Subpart 1850.1—Extraordinary Contractual

Actions

Parent topic: PART 1850—EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS AND THE SAFETY ACT

1850.102 Delegation of and limitations of exercise of

authority.

1850.102-2 Contract adjustment boards.

14 CFR part 1209, subpart 3, Contract Adjustment Board, establishes the Contract Adjustment

Board (CAB) as the approving authority to consider and dispose of requests from NASA contractors

for extraordinary contractual actions.

1850.103 Contract adjustments.

1850.103-5 Processing cases.

1850.103-570 Submission of request to the Contract

Adjustment Board.

(a) After investigating the facts and issues relevant to the contractor's request, the contracting

officer shall forward the request to the Associate General Counsel for Contracts and Procurement

Law, including in the forwarding letter—

(1) The nature of the case;

(2) The recommended disposition; and,

(3) If contractual action is recommended, the contracting officer's opinion that the action will

facilitate the national defense.

(b) The forwarding letter shall enclose the contractor's request, all supporting material submitted by

the contractor, and any material the contracting officer has obtained while investigating the facts

and issues relevant to the request. Any classified information in the material forwarded shall be so

identified.

(c) Electronic submittal is preferred for unclassified material.
1850.103-6 Disposition.

1850.103-670 Implementation of the Contract Adjustment

Board's decision.

(a) The contracting officer shall take action authorized in the CAB's decision.

(b) Immediately upon execution, including any required Headquarters approval, of a contract or

contract modification or amendment implementing the CAB decision, the contracting officer shall

forward a copy of the contractual document to the Associate General Counsel for Contracts and

Procurement Law.

1850.104 Residual powers.

1850.104-2 General.

(a) Requests for the exercise of residual powers shall be sent to the Headquarters Office of

Procurement, Program Operations Division for review and processing. The NASA Administrator is

the approval authority for the Memorandum of Decision.

1850.104-3 Special procedures for unusually hazardous or

nuclear risks.

(a) Indemnification requests.

(1) Contractor indemnification requests must be submitted to the cognizant contracting officer for

the contract for which the indemnification clause is requested. The request shall be submitted six (6)

months in advance of the desired effective date of the requested indemnification in order to allow

sufficient time for the request to be reviewed, analyzed, and approved by the Agency. Contractors

shall submit a single request and shall ensure that duplicate requests are not submitted by

associated divisions, subsidiaries, or central offices of the contractor.

(ii) The contractor's request for indemnification must identify a sufficient factual basis for

indemnification by explaining specifically what work activities under the contract create the

unusually hazardous or nuclear risk and identifying the timeframes in which the risk would be

incurred.

(iii) The contractor shall also provide evidence, such as a certificate of insurance or other customary

proof of insurance, that such insurance is either in force or is available and will be in force during

the indemnified period.

(b) Action on indemnification requests.
(1) If recommending approval, the contracting officer shall forward the required information to the

NASA Headquarters Office of Procurement, Program Operations Division, along with the following:

(i) For contracts of five years duration or longer, a determination, with supporting rationale, whether

the indemnification approval and insurance coverage and premiums should be reviewed for

adequacy and continued validity at points in time within the extended contract period.

(ii) The specific definition of the unusually hazardous risk to which the contractor is exposed in the

performance of the contract(s), including specificity about which activities present such risk and the

anticipated timeframes in which the risk will be incurred;

(iv) A complete discussion of the contractor's financial protection program; and

(vi) The extent to, and conditions under, which indemnification is being approved for subcontracts.

(2) The NASA Administrator is the approval authority for using the indemnification clause in a

contract by a Memorandum of Decision.

(4)(ii) If approving subcontractor indemnification, the contracting officer shall document the file

with a memorandum for record addressing the items set forth in FAR 50.104–3(b) and include an

analysis of the subcontractor's financial protection program. In performing this analysis, the

contracting officer shall take into consideration the availability, cost, terms and conditions of

insurance in relation to the unusually hazardous risk.

1850.104-370 Subcontractor indemnification requests.

Subcontractors shall submit requests for indemnification to the prime contractor and through higher

tier subcontractor(s), as applicable. If the prime contractor agrees an indemnity clause should be

flowed down to the subcontractor, the prime contractor shall forward its written request for

subcontractor indemnification to the cognizant contracting officer for approval in accordance with

FAR 50.104–3. The prime contractor's request shall provide information responsive to 1850.104–3,

FAR 50.104–3, and FAR 50.104–3(b)(1)(i), (ii), (iv), (v), and (vii). The agreed upon definition of the

unusually hazardous risk to be incorporated into the subcontract shall be the same as that

incorporated in the prime contract.

1850.104-4 Contract clause.

The contracting officer shall obtain the NASA Administrator's approval prior to including clause

52.250–1 in a contract.