§4711 — Title 41 Public Contracts | U.S. Code

Summary

Requires the Federal Acquisition Regulation to give executive agencies (same meaning as in section 133 of this title), except the Department of Defense, clear rules on how to use award and incentive fees in government contracts. The rules must link fees to outcomes (cost, schedule, and performance); set who can approve using fees; explain when performance is “excellent” or “superior” and how much of the fee to pay; set payment levels for ratings like acceptable, average, expected, good, or satisfactory; forbid payments for below‑satisfactory work; say when unearned fees can be rolled over; keep definitions consistent across the government; require each agency to collect and regularly review fee data; include measures to judge fee effectiveness; and share proven incentive practices among officials. The Department of Defense remains under the Secretary of Defense guidance in section 814 of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 (Public Law 109–364, 10 U.S.C. 2302 note).

Title 41, §4711

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(a)In this section, the term “executive agency” has the same meaning given in section 133 of this title.

(b)The Federal Acquisition Regulation shall provide executive agencies other than the Department of Defense with instructions, including definitions, on the appropriate use of award and incentive fees in Federal acquisition programs.

(c)The regulations under subsection (b) shall—

(1)ensure that all new contracts using award fees link the fees to acquisition outcomes (which shall be defined in terms of program cost, schedule, and performance);

(2)establish standards for identifying the appropriate level of officials authorized to approve the use of award and incentive fees in new contracts;

(3)provide guidance on the circumstances in which contractor performance may be judged to be “excellent” or “superior” and the percentage of the available award fee which contractors should be paid for the performance;

(4)establish standards for determining the percentage of the available award fee, if any, which contractors should be paid for performance that is judged to be “acceptable”, “average”, “expected”, “good”, or “satisfactory”;

(5)ensure that no award fee may be paid for contractor performance that is judged to be below satisfactory performance or performance that does not meet the basic requirements of the contract;

(6)provide specific direction on the circumstances, if any, in which it may be appropriate to roll over award fees that are not earned in one award fee period to a subsequent award fee period or periods;

(7)ensure consistent use of guidelines and definitions relating to award and incentive fees across the Federal Government;

(8)ensure that each executive agency—

(A)collects relevant data on award and incentive fees paid to contractors; and

(B)has mechanisms in place to evaluate the data on a regular basis;

(9)include performance measures to evaluate the effectiveness of award and incentive fees as a tool for improving contractor performance and achieving desired program outcomes; and

(10)provide mechanisms for sharing proven incentive strategies for the acquisition of different types of products and services among contracting and program management officials.

(d)The Department of Defense shall continue to be subject to guidance on award and incentive fees issued by the Secretary of Defense pursuant to section 814 of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 (Public Law 109–364, 10 U.S.C. 2302 note).

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 471141:251 note.Pub. L. 110–417, [div. A], title VIII, § 867, Oct. 14, 2008, 122 Stat. 4551. In subsection (b), the words “Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act” are omitted because of section 6(f) of the bill. The words “shall provide” are substituted for “shall be amended to provide” to reflect the permanence of the provision.

§4711 Linking of award and incentive fees to acquisition outcomes

Summary

Title 41, §4711

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Citations & Metadata