be levied on or collected from the contractor with respect to the contract work, any transaction thereunder, or property in the custody or control of the contractor and constituting an allowable item of cost if due and payable, but which the contractor has reason to believe, or the contracting officer has advised the contractor, is or may be inapplicable or invalid;' and the contractor further agrees to refrain from paying any such tax, fee, or charge unless authorized in writing by the contracting officer. Any State or local tax, fee, or charge paid with the approval of the contracting officer or on the basis of advice from the contracting officer that such tax, fee, or charge is applicable and valid, and which would otherwise be an allowable item of cost, shall not be disallowed as an item of cost by reason of any subsequent ruling or determination that such tax, fee, or charge was in fact inapplicable or invalid.

(b) The contractor agrees to take such action as may be required or approved by the contracting officer to cause any State or local tax, fee, or charge which would be an allowable cost to be paid under protest; and to take such action as may be required or approved by the contracting officer to seek recovery of any payments made, including assignment to the Government or its designee of all rights to an abatement or refund thereof, and granting permission for the Government to join with the contractor in any proceedings for the recovery thereof or to sue for recovery in the name of the contractor. If the contracting officer directs the contractor to institute litigation to enjoin the collection of or to recover payment of any such tax, fee, or charge referred to above, or if a claim or suit is filed against the contractor for a tax, fee, or charge it has refrained from paying in accordance with this article, the procedures and requirements of the article entitled "Litigation and Claims" shall apply and the costs and expenses incurred by the contractor shall be allowable items of cost, as provided in this contract, together with the amount of any judgment rendered against the contractor.

(c) The Government shall save the contractor harmless from penalties and interest incurred through compliance with this article. All recoveries or credits in respect of the foregoing taxes, fees, and charges (including interest) shall inure to and be for the sole benefit of the Government.

1Requirement for notice may be broadened to include all State and local taxes which may be claimed as allowable costs when considered to be appropriate.

$9-50.1200 Scope.

(a)

Subpart 9-50.12 Labor Relations

This part implements and supplements FPR Part 1-12.

(b) The provisions referenced below pertain to procurement by operating and other onsite contractors.

$9-50.1201 Basic labor policies.

$9-50.1201-1 General.

(a) The policies and procedures stated in FPR Subpart 1-12.1 are recommendatory and for guidance of Federal agencies and provide that problems arising out of contractor labor relations shall be handled in accordance with agency procedures. Except as provided herein, contracting officers shall, in appropriate circumstances, follow the guidance in FPR Subpart 1-12.1.

(b) Contracting officers shall apply the principles and policies set forth in this part $9-50.12 in lieu of or in modification of FPR 1-12.101 to contractors responsible for the management/operation of Government-owned and/or controlled sites and facilities.

$9-50.1201-2 Labor relations (contractor personnel management and labor relations).

The extent of Government ownership of the nation's atomic energy plant and materials, and the overriding concerns of national defense and security, impose special conditions on personnel and labor relations in the energy program, namely, continuity of vital operations at ERDA installations must be assured; ERDA must retain absolute authority on all questions of security; ERDA reviews labor expenses under operating and onsite contracts as a part of its responsibility for assuring judicious expenditure of public funds. It is the intent of ERDA despite these limitations, that personnel and labor policies throughout the atomic energy program should reflect the best experience of American industry in aiming to achieve the type of stable labor-management relationships which ERDA considers are essential to the proper development of the energy program. The following enunciates the principles upon which the ERDA policy is based:

(a) Employment standards.

(1) Contractors are expected to bring experienced, proven personnel from their private operations to staff key positions on the contract work and to recruit other well-qualified personnel as needed. Such personnel should be employed and treated during employment

or

without discrimination by reason of race, color, religion, sex, national origin. Contractors shall take affirmative action to achieve these objectives.

(2) The job qualifications and suitability of prospective employees should be established by the contractor prior to employment by careful personnel investigations. Where a security clearance will be required, the applicant's suitability must be established before a request is made to ERDA for a security clearance.

(3) The contractor is responsible for maintaining satisfactory standards of employee qualifications, performance, conduct, and business ethics under its own personnel policies.

(b) Security.

On all matters of security at its installations, ERDA retains absolute authority and neither the security rules nor their administration are matters for collective bargaining between management and labor. Insofar as ERDA security regulations affect the collective bargaining process, the security policies and regulations will be made known to both parties. To the fullest extent feasible, ERDA will consult with representatives of management and labor in formulating security rules and regulations that affect the collective bargaining process.

(c) Wages, salaries, and employee benefits.

(1) Wages, salaries, and employee benefits shall be administered in a manner designated to adapt normal industry or university practices and conditions to the contract work and to provide for appropriate review by ERDA. Area practices, valid patterns, and well-established commercial or academic practices of the contractors, as appropriate, form the criteria for the establishment and adjustment of compensation schedules.

are

(2) The aspects of wages, hours, and working conditions which the substance of collective bargaining in normal organized industries will be left to the orderly processes of negotiation and agreement between ERDA contractor managements and employee representatives with maximum possible freedom from Government interference.

(d) Employee relations.

The handling of employee relations on contract work, including such matters as the conduct and discipline of the work force and the handling of employee grievances, is part of the normal management responsibility of the contractor.

(e) Collective bargaining.

(1) ERDA review of collective bargaining practices will be premised on the view that management's trusteeship for the operation of the Government facilities includes the duty to adopt practices which are fundamental to the friendly adjustment of disputes, and which experience has shown promote orderly collective bargaining relationships. Practices inconsistent with this view may be objected to if not found to be otherwise clearly warranted.

(2) In line with the policy of assuring continuity of operation of vital facilities, all collective bargaining agreements at Government-owned energy installations should provide that grievances and disputes involving the interpretation or application of the agreement will be settled without resort to strike, lockout, or other interruption to normal operations. For this purpose each collective bargaining agreement should provide an effective grievance procedure with arbitration as its final step, unless the parties mutually agree upon some other method of assuring continuity of operations for the term of the agreement.

(3) ERDA expects its contractors and the unions representing contractor employees to cooperate fully with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and the Atomic Energy Labor-Management Relations Panel established by the President, and which, in the event of failure of the parties to resolve their differences by negotiation, may intervene in the interest of furthering the peaceful processes of collective bargaining and of assuring essential continuity of operations.

ERDA encourages and supports personnel training programs aimed at improving work efficiency or developing needed skills which are not otherwise obtainable. ERDA also encourages participation by its construction contractors in building trades apprenticeship programs under Federal, State, and local apprenticeship standards.

(g) Working conditions.

Accident, fire, health, and occupational hazards associated with ERDA activities will be held to a practical minimum level and controlled in the interest of maintenance of health and prevention of accidents. To this end, contractors are required to maintain comprehensive continuous preventive and protective programs appropriate to the particular activities throughout all operations, subject to ERDA control. Appropriate financial protection in case of occupational disability will be provided employees on ERDA projects.

$9-50.1201-3 Overtime, extra-pay shifts, and multishift work.

(a) The provisions of FPR 1-12.102 and this section apply to procurement by operating and other onsite contractors.

(b) Approvals.

Where the cost to the Government may be affected, approval of hours of work in excess of the normal workweek is justified only in those instances and for those employees when it can be shown that overtime would provide-needed and demonstrable impetus to the accomplishment of ERDA objectives and that all other means of meeting these needs have been considered and found inadequate or not feasible. Accordingly, managers of field offices shall:

to

(1) establish controls to prevent excess casual overtime and assure that such overtime work is in the best interests of the Government. By casual overtime is meant (i) work in excess of the normal workweek (or in excess of an authorized extended workweek) which cannot be regularly scheduled in advance, or (ii) regularly scheduled work in excess of the normal workweek for a period of four consecutive weeks or less; and

(2) establish controls to assure that any use of an extended workweek schedule is in the best interest of the Government. Extended workweek means a workweek regularly scheduled and established in excess of the normal workweek for a period in excess of four consecutive weeks.

$9-50.1201-4 Retention of payroll and associated records.

Under certain contracts for the management and operation of ERDA facilities, for the construction of major facilities, and for necessary miscellaneous construction incidental to the function of these facilities, the title to payroll and associated records is in the Government and such records are disposed of in accordance with ERDA directions. For such contracts, the Solicitor of Labor has granted a tolerance from the Department of Labor Regulations to omit from the prescribed labor clauses the requirement for the retention of payrolls and associated records for a period of three years after completion of the contract. Under this tolerance, the records retention requirements for all labor clauses in the contract and the Fair Labor Standards Act is satisfied by disposal of such records in accordance with ERDA directives.

$9-50.1202 Convict labor.

The provisions of FPR Subpart 1-12.2 apply to procurement by operating and other onsite contractors.