contract provisions.

The recipient shall include, in addition to provisions to define a sound and complete agreement, the following provisions in all contracts. The following provisions shall also be applied to subcontracts.

(a) Contracts in excess of the small purchase threshold shall contain contractual provisions or conditions that allow for administrative, contractual, or legal remedies in instances in which a contractor violates or breaches the contract terms, and provide for such remedial actions as may be appropriate.

(b) All contracts in excess of the small purchase threshold shall contain suitable provisions for termination by the recipient, including the manner by which termination shall be effected and the basis for settlement. In addition, such contracts shall describe conditions under which the contract may

194-031 D-01--5

be terminated for default as well as conditions where the contract may be terminated because of circumstances beyond the control of the contractor.

for

(c) Except as otherwise required by statute, an award that requires the contracting (or subcontracting) construction or facility improvements shall provide for the recipient to follow its own requirements relating to bid guarantees, performance bonds, and payment bonds unless the construction contract or subcontract exceeds $100,000. For those contracts or subcontracts exceeding $100,000, DOE may accept the bonding policy and requirements of the recipient, provided the DOE has made a determination that the Federal Government's interest is adequately protected. If such a determination has not been made, the minimum requirements shall be as follows.

(1) A bid guarantee from each bidder equivalent to five percent of the bid price. The “bid guarantee” shall consist of a firm commitment such as a bid bond, certified check, or other negotiable instrument accompanying a bid as assurance that the bidder shall, upon acceptance of his bid, execute such contractual documents as may be required within the time specified.

(2) A performance bond on the part of the contractor for 100 percent of the contract price. A "performance bond” is one executed in connection with a contract to secure fulfillment of all the contractor's obligations under such contract.

(3) A payment bond on the part of the contractor for 100 percent of the contract price. A "payment bond" is one executed in connection with a contract to assure payment as required by statute of all persons supplying labor and material in the execution of the work provided for in the contract.

(4) Where bonds are required in the situations described herein, the bonds shall be obtained from companies holding certificates of authority as acceptable sureties pursuant to 31 CFR part 223, "Surety Companies Doing Business with the United States."

(d) All negotiated contracts (except those for less than the small purchase threshold) awarded by recipients shall include a provision to the effect that the recipient, DOE, the Comptroller

General of the United States, or any of their duly authorized representatives, shall have access to any books, documents, papers and records of the contractor which are directly pertinent to a specific program for the purpose of making audits, examinations, excerpts and transcriptions.

(e) All contracts, including small purchases, awarded by recipients and their contractors shall contain the procurement provisions of Appendix A to this subpart, as applicable.

§ 600.149 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

Recipients' procurements shall comply with applicable requirements of RCRA, as described at §600.116 of this subpart.

Reports and Records

5600.150 Purpose of reports and records.

Sections 600.151 through 600.153 set forth the procedures for monitoring and reporting on the recipient's financial and program performance and the necessary standard reporting forms. They also set forth record retention requirements.

8600.151 Monitoring and reporting program performance.

(a) Recipients are responsible for managing and monitoring each project, program, subaward, function or activity supported by the award. Recipients shall monitor subawards to ensure subrecipients have met the audit requirements as delineated in § 600.126.

(b) The terms and conditions of the award will prescribe the frequency with which the performance reports shall be submitted. Except as provided in paragraph (f) of this section, performance reports shall not be required more frequently than quarterly or less frequently than annually. Annual reports shall be due 90 calendar days after the award year; quarterly or semi-annual reports shall be due 30 days after the reporting period. DOE may require annual reports before the anniversary dates of multiple year awards in lieu of these requirements. The final performance reports are due 90 calendar days

after the expiration or termination of the award.

(c) If inappropriate, a final technical or performance report shall not be required after completion of the project.

(d) When required, performance reports shall generally contain, for each award, brief information on each of the ! following.

(1) A comparison of actual accom#plishments with the goals and objectives established for the period, the findings of the investigator, or both. Whenever appropriate and the output of programs or projects can be readily quantified, such quantitative data should be related to cost data for com=putation of unit costs.

(2) Reasons why established goals were not met, if appropriate.

(3) Other pertinent information including, when appropriate, analysis and explanation of cost overruns or high unit costs.

DOE may specify in the award that the recipient provide this information on the Federal Assistance Program/ Project Status Report (DOE F 4600.6), the technical reporting formats, or the Federal Assistance Management Summary Report. DOE may require that the Federal Assistance Management Summary Report be used as a performance report only when such use is authorized by program rule or the need for this form is explained in the solicitation. The requirements of this section concerning reporting frequency and deadlines shall apply to the Federal Assistance Management Summary Report. (See also §600.112 with regard to use of this form as part of the award application.)

(e) Recipients shall not be required to submit more than the original and two copies of performance reports.

(f) Recipients shall immediately notify DOE of developments that have a significant impact on the award-supported activities. Also, notification shall be given in the case of problems, delays, or adverse conditions which materially impair the ability to meet the objectives of the award. This notification shall include a statement of the action taken or contemplated, and any assistance needed to resolve the situation.

(g) DOE may make site visits, as needed.

(h) DOE shall comply with applicable clearance requirements of 5 CFR part 1320 when requesting performance data from recipients.

(i) Recipients may place performance reporting requirements on subawards consistent with the provisions of this section and shall require interim reporting in accordance with § 600.151(f).

§ 600.152 Financial reporting.

(a) The following forms or such other forms as may be approved by OMB are authorized for obtaining financial information from recipients.

(1) SF-269 or SF-269A, Financial Status Report.

(i) Recipients shall use the SF-269 or SF-269A to report the status of funds for all nonconstruction projects or programs, except that DOE has the option of not requiring the SF-269 or SF-269A when the SF-270, Request for Advance or Reimbursement, or SF-272, Report of Federal Cash Transactions, is determined to provide adequate information to meet DOE needs. However, a final SF-269 or SF-269A shall be required at the completion of the project when the SF-270 is used only for advances.

of

(ii) The terms and conditions award shall prescribe whether the report shall be on a cash or accrual basis. DOE may require accrual reporting only if such reporting is required by program statute or rule. If the award requires accrual information and the recipient's accounting records are not normally kept on the accrual basis, the recipient shall not be required to convert its accounting system, but shall develop such accrual information through best estimates based on an analysis of the documentation on hand.

(iii) DOE shall determine the frequency of the Financial Status Report for each project or program, considering the size and complexity of the particular project or program. However, the report shall not be required more frequently than quarterly or less frequently than annually. A final report shall be required at the completion of the agreement.

(iv) DOE shall require recipients to submit the SF-269 or SF-269A (an original and no more than two copies) no

later than 30 days after the end of each specified reporting period for quarterly and semi-annual reports, and 90 calendar days for annual and final reports. Extensions of reporting due dates may be approved by the DOE upon request of the recipient.

(2) SF-272, Report of Federal Cash Transactions.

(i) When funds are advanced, each recipient shall submit the SF-272 and, when necessary, its continuation sheet, SF-272a. DOE will use this report to monitor cash advanced to recipients and to obtain disbursement information for each agreement with the recipients.

(ii) Recipients shall forecast Federal cash requirements in the "Remarks" section of the report.

(iii) When practical and deemed necessary, DOE may require recipients to report in the "Remarks" section the amount of cash advances received in excess of three days. Recipients shall provide short narrative explanations of actions taken to reduce the excess balances.

(iv) Recipients shall be required to submit not more than the original and two copies of the SF-272 15 calendar days following the end of each quarter. DOE may require a monthly report from those recipients receiving advances totaling $1 million or more per year.

(v) DOE may waive the requirement for submission of the SF-272 for any one of the following reasons:

(A) When monthly advances do not exceed $25,000 per recipient, provided that such advances are monitored through other forms contained in this section;

(B) If, in the contracting officer's opinion, the recipient's accounting controls are adequate to minimize excessive Federal advances; or,

(C) When electronic payment mechanisms provide adequate data.

(b) When DOE needs additional information or more frequent reports, the following shall be observed:

(1) When additional information is needed to comply with legislative requirements, DOE shall issue instructions to require recipients to submit such information under the "Remarks" section of the reports.

(2) When DOE determines that a recipient's accounting system does not meet the standards in §600.121, additional pertinent information to further monitor awards may be obtained upon written notice to the recipient until such time as the system is brought up to standard. DOE, in obtaining this information, shall comply with report clearance requirements of 5 CFR part 1320.

(3) Contracting officers are encouraged to shade out any line item on any report if not necessary.

(4) DOE may accept the identical information from the recipients in machine readable format or computer printouts or electronic outputs in lieu of prescribed formats.

(5) Computer or electronic outputs may be provided to recipients when that expedites or contributes to the accuracy of reporting.

$600.153 Retention and access requirements for records.

(a) This section sets forth requirements for record retention and access to records for awards to recipients. DOE shall not impose any other record retention or access requirements upon recipients, unless such requirements are established in program regulations.

(b) Financial records, supporting documents, statistical records, and all other records pertinent to an award shall be retained for a period of three years from the date of submission of the final expenditure report or, for awards that are renewed quarterly or annually, from the date of the submission of the quarterly or annual financial report, as authorized by DOE. The only exceptions are the following:

(1) If any litigation, claim, or audit is started before the expiration of the 3year period, the records shall be retained until all litigation, claims or audit findings involving the records have been resolved and final action taken.

(2) Records for real property and equipment acquired with Federal funds shall be retained for 3 years after final disposition.

(3) When records are transferred to or maintained by DOE, the 3-year retention requirement is not applicable to the recipient.

(4) Indirect cost rate proposals, cost allocations plans, and related records, for which retention requirements are specified in § 600.153(g).

(c) Copies of original records may be substituted for the original records if authorized by DOE.

(d) DOE shall request transfer of certain records to its custody from recipients when it determines that the records possess long term retention value. However, in order to avoid duplicate recordkeeping, DOE may make arrangements for recipients to retain any records that are continuously needed for joint use.

(e) DOE, the Inspector General, Comptroller General of the United States, or any of their duly authorized representatives, have the right of timely and unrestricted access to any books, documents, papers, or other records of recipients that are pertinent to the awards, in order to make audits, 、examinations, excerpts, transcripts and copies of such documents. This right also includes timely and reasonable access to a recipient's personnel for the purpose of interview and discussion related to such documents. The rights of access in this paragraph are not limited to the required retention period, but shall last as long as records are retained.

(f) Unless required by statute, DOE shall place no restrictions on recipients that limit public access to the records of recipients that are pertinent to an award, except when DOE can demonstrate that such records shall be kept confidential and would have been exempted from disclosure pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552) if the records had belonged to DOE.

(g) Paragraphs (g)(1) and (g)(2) of this section apply to the following types of documents, and their supporting records: indirect cost rate computations or proposals, cost allocation plans, and any similar accounting computations of the rate at which a particular group of costs is chargeable (such as computer usage chargeback rates or composite fringe benefit rates).

(1) If submitted for negotiation. If the recipient submits to the Federal agency responsible for negotiating the re

cipient's indirect cost rate or the subrecipient submits to the recipient the proposal, plan, or other computation to form the basis for negotiation of the rate, then the 3-year retention period for its supporting records starts on the date of such submission.

(2) If not submitted for negotiation. If the recipient is not required to submit to the cognizant Federal agency or the subrecipient is not required to submit to the recipient the proposal, plan, or other computation for negotiation purposes, then the 3-year retention period for the proposal, plan, or other computation and its supporting records starts at the end of the fiscal year (or other accounting period) covered by the proposal, plan, or other computation.

(h) If, by the terms and conditions of the award, the recipient or subrecipient

(1) Is accountable for program income earned or received after the end of the project period or after the termination of an award or subaward, or

(2) If program income earned during the project period is required to be applied to costs incurred after the end of the project period or after termination of an award or subaward, the record retention period shall start on the last day of the recipient's or subrecipient's fiscal year in which such income was earned or received or such costs were incurred. All other program income records shall be retained in accordance with § 600.153(b).

Termination and Enforcement

§ 600.160 Purpose of termination and

enforcement.

Sections 600.161 and 600.162 set forth uniform suspension, termination and enforcement procedures.

§ 600.161 Termination.

(a) Awards may be terminated in whole or in part only if paragraph (a) (1), (2) or (3) of this section apply.

(1) By DOE, if a recipient materially fails to comply with the terms and conditions of an award.

(2) By DOE with the consent of the recipient, in which case the two parties shall agree upon the termination conditions, including the effective date