§ 118. Administration
(a)
Records and forms
The Administrator of General Services shall establish policies for such supervision and review within the contracting agencies of termination settlements and interim financing as he deems necessary and appropriate to prevent and detect fraud and to assure uniformity in administration and to provide for expeditious settlements. For this purpose he shall prescribe such records to be prepared by the contracting agencies and by war contractors as he deems necessary in connection with such settlements and interim financing. He shall seek to reduce the amount of record keeping, reporting, and accounting in connection with the settlement of termination claims and interim financing to the minimum compatible with the reasonable protection of the public interest. Each contracting agency shall prescribe forms for use by war contractors in connection with termination settlements and interim financing to the extent it deems necessary and feasible.
(c)
Advance notice on cut-backs
The Administrator of General Services, by regulation, shall provide for making available to any interested Government agency such advance notice and other information on cut-backs in war production resulting from terminations or failures to renew or extend war contracts, as he deems necessary and appropriate.
(d)
Investigations
The Administrator of General Services shall make such investigations as he deems necessary or desirable in connection with termination settlements and interim financing. For this purpose he may utilize the facilities of any existing agencies and if he determines that the facilities of existing agencies are inadequate, he may establish a unit in the General Services Administration to supplement and facilitate the work of existing agencies. He shall report to the Department of Justice any information received by him indicating any fraudulent practices, for appropriate action.
(e)
Certification of fraudulent settlements to Department of Justice
Whenever any contracting agency or the Administrator of General Services believes that any settlement was induced by fraud, the agency or Administrator of General Services shall report the facts to the Department of Justice. Thereupon,
(1)
the Department of Justice shall make an investigation to determine whether such settlement was induced by fraud, and
(2)
until the Department of Justice notifies the contracting agency that in its opinion the facts do not support the belief that the settlement was induced by fraud, the contracting agency, by set-off or otherwise, may withhold, from amounts owing to the war contractor by the United States under such settlement or otherwise, the amount of the settlement, or the portion thereof, which, in its opinion, was affected by the fraud. In any such case the Department of Justice shall take such action as it deems appropriate to recover payments made to such war contractor.