U.S. Code > Title 31 Money and Finance > SUBTITLE III—FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT (§§ 3101—3907) > CHAPTER 39—PROMPT PAYMENT (§§ 3901—3907) > § 3903. Regulations

§ 3903. Regulations

(a) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall prescribe regulations to carry out section 3902 of this title. The regulations shall—
(1) provide that the required payment date is—
(A) the date payment is due under the contract for the item of property or service provided; or
(B) 30 days after a proper invoice for the amount due is received if a specific payment date is not established by contract;
(2) for the acquisition of meat or a meat food product (as defined in section 2(a)(3) of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 (7 U.S.C. 182 (3))), including any edible fresh or frozen poultry meat, any perishable poultry meat food product, fresh eggs, and any perishable egg product, or of fresh or frozen fish (as defined in section 204(3) of the Fish and Seafood Promotion Act of 1986 (16 U.S.C. 4003 (3)), provide a required payment date of not later than 7 days after the meat, meat food product, or fish is delivered; and
(3) for the acquisition of a perishable agricultural commodity (as defined in section 1(4) [1] of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499a (4))), provide a required payment date consistent with that Act;
(4) for the acquisition of dairy products (as defined in section 111(e) of the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 4502 (e)), the acquisition of edible fats or oils, and the acquisition of food products prepared from edible fats or oils, provide a required payment date of not later than 10 days after the date on which a proper invoice for the amount due has been received by the agency acquiring such dairy products, fats, oils, or food products;
(5) require periodic payments, in the case of a property or service contract which does not prohibit periodic payments for partial deliveries or other contract performance during the contract period, upon—
(A) submission of an invoice for property delivered or services performed during the contract period, if an invoice is required by the contract; and
(B) either—
(i) acceptance of the property or services by an employee of an agency authorized to accept the property or services; or
(ii) the making of a determination by such an employee, that the performance covered by the payment conforms to the terms and conditions of the contract;
(6) in the case of a construction contract, provide for the payment of interest on—
(A) a progress payment (including a monthly percentage-of-completion progress payment or milestone payments for completed phases, increments, or segments of any project) that is approved as payable by the agency pursuant to subsection (b) of this section and remains unpaid for—
(i) a period of more than 14 days after receipt of the payment request by the place or person designated by the agency to first receive such requests; or
(ii) a longer period, specified in the solicitation, if required to afford the Government a practicable opportunity to adequately inspect the work and to determine the adequacy of the contractor’s performance under the contract; and
(B) any amounts which the agency has retained pursuant to a prime contract clause providing for retaining a percentage of progress payments otherwise due to a contractor and that are approved for release to the contractor, if such retained amounts are not paid to the contractor by a date specified in the contract or, in the absence of such a specified date, by the 30th day after final acceptance;
(7) require that—
(A) each invoice be reviewed as soon as practicable after receipt for the purpose of determining that such an invoice is a proper invoice within the meaning of section 3901 (a)(3) of this title;
(B) any invoice determined not to be such a proper invoice suitable for payment shall be returned as soon as practicable, but not later than 7 days, after receipt, specifying the reasons that the invoice is not a proper invoice; and
(C) the number of days available to an agency to make a timely payment of an invoice without incurring an interest penalty shall be reduced by the number of days by which an agency exceeds the requirements of subparagraph (B) of this paragraph;
(8) permit an agency to make payment up to 7 days prior to the required payment date, or earlier as determined by the agency to be necessary on a case-by-case basis; and
(9) prescribe the methods for computing interest under section 3903 (c) [1] of this title.
(b)
(1) A payment request may not be approved under subsection (a)(6)(A) of this section unless the application for such payment includes—
(A) substantiation of the amounts requested; and
(B) a certification by the prime contractor, to the best of the contractor’s knowledge and belief, that—
(i) the amounts requested are only for performance in accordance with the specifications, terms, and conditions of the contract;
(ii) payments to subcontractors and suppliers have been made from previous payments received under the contract, and timely payments will be made from the proceeds of the payment covered by the certification, in accordance with their subcontract agreements and the requirements of this chapter; and
(iii) the application does not include any amounts which the prime contractor intends to withhold or retain from a subcontractor or supplier in accordance with the terms and conditions of their subcontract.
(2) The agency shall return any such payment request which is defective to the contractor within 7 days after receipt, with a statement identifying the defect.
(c) A contract for the procurement of subsistence items that is entered into under the prime vendor program of the Defense Logistics Agency may specify for the purposes of section 3902 of this title a single required payment date that is to be applicable to an invoice for subsistence items furnished under the contract when more than one payment due date would otherwise be applicable to the invoice under the regulations prescribed under paragraphs (2), (3), and (4) of subsection (a) or under any other provisions of law. The required payment date specified in the contract shall be consistent with prevailing industry practices for the subsistence items, but may not be more than 10 days after the date of receipt of the invoice or the certified date of receipt of the items. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall provide in the regulations under subsection (a) that when a required payment date is so specified for an invoice, no other payment due date applies to the invoice.
(d)
(1) The contracting officer shall—
(A) compute the interest which a contractor shall be obligated to pay under sections 3905 (a)(2) and 3905 (e)(6) of this title on the basis of the average bond equivalent rates of 91-day Treasury bills auctioned at the most recent auction of such bills prior to the date the contractor received the unearned amount; and
(B) deduct the interest amount determined under subparagraph (A) of this paragraph from the next available payment to the contractor.
(2) Amounts deducted from payments to contractors under paragraph (1)(B) shall revert to the Treasury.

[1] See References in Text note below.