§1594c Services of architects and engineers; use of appropriations; acquisition of sites

Summary

The Secretary of Defense can hire architects, engineers, or firms outside the normal civil service rules. He can choose how to hire them and must not pay more than the fee schedule HUD uses for projects under the United States Housing Act of 1937. The work can include making plans, drawings, and specifications for family housing and related services. Those plans can call for different materials or construction types, including prefabrication, so long as they give substantially equal value and meet HUD standards. Designs made after August 7, 1956 must use a modular approach so the housing can be built by on-site work, factory precutting, factory fabrication, or any mix of these methods. The Secretary can also set aside sites for prefabricated housing. Payment arrangements may allow advance or progress payments, payment by third parties, and government payments that are later reimbursed by those third parties. Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Coast Guard may use available public works funds for these purposes, and any reimbursements go back to the appropriation that paid them. The Secretary can pay HUD’s appraisal and eligibility fees and can arrange for the Government to ultimately acquire, at no cost to the Government, the land and improvements where housing is built.