account of the National Shipping Authority only such emergency repairs outside the Continental United States as may be necessary to enable vessels to complete their voyages, provided the repair costs are not in excess of $5,000 per vessel.

Sec. 3. General Agents' responsibilities.

In the event the cost of emergency repairs to a vessel in a foreign port is estimated to exceed $5,000, requests for approval shall be transmitted by General Agents by cable or wire addressed to Chief, Division of Ship Repair and Maintenance, National Shipping Authority, Washington, DC 20590, and shall include the following information:

(a) The cost and time to effect permanent repairs on a straight time and overtime basis;

(b) The cost and time to effect such temporary repairs on a straight time and overtime basis as will enable the vessel to return to the United States under its own power or under tow;

(c) Whether required repairs can be effected by the use of facilities under the direct control of the Army, Navy, or other agencies of the United States Government, and if so, at what cost and time; and

(d) Where major repairs are involved, a recommendation regarding the advisability of repairing the vessel or abandoning it.

[SRM-2, 16 FR 5321, June 6, 1951, as amended at 33 FR 5952, Apr. 18, 1968. Redesignated at 45 FR 44587, July 1, 1980]

Sec. 4. General provisions.

The General Agents shall keep the Division of Ship Repair and Maintenance in Washington fully posted in detail as to the nature, extent, cost, and estimated time for completion of all foreign repairs where such repairs are for the account of the National Shipping Authority.

As soon as practicable after completion of either temporary or permanent repairs, the General Agent shall forward to the Division of Ship Repair and Maintenance, Washington, DC the following:

(a) A copy of the repair specifications;

(b) An itemized statement of the costs of the repairs supported by copies of invoices;

(c) A copy of the completion certificate showing the repair period, signature of a National Shipping Authority representative (if available), the Agent's technical representative, the Chief Engineer, and the Master of the vessel;

(d) A report indicating the causes and circumstances leading to the repairs. General Agents shall forthwith instruct their subagents and other representatives in foreign areas and their Masters and Chief Engineers with respect to their operations, pursuant to this directive.

This directive is intended strictly to limit repairs in foreign waters on vessels under National Shipping Authority control to those absolutely necessary to enable the vessels to complete their respective voyages at a port in the United States.

This directive shall not be construed to affect outstanding directives of the Office of the Comptroller.

NOTE: Records and supporting documents referred to in the above order, shall be retained until the completion of the audit by the General Accounting Office, at which time the Maritime Administration will take custody of the records.

Section 1. What this order does.

This order outlines General Agents' limited authority to arrange for and award contracts for voyage repairs and servicing equipment of vessels operated for the account of the National Shipping Authority under General Agency Agreement.

[SRM-3, Rev., 18 FR 5035, Aug. 22, 1953. Redesignated at 45 FR 44587, July 1, 1980]

Sec. 2. General Agents' authority.

The General Agents are:

(a) Hereby delegated authority to arrange for and award contracts for voyage repairs on vessels operated under the General Agency Agreement for the account of the National Shipping Authority when the aggregate cost of all such repairs in any one Continental United States port is not in excess of $25,000.

(b) Also delegated authority to arrange for and order the performance of minor repairs to or servicing of pantry and galley equipment, radios, gyro compasses, fathometers, radio direction finders, fire extinguisher systems, ships clocks, binoculars, barometers, typewriters, adding machines, and any other vessel equipment of a similar nature where the aggregate amount does not exceed $2,500 in any one continental United States port.

[SRM-3, Rev., 18 FR 5035, Aug. 22, 1953, as amended by Amdt. 2, 31 FR 16713, Dec. 30, 1966. Redesignated at 45 FR 44587, July 1, 1980]

Sec. 3. General provisions.

(a) The voyage repairs, as covered by section 2(a), may be awarded by the General Agents within the limitation specified under the Master Repair Contract if the contractor is a holder thereof or if the contractor does not hold a Master Repair Contract under NSA-WORKSMALREP if the contract price does not exceed $2,000 and said contract is made in accordance with NSA Order 46 (SRM-5, Revised) and NSA Order 51 (SRM-6, Revised).

(b) The repairs to or servicing of ships equipment, as covered by section 2(b), may be awarded by the General Agents, within the limitation specified, by letter or purchase order.

(c) It is to be understood by all General Agents that the authority delegated by this order is not to be construed to cover alterations, additions, changes or betterments.

(d) The prime General Agents shall submit, in duplicate, to the Atlantic, Gulf or Pacific Coast Director, Maritime Administration, within whose District the Agents home offices are situated a monthly listing of all awards made by the General Agents and their Sub-Agents. This listing shall reflect individually the contractor, complete contract number, vessel, type of award, e.g., negotiated or bid, cost and repair period. This listing is to be submitted substantially in the following form:

Sec. 2. Submission of repair entries.

At the first United States port of arrival upon termination of a foreign voyage, the ship's Master must file with the District Director of Customs as defined in 19 CFR 1.1(d) an affidavit on Custom's Form 3417 certifying that no equipment was purchased for or repairs made to the ship at a foreign port or if this is not the case, an affidavit on Custom's Form 3415 describing the equipment purchased and/or repairs made. If equipment was purchased and/ or repairs were made in a foreign port, the Master simultaneously with or shortly after filing of Custom's Form 3415, must file a repair entry on Custom's Form 7535 together with invoices and required supporting documents.

[16 FR 9658, Sept. 21, 1951, as amended at 33 FR 5952, Apr. 18, 1968. Redesignated at 45 FR 44587, July 1, 1980]

Sec. 3. Application for remission of duties.

An application for relief from the payment of duties imposed is to be filed with the District Director of Customs as defined in 19 CFR 1.1(d) if the following circumstances prevail:

(a) When an item covered by the entry is not within the class of items liable to duty (i.e., that the item does not constitute equipment, repair parts or materials within the meaning of section 466 of the Tariff Act of 1930);

(b) When the purchase of the equipment, repair parts or materials or the making of the repairs was necessitated by stress of weather and/or other casualty encountered during the regular course of the particular voyage and was necessary to secure the safety and seaworthiness of the vessel; or

(c) When the equipment, repair parts or materials were manufactured or produced in the United States and the labor involved was performed by residents of the United States or by members of the regular crew of the vessel. To insure consideration in the liquidation (i.e., the assessment of duty) of the entry, the application for relief must be filed within 90 days from the date of the entry, except in meritorious cases, the District Director may grant an extension of 90 more days upon written request therefor.

[16 FR 9658, Sept. 21, 1961, as amended at 33 FR 5952, Apr. 18, 1968. Redesignated at 45 FR 44587, July 1, 1980]

Sec. 4. Evidence required.

When relief is claimed on the grounds of stress of weather or other casualty, there must be submitted to the Collector the following:

(a) An affidavit of the Master which shall set out fully the nature of the casualty and/or stress of weather encountered; when and where the casualty and/or stress of weather OCcurred; nature of the damage sustained; the port where the repairs were made or the equipment purchased and a statement of the Master as to whether the repairs or equipment purchased were required to secure the safety or seaworthiness of the vessel to enable her to reach a port of destination in the United States;

(b) Itemized invoices covering the cost of repairs made or equipment purchased;

(c) Abstracts of the vessel's log;

(d) Classification surveyor's report confirming vessel's classification when the repairs were made in order to insure seaworthiness.

The Master shall certify as true copies or originals, as the case may be, one copy of each repair bill, abstract of vessel's log, survey report and other documents used in support of the application for relief. If a document is written in a foreign language, it should be accompanied by a translation certified to be accurate.

Sec. 5. General Agent's authority to effect payment of duties.

(a) In those cases where the conditions outlined in section 3 of SRM-4 do not prevail, the General Agent shall effect payment of duties imposed by Customs and shall include the expenditure in the voyage accounts of the vessel. In those cases where the conditions as outlined in section 3 of SRM-4 do prevail, the General Agent shall exhaust every means toward obtaining remission of duty imposed.

(b) Should the General Agent fail to obtain remission of duties in such cases, he shall refer the matter to the appropriate Coast Director for his (The Director) determination as to whether further appeal to the Bureau of Customs is warranted or that payment of duty should be made by the General Agent.

NOTE: Records and supporting documents referred to in the above order, shall be retained until the completion of the audit by the General Accounting Office, at which time the Maritime Administration will take custody of the records.

[SRM-4, 16 FR 9658, Sept. 21, 1951, as amended by Amdt. 1, 18 FR 5035, Aug. 22, 1953; 21 FR 8106, Oct. 23, 1956. Redesignated at 45 FR 44587, July 1, 1980]

Section 1. What this order does.

This order cancels NSA Order No. 32 (SRM-1); and outlines the procedure to be followed by the several Coast Directors, their field Ship Repair and Maintenance Staffs, the General Agents of the Authority, and the ship repair contractors in the award and performance of vessel repairs under the National Shipping Authority Master Repair Contract, NSA-LUMPSUMREP. The Coast Directors, field Ship Repair and Maintenance Staffs and the General Agents shall be referred to hereafter in this

order as representatives of the Authority.

Sec. 2. Use of contract for competitive

bid and negotiated price awards.

(a) The NSA-LUMPSUMREP Contract is a Master form of fixed price contract and is applicable to ship repair work awarded as a result of competitive bidding or negotiation. As a general rule all work awarded under the NSA-LUMPSUMREP Contract must be awarded upon the basis of competitive bids. Revised Statute section 3709 (41 U.S.C. 5), which requires the award of contracts on the basis of competitive bids, however, permits award upon a negotiated basis in certain situations, that is, “where immediate delivery or performance is required by the public exigency."

(b) There are set forth in paragraphs (b)(1) to (3) of this section three (3) examples of situations where the negotiation of fixed price awards for the accomplishment of work under the NSALUMPSUMREP Contract will be permitted in lieu of competitive bidding:

(1) Where the desired results from competitive bidding cannot be obtained. For example, where there is doubt as to the reality of competition or the fairness or reasonableness of a low bid, all bids shall be rejected. If the ship's availability permits a new Invitation for Bids for the work in question shall be issued. If the bids received as a result of the second invitation are not considered satisfactory the bids are to be again rejected and prices of all specification items are to be negotiated with and the job awarded to the lowest bidder. If the low bidder refuses to accept the award upon the condition referred to the offer of award subject to price negotiation may be made to the next lowest bidder, etc. Negotiated awards in such cases shall be made in accordance with the conditions set forth on the invitation form, e.g., time specified, liquidated damages, etc. If a satisfactory price cannot be secured by negotiation with the bidders as herein proved an award may be made upon a negotiated basis approved in section 5 of this order.

(2) Where the element of time is paramount. There will be instances where expeditious ship turnarounds will ne

cessitate the award of work without the delay involved in awarding on the basis of competitive bids. In such cases immediate negotiation for a fixed price with one contractor will be permissible. However, full consideration must be given to the factors involved in order to determine whether, under the circumstances, the time requirements make necessary the negotiation of price rather than using the competitive bid procedure. Such relevant factors are the individual ship's commitments with respect to loading berths, sailing dates, and the charter hire, etc., that might accrue in the event additional ship lay-time is required because of competitive bidding. Definite dollar and time values cannot be established as specific guides for determining when to negotiate. The individual ship and circumstances involved are the governing elements. The practice of consistently favoring one contractor where this type of repair is required will not be permitted but instead, to the maximum extent possible, all qualified contractors in the particular port shall be given the opportunity to perform work for the National Shipping Authority.

(3) Extra items of work found subsequent to the awarding of the work covered by the original specifications. Where extra items of work are required after the commencement of the awarded work, it is permissible to negotiate with the contractor who is performing the awarded work, for the accomplishment of such extra work under the provisions of Article 6 of the NSALUMPSUMREP Contract. A discussion of this procedure is set out in section 8 of this order. However, where items of extra work are found after examinations have been made as called for by the original specifications, negotiation with the contractor to perform such items of extra work shall be permitted only if the aggregate estimated cost of such items of extra work would not amount to a substantial part of the entire job. If the items of extra work amount to a substantial part of the entire job, they shall be awarded in the same manner and after consideration of the same factors as are set forth above for awarding original work.