(d) When deliveries are made, the receiving activity will retain one copy of the related delivery ticket and return the remaining copies to the supplier, one copy of which is to be signed. Each delivery ticket must contain the following information: Blanket purchase arrangement identification; requisition number, if any; the name of person placing the call; an itemized listing of the materials furnished; and the quantity, price, and extension of each item.

(e) Since payments are made on the basis of vendors' invoices, accompanied by signed delivery tickets, receiving reports ordinarily need not be prepared. Arrangements should be made, whenever possible, to utilize the retained copy of the delivery ticket, in lieu of preparing a receiving report, for inventory accounting purposes.

§ 5-3.606-50 Oral purchases.

(a) When advantageous to the Government, personal property or nonpersonal services may be procured orally from local suppliers at site of work or use point, or by a supply distribution facility when authorized, using vendors' invoices in lieu of purchase orders pursuant to the provisions of this § 5-3.606-50.

(b) Oral purchases shall be effected only by persons duly authorized or designated and in accordance with applicable laws and regulations subject to the following:

(1) The amount of any one purchase is $250 or less;

(2) A purchase order is not required by either the supplier or the Government; and

(3) Appropriate invoices are obtainable from the supplier.

(c) Each ordering office using this purchasing technique shall require the supplier to submit invoices immediately, properly prepared and itemizing the property or services furnished, to such office.

(d) Invoices shall be endorsed by an authorized Government representative as to the proper receipt of the property or services covered thereon.

(e) Such informal records as may be necessary (including identification of the person placing the order) to assure that the personal property or nonpersonal services ordered are actually received shall be maintained by the ordering office. (See also § 1-3.603.)

The provisions of this § 5-3.607 are designed to cover the procurement by GSA services and staff offices of requirements for their own use. They are applicable to service contracting programs designed to provide supply service to agencies generally only to the extent they are not inconsistent with specific program instructions otherwise promulgated.

(a) When a local term contract entered into by another agency is known to exist, it shall be used as a local source of supply to the extent practicable, administrative expense and price advantage considered.

(b) When another agency has entered into a local term contract covering the requirements of GSA in the same community, it shall be used as a local source of supply.

(c) GSA shall participate with other agencies in the same community in developing local term contracts for use by GSA and the other agencies.

(d) When called upon by agency field offices, or when it is determined that so doing will facilitate interagency use of local term contracts, regional offices shall furnish other agencies information as to the types of local contracts in effect and susceptible of use by more than the contracting agency.

(e) Regional offices shall promote the interagency use of local term contracts by encouraging (through normal day-today contacts, other liaison contacts, and through contracting and procurement officers organizations):

(1) The making of contracts susceptible of use by more than the contracting office;

(2) The consolidation of requirements of several offices in the same community for inclusion in a single contract;

(3) The collaboration between agencies in the same community to determine the agency office which should assume the responsibility for contracting for the requirements of the group; and

(4) The use by an agency of a local term contract entered into by another agency, to the extent practicable, when

The provisions of this § 5-3.650 are designed to cover the procurement by GSA services and staff offices of requirements for their own use. They are applicable to service contracting programs designed to provide supply service to agencies generally only to the extent they are not inconsistent with specific program instructions otherwise promulgated.

(a) Local term contracts should be established whenever practical in order to eliminate the need for obtaining and considering individual price quotations for each small requirement purchased repetitively from the same source.

(b) The establishment of local term contracts usually will be found advantageous under the following circumstances:

(1) When day-to-day requirements are continuing and recurring;

(2) When total requirements can only be estimated and it is expedient and economical to have a source of supply and price determined in advance of the individual instances of actual need; and

(3) When this method best meets the needs for providing using offices with a ready means of supply which eliminates the delay and administrative expense involved incident to making separate contracts.

(c) Examples of items which can often be advantageously covered by local term contracts are repair parts for specific equipment or items of plumbing, hardware, or electrical supplies recurrently needed but not available from GSA supply distribution facilities. A logical price basis for such a contract would be the contractor's price lists with established discounts. Provisions shall be made in the term contracts for consolidated billing whenever practicable.

§ 5-3.651 Unpriced purchase order.

An unpriced purchase order is a purchase order for supplies or services for which the price is not established at the time of issuance of the order.

(c) It is impractical to obtain pricing in advance of issuance of the purchase order; and

(d) The procurement is for:

(1) Repairs to equipment requiring disassembly to determine the nature and extent of such repairs;

(2) Sole source material not currently in production and on which the cost cannot be readily established; or

(3) Supplies or services not in excess of $250 where prices are known to be competitive but exact prices are not known.

§ 5-3.651-2

Procurement and payment.

(a) An authorized purchase order form shall be used to issue unpriced purchase orders.

(b) A realistic monetary limitation shall be placed on the unpriced purchase order which shall be an obligation subject to adjustment when the firm price is established.

(c) The supplier shall be notified that where the estimated monetary limitation is sufficient to cover the procurement, the supplier is expected to make delivery or perform and be reimbursed therefor.

(d) The supplier shall be notified that where the total price will exceed the estimated monetary limitation, or if material or services cannot be furnished in exact accordance with the description set forth, the contracting officer shall be notified and performance shall be withheld pending advice from the ordering officer.

(e) The supplier shall be advised to submit his invoice to the ordering officer for approval as to the fairness and reasonableness of the price.

(f) The ordering officer shall, after approval, endorse the invoice as to the proper receipt of the property or services covered thereon.

(g) The following clause shall be included in each unpriced purchase order: NOTICE TO SUPPLIER

This is a firm order if the price is $--or less. Make delivery or perform as soon as possible and submit invoice to the ordering officer of the purchase office named herein.

If total price of this order will exceed the above amount or if you cannot furnish material or services in exact accordance with the description set forth herein, notify the undersigned ordering officer immediately, giving your quotation or proposed substitution or changes, and withhold performance pending reply.

This 5-3.652 provides for the establishment and control of imprest funds, as prescribed by § 1-3.604.

§ 5-3.652-1 Establishment of funds.

Imprest funds should be established at those locations where authority to make small purchases has been delegated. A periodic review shall be made of cash balances of individual cashiers and if, on the basis of experience or because of changed conditions, an excessive amount of cash is being maintained or the need no longer exists for the fund, the fund shall be reduced to a level commensurate with operating needs.

(a) Regional offices. The Head of the Service or Staff Office in the regional offices shall designate, in writing, with the approval of the Regional Administrator, if desired, the locations at which imprest funds are required. When designating, in writing, the locations at which imprest funds are required, the following should be specified:

(1) Name, title, and stations of the employee recommended;

(2) Class of cashier desired;

(3) Additional types of payments desired not covered under paragraph 6-b of Treasury Department Circular 1030 and § 1-3.604-4;

(4) Maximum authorized imprest fund requested; and

(5) Amount of funds to be advanced and denominations of checks desired.

(b) Central Office. The Director of Financial Management, in collaboration with the Heads of Services and Staff Offices, will determine the locations at which imprest funds should be established for Central Office operations. The Director of Financial Management shall be furnished the information required in (a), above.

§ 5-3.652-2 Designation of cashiers.

The Director of Financial Management, or the appropriate Director of Re

In general, the use of imprest funds is restricted to over-the-counter cash transactions. However, when a properly authorized expenditure has been made on an out-of-pocket basis by a postmaster or other postal employee, reimbursement may be made by U.S. Postal Money Order by a cashier who has been authorized to use this method of reimbursement. For instance, this method may be used to reimburse a postmaster in another city for an expenditure properly payable from imprest funds. The money order cost will be charged to the same funds as the prime expenditure.

Subpart 5-3.8-Price Negotiation

Policies and Techniques

SOURCE: The provisions of this Subpart 5-3.8 appear at 27 F.R. 8117, Aug. 15, 1962.

§ 5-3.802 Preparation for negotiation.

(a) Except as provided in (d), below, in cases of public exigency, and in procurements pursuant to § 5-3.450, all solicitations and offers in connection with proposed purchases in excess of $2,500 shall be in writing. Forms authorized by § 5-3.852 may be used when soliciting requests for proposals for negotiated contracts.

(b) When using Standard Form 33, Invitation, Bid, and Award (Supply Contract), the following modifications shall be made:

(1) Delete the phrase "and at that time publicly opened" from the face of the form in the "Invitation for Bids" column.

(2) Include the following clause (For instructions regarding paragraph (a) of the clause, see § 1-3.805(b). In connection with paragraph (b) of the clause, if a different time will be required for evaluation of proposals and negotiations, change the number of days accordingly): ACCEPTANCE OF PROPOSALS

(a) If it is determined by the Government that the most favorable proposal received in response to this request for proposals is fair and reasonably priced, award may be made to the concern submitting such proposal without further negotiation. Accordingly, proposals should be submitted on the most favorable terms from a price and technical standpoint which the offeror can initially submit to the Government.

(b) Offerors shall indicate in the Space provided on Standard Form 33 the period of time their proposals will be subject to acceptance. If no time is stated it will be assumed that 60 days is intended.

(3) Include the following clause: Paragraph 4 of the reverse of Standard Form 33, Invitation, Bid, and Award (Supply Contract), is inapplicable and the following substituted therefor. The Government reserves the right to consider offers or modifications thereof received after the date indicated for such purpose, but before award is made, should such action be in the interest of the Government.

(c) When requests for proposals provide for submission of bid or performance bonds, or like guarantees, see § 5-2.402(h).

(d) In unusual cases, where time does not permit the use of written solicitations, telegraphic or telephonic requests for proposals may be used, provided all other requirements of Parts 1-3 and 5-3 are fulfilled. Telegraphic and telephonic requests must make specific reference to all terms and conditions which will apply. Information as to the reasons for the use of telegraphic or telephonic requests shall be retained in the file.

(e) All requests for proposals should provide a fixed time for receipt of offers, prior to which no award shall be made. However, this requirement is not intended to preclude further negotiations or considerations of offers or modifications of offers received after such fixed time but before any award is made. The necessary precautions shall be taken to assure that the procedure followed does not operate to the prejudice of any offeror, as would be the case, for example, where the offer of one person is disclosed to another, thus providing the latter an unfair competitive advantage.

(f) Each offer received in response to a solicitation shall be stamped or otherwise annotated to show the date and hour of receipt. In addition, a separate list of offerors shall be maintained for each solicitation, showing the date of receipt of each offer. The same forms used for recording bids under formal advertising may be used for this purpose.

(g) Offers, or modifications thereof, received after the time fixed for receipt, may be considered provided no award has been made and the contracting officer determines that such action would be in the interest of the Government. Normally, only late offers lower in price or offering other more favorable factors than responsive offers from responsible bidders, received on time, should be considered. The contracting officer shall also carefully investigate the circumstances under which the offer was submitted to assure that the firm submitting the late offer has not received an unfair competitive advantage. (e), above.)

(See

(h) In any case where the contracting officer determines that an award is to be made based on a late offer or that a late offer that is otherwise low as to price is not for consideration due to the time of its receipt, the determination shall be included in the file.

The Audit Division, OFA, and the Area Audit Officers perform audits as a pricing aid upon request of a contracting officer. Such requests shall be in writing, directed to the appropriate audit office, and shall describe the problem and specify the purpose to be served by the audit.

§ 5-3.850 Negotiation when authority has not been delegated to Regional Administrators.

In the event that circumstances arise under which it is deemed necessary to make purchases by negotiation pursuant to Subpart 1-3.2, but authority has not been delegated to Regional Administrators, a full description of the circumstances and justification for such proposed negotiation shall be forwarded to the Head of the procuring Service or Staff Office for decision, prior to taking any action. When required, determinations and findings shall be prepared in accordance with § 5-3.302.

(b) Copies of Standard Form 32 ordinarily shall not be distributed with requests for proposals when Standard Form 33 is used. However, in special situations where some or all of the firms to be solicited may not have received a copy, arrangements should be made to include single copies of Standard Form 32 with request for proposal sets.

(c) GSA Form 1424 may be incorporated by reference in requests for proposals by using the following provision in the invitation:

GSA Form 1424, Supplemental Provisions (Supply Contract) Nov. 1957 Edition, receipt of which is acknowledged by the offeror, is hereby incorporated by reference. A copy of GSA Form 1424 is available upon request.