[37 FR 23263, Nov. 1, 1972, as amended at 42 FR 33731, July 1, 1977]

§ 1951.25 Termination.

(a) Discontinuance by agreement. Whenever, in the judgment of the Assistant Secretary and the designated State agency, the continuation of the performance of the grant by the grantee would produce results of no value in furthering the purposes of either the Act or the approved State plan, the parties shall enter into a written agreement terminating the grant.

(b) Termination by the Assistant Secretary for default. Any grant awarded under this part may be revoked or terminated, in whole or in part, by the Assistant Secretary at any time within the period of the grant, whenever he finds that in his judgment the grantee has failed in a material respect to comply with the terms and conditions of the grant or the regulations of this part. The grantee shall be promptly notified of such finding in writing and given the reasons therefor, together with the effective date.

(c) Constructive termination by the Assistant Secretary. If, under the procedures of section 18(f) of the Act, including notice and an opportunity for a hearing, the Assistant Secretary notifies the State agency of his withdrawal of approval of a previously approved State plan, such notice shall operate constructively as notice of termination of any grant awarded under this part.

(d) Termination by the grantee. A grantee may at any time terminate or cancel its performance of an approved grant by notifying the Assistant Secretary in writing setting forth the reasons for such termination.

(e) Accounting. Upon any termination, the grantee shall render an accounting pursuant to Subpart E of this part. Credit shall be allowed to the grantee as a cost under the grant of the amount required to settle, at minimum cost, any noncancelable obligations properly incurred by the grantee prior to receipt of notice of termination.

Subpart D-Special Grant Conditions § 1951.30 Political activity.

Under the provisions of the Federal Hatch Act (Political Activities Act of August 2, 1939, as amended; 5 U.S.C. 1501ff), all State or local agency officers and employees whose principal employment is in connection with activities financed by any grant under this part, irrespective of whether they are under the merit system, are prohibited, with certain exceptions, from:

(a) Using official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with an election or a nomination for office, or affecting the result thereof. (b) Directly or indirectly coercing, attempting to coerce, commanding, or advising any other State or local officer or employee to pay, lend, or contribute any part of his salary or compensation or anything else of value to any party, committee, organization, agency, or person for political purposes.

(c) Actively participating in political management or in political campaigns. § 1951.31

Nondiscrimination.

(a) The State shall comply with the requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d) which provides that no person in the United States shall on the ground of race, color, or national origin be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance and shall comply with the implementing rules issued by the Secretary of Labor with the approval of the President (29 CFR Part 31).

(b) The State shall comply with E.O. 11246 dated September 24, 1965, as amended, with regard to equal employment opportunities, and all rules, regulations, and procedures prescribed pursuant thereto.

§ 1951.32 Procurement standards.

Grantees, when procuring property and services, shall use their own procurement standards and procedures which are based upon their laws, rules, or regulations, which as a minimum shall provide that:

(a) All proposed procurement actions shall be reviewed selectively by grantee officials to avoid purchasing unnecessary or duplicative items. Where appropriate, lease versus purchase considerations shall be given and documented.

(b) All procurements, advertised or negotiated, shall be accomplished by obtaining adequate and effective competition to the maximum practicable extent, unless restricted by the nature and complexity of the material or services being procured. Where sealed bids are obtained by formal advertisement, the awards will be made to the lowest responsible bidder whose bid is responsive to the invitation for bids and is the most advantageous.

(c) Single source procurement and sole source procurements shall be adequately documented to support the selection of vendors and the prices accepted. Procurement by brand names shall be limited to sole source procurements.

(d) The type of contracts or purchase orders used (i.e., fixed price, cost reimbursable, etc.) shall be appropriate for the particular procurement and for promoting the best interest of the grant program involved. A "costplus-a-percentage-of-cost" method of contracting shall not be used.

(e) Solicitation for bids or quotations shall contain a clear and accurate description of the technical requirements for the material, product, or service to be procured and exclude any features which restrict competition.

(f) All procurements shall be conducted so as to avoid any possibility or appearance of collusion or conflict of interest.

(g) A system of contract administration shall be maintained to assure:

(1) Contractor conformance with the terms, conditions, and specifications of the contract or purchase order;

(2) Adequate expediting and timely followup of all purchases.

(h) All contracts awarded by grantees, exclusive of purchase orders, shall provide for unilateral termination by the grantee. In addition, such contracts shall provide for conditions of default and those situations where the contract cannot be completed through no fault of the contractor,

i.e., termination for the convenience of the grantee.

§ 1951.33 Travel.

To the extent the grantee has not established rules or policies which it uniformly applies regardless of source of funds in determining the amounts and types of reimbursable travel expenses, the Standardized Government Travel Regulations (OMB Circular No. A-7)2 shall be applied in determining the amount of grant funds chargeable for travel expenses.

Subpart E-Grantee Accountability

§ 1951.40 Date of final accounting.

In addition to such other accounting as the Assistant Secretary may require, a grantee shall render, with respect to each grant, a full accounting as provided herein, as of a date which shall be either (a) the end of the period covered by the grant or as that date may have have been extended by mutual agreement or (b) the date of termination as provided in § 1951.25, whichever first occurs.

§ 1951.41 Accounting for grant award payments.

With respect to each approved grant, the grantee shall account for the sum total of all amounts paid by presenting or otherwise making available vouchers or any other evidence satisfactory to the Assistant Secretary of expenditures for direct or indirect costs meeting the requirements of § 1951.22: Provided, however, That where the amount awarded for indirect cost was based on a predetermined fixed-percentage of estimated direct costs, the amount allowed for indirect costs shall be computed on the basis of such predetermined fixedpercentage rates applied to the total, or a selected element thereof, of the reimbursable direct costs incurred.

2The Office of Management and Budget Circular No. A-7 instructions are available for inspection at the Regional Administrative Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management, Department of Labor.

§ 1951.42 Accounting for equipment.

(a) As used in this section the term "equipment” means an article of property procured or fabricated, in whole or in part with grant funds, which is complete in itself, is of a durable nature, and has an expected service life of more than 1 year. Equipment on hand as of the date established in § 1951.40 for which accounting is required in accordance with the procedures set forth in the "Occupational Safety and Health Administration Property Administration Guide" 3 shall be identified and reported by the grantee in accordance with such procedures, and, accounted for by one or a combination of the following methods, as determined by the Assistant Secretary:

(1) Retention of equipment for other occupational safety and health projects. Equipment may be used, without adjustment of accounts, on other grants within the scope of the Act or other activities, by the grantee, which the Assistant Secretary determines in writing, fall within the objectives of the Act, and no other accounting for such equipment shall be required: Provided, however, (i) That during such period of use no charge for depreciation, amortization, or for other use of the equipment shall be made against any existing or future Federal grant or contract, and (ii) if, within the period of its useful life, the equipment is transferred by sale or otherwise for use outside the scope of the Act, the Federal portion of the fair market value at the time of transfer shall be refunded to the Federal Government.

(2) Sale or other disposition of equipment, crediting of proceeds or value. The equipment may be sold by the grantee and the net proceeds of the sale credited to the grant account for project use, or they may be used or disposed of in any manner by the grantee by crediting to the grant account the Federal share of the fair market value on the termination date. To the extent equipment purchased from grant funds is used for credit or

'Information concerning the "Guide" may be obtained from the Assistant Regional Directors of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

"trade-in" on the purchase of new equipment, the accounting obligation shall apply to the same extent to such new equipment.

(3) Return or transfer of equipment. The equipment may be returned to the Federal Government by the grantee or may be transferred to another grantee for the purpose of pursuing an objective within the scope of the Act.

(b) The grantee can be relieved of accountability for equipment by request, to the Assistant Secretary, in accordance with instructions in the "Occupational Safety and Health Administration Property Administration Guide" when the property is:

(1) Excess to the grantee's needs; (2) Discovered to be missing from inventory or is destroyed or damaged; (3) Desired by the grantee for cannibalization;

(4) Desired by the grantee for use in a "trade-in" transaction;

(5) Requested for return by the Department; and

(6) Disposed of as required in grant closeout procedures.

§ 1951.43 Program income.

All program income (i.e., licenses, fees for inspection and otherwise, levies, royalties, etc.) except that income excluded below, earned during the grant period shall be retained by the grantee and, in accordance with the grant agreement, shall be deducted from the total project cost for the purpose of determining the net cost on which the Federal share will be based. The income in the two exceptions listed below may be retained by the State without credit to the cost of any grant awarded under this part. The two exceptions are:

(a) All interest income earned by a State government (including State agencies and instrumentalities) on deposits or investments of advance Federal payments of the Federal share of grants awarded under this part, except that interest or other income earned by a local unit of government (e.g., county, municipality, city, town, or school, or any agency or instrumentality of such local unit of government) shall be returned in its entirety to the Department for deposit in the U.S. Treasury.

(b) All revenue from fines and/or penalties.

§ 1951.44 Final settlement.

There shall be payable to the Federal Government as final settlement, with respect to each approved grant, the total sum of:

(a) Any amount not accounted for pursuant to this subpart;

(b) Any credits for equipment as provided in § 1951.42;

(c) Any credits for residual material of a consummable nature, title to which has not been previously waived by the Assistant Secretary;

(d) Any credits for earned income as provided in § 1951.43(a); and

(e) Any other settlements required pursuant to § 1951.43.

Such total sum shall constitute a debt owed by the grantee to the Federal Government and shall be recovered from the grantee or its successors or assignees by set off or other action as provided by law.

(a) The word "contract" shall mean grant awarded under this part; (b) The word "contractor" shall mean grantee;

(c) The term "contracting officer" shall mean the Assistant Secretary or his designee;

(d) The requirements in this section in no way alter, diminish, or in any way affect the responsibilities of the Assistant Secretary under section 18(f) of the Act with regard to a State's failure to comply substantially with any provision of the State plan or the State's remedies, as provided in section 18(g) of the Act, concerning a decision of the Assistant Secretary, under section 18(f), for which decision the State wishes to obtain judicial review.

§ 1951.46 Copyrights and patents.

(a) Any application for a grant award under this part shall constitute the consent of the grantee to give the Federal Government its officers, agents, and employees, acting within the scope of their official duties, a royalty-free, nonexclusive and irrevocable license throughout the world to publish, translate, reproduce, deliver, perform, dispose of and sublicense such subject data or inventions, whether copyrighted or patented, any "subject data" (including writing, sound recordings, pictorial reproduction, drawings, or other graphical representatives and works of any similar nature) or invention, originated in or arising out of activities financed by this grant, whether or not within the scope of the approved State plan.

(b) Laboratory notes, related technical data and information pertaining to inventions or discoveries shall be maintained for such periods, and filed with or otherwise made available to the Assistant Secretary or those he may designate at such times and in such manner as he may determine necessary to carry out such Departmental regulations.

(c) Except as may otherwise be provided under the terms and conditions of the award, the grantee may copyright without prior approval any publications, films, or similar materials developed or resulting from implementation of a State plan supported by a grant under this part, subject, however, to a royalty-free, nonexclusive license or right in the Federal Government to reproduce, translate, publish, use, disseminate, and dispose of such materials and to authorize others to do so.

(d) Appropriate measures shall be taken by the grantee and by the Assistant Secretary to assure that no contracts, assignments, or other arrangements inconsistent with this grant obligation are continued or entered into and that all personnel involved in the supported activity are aware of and comply with such obligation.

§ 1951.47 Retention and custody of records.

(a) Record retention requirements, for the designated State agencies, established by the State governments receiving grants under this part are deemed adequate except that financial records, supporting documents, statistical records, and all other records pertinent to a grant program shall be retained for a period of 3 years, with the following qualifications:

(1) The records shall be retained beyond the 3-year period if audit findings have not been resolved.

(2) Records for nonexpendable property which was acquired with Federal grant funds shall be retained for 3 years after final disposition of the property.

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

(b) The retention period starts from the date of the submission of the final expenditure report or, for grants which are renewed annually, from the date of the submission of the annual expenditure report.

(c) State agencies are authorized, if they so desire, to substitute microfilm copies in lieu of original records.

(d) The Assistant Secretary shall request transfer of certain records to his custody from State governments when he determines that the records possess long-term retention value. However, in order to avoid duplicate recordkeeping, he may make arrangements with State governments concerning the retention of any records which are continuously needed for joint use.

(e) The Secretary and 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 State governments and their subgrantees or subcontractors which are pertinent to a specific grant program for the purpose of making audit, examination, evaluation, excerpts and transcripts. As used in this subsection, political subdivisions, e.g., counties, cities, towns, etc., are, to the extent their relationship to the designated State agency is applicable, considered to be subgrantees or subcontractors.

The substance of this subsection shall be inserted in any subgrant or subcontract entered into by the designated State agency under any grant awarded under this part.

(f) No restriction is placed on State agencies which limits public access to the State governments' records except when records must remain confidential for the following reasons:

(1) To prevent a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

(2) To specifically comply with a Federal Executive order or statute requiring the record to be kept secret.

(3) To protect commercial or financial information obtained from a person or firm on a privileged or confidential basis.

(4) To avoid the disclosure of any other information which can be exploited for the purpose of personal gains.