§8705 Administrative offsets

Summary

A contracting officer can reduce the money the government owes a prime contractor by the amount of a kickback tied to that prime contract. If ordered by the contracting officer, the prime contractor must hold back the same amount from payments it owes a subcontractor. The contracting officer can tell the prime to send the held money to the agency or to keep it if the government already took the amount from the prime. The prime contractor must tell the contracting officer when it keeps money under that second option. Contracting officer: the official definition is in chapter 71 of this title. Any offset or order under these rules counts as a claim by the federal government under chapter 71.