304 (b) 41 U.S.C. 255 practical to secure property or services of the kind or quality contract. (c) All contracts negotiated without advertising pursuant to authority contained in this Act shall include a clause to the effect that the Comptroller General of the United States or any of his duly authorized representatives shall until the expiration of three years after final payment have access to and the right to examine any directly pertinent books, documents, papers, and records of the contractor or any of his subcontractors engaged in the performance of and involving transactions related to such contracts or subcontracts. Under regulations to be prescribed by the Administrator, however, such clause may be omitted from contracts with foreign contractors or foreign subcontractors if the agency head determines, with the concurrence of the Comptroller General of the United States or his designee, that the omission will serve the best interests of the United States. However, the concurrence of the Comptroller General of the United States or his designee is not required for the omission of such clause (1) where the contractor or subcontractor is a foreign government or agency thereof or is precluded by the laws of the country involved from making its books, documents, papers, or records available for examination; and (2) where the agency head determines, after taking If the clause is omitted based on a determination under ADVANCE PAYMENTS SEC. 305. (a) Any executive agency may (1) make advance, partial, progress or other payments under contracts for property or services made by the agency; and (2) insert in bid solicitations for procurement of = property or services a provision limiting to small business concerns advance or progress payments. (b) Payments made under subsection (a) may not exceed the unpaid contract price. (c) Advance payments under subsection (a) may be made only upon adequate security and a determination by the agency head that to do so would be in the public interest. Such security may be in the form of a lien in favor of the Government on the property contracted for, on the balance in an account in which such payments are deposited, and on such of the property acquired for performance of the contract as the parties may agree. This lien shall be paramount to all other liens. WAIVER OF LIQUIDATED DAMAGES SEC. 306. [Repealed.] ADMINISTRATIVE DETERMINATIONS AND DELEGATIONS 307 (d) SEC. 307. (a) The determinations and decisions provided 41 U.S.C. 257 in this title to be made by the Administrator or other agency head may be made with respect to individual purchases and contracts or with respect to classes of purchases or contracts, and shall be final. Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, and except as provided in section 205 (d) with respect to the Administrator, the agency head is authorized to delegate his powers provided by this title, including the making of such determinations and decisions, in his discretion and subject to his direction, to any other officer or officers or officials of the agency. (b) The power of the agency head to make the determinations or decisions specified in paragraphs (12) and (13) of section 302 (c) shall not be delegable, and the power to make the determinations or decisions specified in paragraph (11) of section 302 (c) shall be delegable only to a chief officer responsible for procurement and only with respect to contracts which will not require the expenditure of more than $25.000. (c) Each determination or decision required by paragraphs (11), (12), (13), or (14) of section 302 (c), by section 304 or by section 305 (c) shall be based upon written findings made by the official making such determination, which findings shall be final and shall be available within the agency for a period of at least six years following the date of the determination. A copy of the findings shall be submitted to the General Accounting Office with the contract. (d) In any case where any purchase or contract is negotiated pursuant to the provisions of section 302 (c), except in a case covered by paragraphs (2), (3), (4), (5), or (6) thereof, the data with respect to the negotiation shall be preserved in the files of the agency for a period of six years following final payment on such contract. 41 U.S.C. 258 41 U.S.C. 259 41 U.S.C. 260 STATUTES CONTINUED IN EFFECT SEC. 308. No purchase or contract shall be exempt from the Act of June 30, 1936 (49 Stat. 2036, as amended; 41 U.S.C. 35 to 45), or from the Act of March 3, 1931 (46 Stat. 1494, as amended; 40 U.S.C. 276a to 276a-6), solely by reason of having been entered into pursuant to section 302 (c) hereof without advertising, and the provisions of said Acts and of the Act of June 19, 1912 (37 Stat. 137, as amended; 40 U.S.C. 324 and 325a), if otherwise applicable, shall apply to such purchases and contracts. DEFINITIONS SEC. 309. As used in this title (a) The term "agency head" shall mean the head or any assistant head of any executive agency, and may at the option of the Administrator include the chief official of any principal organizational unit of the General Services Administration. (b) [Repealed.] STATUTES NOT APPLICABLE SEC. 310. Sections 3709, 3710, and 3735 of the Revised Statutes, as amended (41 U.S.C. 5, 8, and 13), shall not apply to the procurement of property or services made by an executive agency pursuant to this title. Any provision of law which authorizes an executive agency (other than an executive agency which is exempted from the provisions of this title by section 302 (a) of this Act), to procure any property or services without advertising or without regard to said section 3709 shall be construed to authorize the procurement of such property or services pursuant to section 302 (c) (15) of this Act without regard to the advertising requirements of sections 302 (c) and 303 of this Act. and efficient management of the records of the agency. Such program shall, among other things, provide for (1) effective controls over the creation, maintenance, and use of records in the conduct of current business; (2) cooperation with the Administrator in applying standards, procedures, and techniques designed to improve the management of records, promote the maintenance and security of records deemed appropriate for preservation, and facilitate the segregation and disposal of records of temporary value; and (3) compliance with the provisions of this title and the regulations issued thereunder. (c) Whenever the head of a Federal agency determines that substantial economies or increased operating efficiency can be effected thereby, he shall provide for the storage, processing, and servicing of records that are appropriate therefor in a records center maintained and operated by the Administrator or, when approved by the Administrator, in such a center maintained and operated by the head of such Federal agency. (d) Any official of the Government who is authorized to certify to facts on the basis of records in his custody, is hereby authorized to certify to facts on the basis of records that have been transferred by him or his predecessors to the Administrator, and may authorize the Administrator to certify to facts and to make administrative determinations on the basis of records transferred to the Administrator, notwithstanding any other provisions of law. (e) The head of each Federal agency shall establish such safeguards against the removal or loss of records as he shall determine to be necessary and as may be required by regulations of the Administrator. Such safeguards shall include making it known to all officials and employees of the agency (1) that no records in the custody of the agency are to be alienated or destroyed except in accordance with the provisions of the Act approved July 7, 1943 (57 Stat. 380383), as amended July 6, 1945 (59 Stat. 434), and (2) the penalties provided by law for the unlawful removal or destruction of records. (f) The head of each Federal agency shall notify the Administrator of any actual, impending, or threatened unlawful removal, defacing, alteration, or destruction of records in the custody of the agency of which he is the head that shall come to his attention, and with the assistance of the Administrator shall initiate action through the Attorney General for the recovery of records he knows or has reason to believe have been unlawfully removed from his agency, or from any other Federal agency whose records have been transferred to his legal custody. (g) Nothing in this title shall be construed as limiting the authority of the Comptroller General of the United States with respect to prescribing accounting systems, forms, and procedures, or lessening the responsibility of collecting and disbursing officers for rendition of their accounts for settlement by the General Accounting Office. 506 (g) 44 U.S.C. 397 ARCHIVAL ADMINISTRATION SEC. 507. (a) The Administrator, whenever it appears to him to be in the public interest, is hereby authorized— (1) to accept for deposit with the National Archives of the United States the records of any Federal agency or of the Congress of the United States that are determined by the Archivist to have sufficient historical or other value to warrant their continued preservation by the United States Government; (2) to direct and effect the transfer to the National Archives of the United States of any records of any Federal agency that have been in existence for more than fifty years and that are determined by the Archivist to have sufficient historical or other value to warrant their continued preservation by the United States Government, unless the head of the agency which has custody of them shall certify in writing to the Administrator that they must be retained in his custody for use in the conduct of the regular current business of the said agency. (3) to direct and effect, with the approval of the head of the originating agency (or if the existence of such agency shall have been terminated, then with the approval of his successor in function, if any), the transfer of records deposited (or approved for deposit) with the National Archives of the United States to public or educational institutions or associations: Provided, That the title to such records shall remain vested in the United States unless otherwise authorized by Congress; and (4) to direct and effect the transfer of materials from private sources authorized to be received by the Administrator by the provisions of subsection (e) of this section. (b) The Administrator shall be responsible for the custody, use, and withdrawal of records transferred to him: Provided, That whenever any records the use of which is subject to statutory limitations and restrictions are so transferred, permissive and restrictive statutory provisions with respect to the examination and use of such records applicable to the head of the agency from which the records were transferred or to employees of that agency shall thereafter likewise be applicable to the Administrator, the Archivist, and to the employees of the General Services Administration, respectively: Provided further, That whenever the head of any agency shall specify in writing restrictions that appear to him to be necessary or desirable in the public. interest, on the use or examination of records being considered for transfer from his custody to the Administrator, the Administrator shall impose such restrictions on the records so transferred, and shall not remove or relax such restrictions without the concurrence in writing of the head of the agency from which the material shall have been trans |