§4507 — Title 10 Armed Forces | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary of Defense must write rules so professional and technical services are bought for the job to be done, not just for the number of hours billed. For hourly contracts, the rules must limit use of those contracts and set approval steps and standards; make sure proposals aren’t judged in a way that pushes contractors to work unpaid overtime; give extra weight to technical quality when choosing offers; require showing any hours over 40-hour weeks; warn bidders if very low labor rates or unrealistic costs create risk; and tell contracting officers how to prevent unpaid overtime from hurting technical skill.

Title 10, §4507

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary of Defense shall prescribe regulations to ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, that professional and technical services are acquired on the basis of the task to be performed rather than on the basis of the number of hours of services provided.

(b)With respect to contracts to acquire services on the basis of the number of hours of services provided, the regulations described in subsection (a) shall—

(1)include standards and approval procedures to minimize the use of such contracts;

(2)establish criteria to ensure that proposals for contracts for technical and professional services are evaluated on a basis which does not encourage contractors to propose uncompensated overtime;

(3)ensure appropriate emphasis on technical and quality factors in the source selection process;

(4)require identification of any hours in excess of 40-hour weeks included in a proposal;

(5)ensure that offerors are notified that proposals which include unrealistically low labor rates or which do not otherwise demonstrate cost realism will be considered in a risk assessment and evaluated appropriately; and

(6)provide guidance to contracting officers to ensure that any use of uncompensated overtime will not degrade the level of technical expertise required to perform the contract.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 4507, act Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 253, which related to sale of ordnance and ordnance stores to designers, was repealed by Pub. L. 103–160, div. A, title VIII, § 822(b)(3), Nov. 30, 1993, 107 Stat. 1706.

Amendments

2021—Pub. L. 116–283 renumbered section 2331 of this title as this section. 2001—Pub. L. 107–107 substituted “Procurement of services: contracts” for “Contracts” in section catchline. 1994—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 103–355 struck out text and heading of subsec. (c). Text read as follows: “(1) The Secretary of Defense may waive the limitation in section 2304(j)(4) of this title on the total value of task orders for specific contracting activities to the extent the Secretary considers the use of master agreements necessary in order to further the policy set forth in subsection (a). “(2) During any fiscal year, such a waiver may not increase the total value of task orders under master agreements of a contracting activity by more than 20 percent of the value of all contracts for advisory and assistance services awarded by that contracting activity during fiscal year 1989. “(3) Such a waiver shall not become effective until 60 days after the Secretary of Defense has published notice thereof in the Federal Register.” 1991—Subsec. (c)(1). Pub. L. 102–25 struck out “on a case-by-case basis” after “value of task orders”, substituted “considers the use of master agreements necessary” for “considers necessary the use of master agreements”, and struck out “of this section” before period at end.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2021 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 116–283 effective Jan. 1, 2022, with additional provisions for delayed implementation and applicability of existing law, see section 1801(d) of Pub. L. 116–283, set out as a note preceding section 3001 of this title.

Effective Date

of 1994 AmendmentFor

Effective Date

and applicability of amendment by Pub. L. 103–355, see section 10001 of Pub. L. 103–355, set out as a note under section 8752 of this title.

Regulations

Pub. L. 101–510, div. A, title VIII, § 834(b), Nov. 5, 1990, 104 Stat. 1614, provided that: “Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Nov. 5, 1990], the Secretary of Defense shall publish for public comment new

Regulations

to carry out the requirements in this section [enacting this section]. The Secretary shall promulgate final

Regulations

to carry out such requirements not later than 270 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.” Provisions Not Affected by Pub. L. 103–355Repeal of subsec. (c) of this section by Pub. L. 103–355 not to be construed as modifying or superseding, or as intended to impair or restrict, authorities or responsibilities under former 40 U.S.C. 759 or chapter 11 of Title 40, Public Buildings, Property, and Works, see section 1004(d) of Pub. L. 103–355, set out as a note preceding section 3401 of this title.

§4507 Procurement of services: contracts for professional and technical services

Summary

Title 10, §4507

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

Amendments

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Effective Date

Effective Date

Regulations

Regulations

Regulations

Citations & Metadata