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Panoptic Enterprises' FEDERAL CONTRACTS DISPATCH
DATE: December 15, 2003
SUBJECT: Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS); Electronic Submission and Processing of Payment Requests
SOURCE: Federal Register, December 15, 2003, Vol. 68, No. 240, page 69628
AGENCIES: Department of Defense (DOD)
ACTION: Final Rule
SYNOPSIS: DOD is finalizing, with changes, the interim rule that added DFARS Subpart 232.70, Electronic Submission and Processing of Payment Requests, to implement Section 1008 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (Public Law 106-398), which requires contractors to submit, and DOD to process, payment requests in electronic form.
EDITOR'S NOTE: For more on the interim rule, see the February 21, 2003, FEDERAL CONTRACTS DISPATCH "Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS); Electronic Submission and Processing of Payment Requests."
EFFECTIVE DATE: December 15, 2003.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thaddeus Godlewski, Defense Acquisition Regulations Council, OUSD (AT&L) DPAP (DAR), IMD 3C132, 3062 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-3062; 703-602-2022; fax: 703-602-0350.
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION: Section 1008 of Public Law 106-398 provides that:
- Contractors must submit electronically, and DOD must process electronically, requests for payment under DOD contracts;
- DOD must transmit any supporting documentation electronically within DOD; and
- The Secretary of Defense may exempt cases in any category if the Secretary determines that the requirement for using electronic means for submitting or transmitting payment requests is unduly burdensome.
On February 21, 2003, DOD published an interim rule implementing Section 108 by adding a new DFARS Subpart 232.70 and related clause DFARS 252.232-7003, Electronic Submission of Payment Requests. Seventeen respondents submitted comments on the interim rule, and the following are the differences between the interim rule and the final rule:
- Paragraph (b) of DFARS 232.7002, Policy, is amended to add the following sentence: "Scanned documents are acceptable forms for processing supporting documentation. In addition, the definition of "electronic form" in DFARS 252.232-7003(a)(2) is amended by adding to "Facsimile, e-mail, and scanned documents are not acceptable electronic forms" the following language: "...for submission of payment requests. However, scanned documents are acceptable when they are part of a submission of a payment request made using one of the electronic forms provided for in paragraph (b) of this clause" (that is, Wide Area WorkFlow -- Receipt and Acceptance (WAWF-RA), Web Invoicing Systems (WInS), American National Standards Institute (ANSI) X.12 electronic data interchange formats, or another electronic form authorized by the contracting officer).
The introduction to the final rule states, "The language at [DFARS] 252.232-7003(a)(2) was included in the interim rule to address a concern that scanned documents, by themselves, are not acceptable electronic forms for submission of payment requests. However, DOD recognizes that this may be misinterpreted to preclude scanning documents and then including them within the WAWF-RA program. Therefore, the language at [DFARS] 252.232-7003(a)(2) has been revised to state that scanned documents are not acceptable unless they are part of a submission using one of the forms of acceptable electronic transmission. Currently, neither ANSI X12 nor WInS can accept attachments. These are electronic data interchanges (EDI), so the only information flowing is data."
- DFARS 232.7002(a)(6)(ii) and DFARS 252.232-7003(c) are amended to add "the contract administration office" to "the contractor, the contracting officer, and the payment office" as parties involved in decisions to permit exceptions to the rule.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The introduction to the final rule states, "Training is readily available for contractors and DOD personnel from numerous Internet sources, including the WAWF-RA site at http://www.wawftraining.com; for DCMA at http://www.dcma.mil (click on "Electronic Invoicing"); for DFAS at http://www.dfas.mil/ecedi; and for DISA at http://www.disa.mil/acq/wawf/index.html and https://wawf-ra.slidell.disa.mil."
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Panoptic Enterprises at 703-451-5953 or by e-mail to Panoptic@FedGovContracts.com.
Copyright 2003 by Panoptic Enterprises. All Rights Reserved.
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