§ 56. — Administrative offsets.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 41USC56]
TITLE 41--PUBLIC CONTRACTS
CHAPTER 1--GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 56. Administrative offsets
(a) Offset authority
A contracting officer of a contracting agency may offset the amount
of a kickback provided, accepted, or charged in violation of section 53
of this title against any moneys owed by the United States to the prime
contractor under the prime contract to which such kickback relates.
(b) Duties of prime contractor
(1) Upon direction of a contracting officer of a contracting agency
with respect to a prime contract, the prime contractor shall withhold
from any sums owed to a subcontractor under a subcontract of the prime
contract the amount of any kickback which was or may be offset against
that prime contractor under subsection (a) of this section.
(2) Such contracting officer may order that sums withheld under
paragraph (1)--
(A) be paid over to the contracting agency; or
(B) if the United States has already offset the amount of such
sums against that prime contractor, be retained by the prime
contractor.
(3) The prime contractor shall notify the contracting officer when
an amount is withheld and retained under paragraph (2)(B).
(c) Claim of Government
An offset under subsection (a) of this section or a direction or
order of a contracting officer under subsection (b) of this section is a
claim by the Government for the purposes of the Contract Disputes Act of
1978 [41 U.S.C. 601 et seq.].
(d) ``Contracting officer'' defined
As used in this section, the term ``contracting officer'' has the
meaning given that term for the purposes of the Contract Disputes Act of
1978 [41 U.S.C. 601 et seq.].
(Mar. 8, 1946, ch. 80, Sec. 6, as added Pub. L. 99-634, Sec. 2(a), Nov.
7, 1986, 100 Stat. 3524.)
References in Text
The Contract Disputes Act of 1978, referred to in subsecs. (c) and
(d), is Pub. L. 95-563, Nov. 1, 1978, 92 Stat. 2383, as amended, which
is classified principally to chapter 9 (Sec. 601 et seq.) of this title.
For complete classification of this Act to the Code see Short Title note
set out under section 601 of this title and Tables.
Effective Date
Section effective with respect to conduct described in section 53 of
this title which occurs on or after Nov. 7, 1986, see section 3(a) of
Pub. L. 99-634, set out as an Effective Date of 1986 Amendment note
under section 51 of this title.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in sections 51, 52 of this title.
