{"id":27467,"date":"2022-02-17T19:06:52","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T00:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/?page_id=27467"},"modified":"2022-02-18T09:30:47","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T14:30:47","slug":"24-cns","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/guidance\/adrguide-home\/24-cns\/","title":{"rendered":"Contracted Neutral Services"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\" style=\"background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\"><style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><div class=\"fusion-title title fusion-title-1 fusion-title-text fusion-title-size-two\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:31px;margin-left:0px;\"><h2 class=\"title-heading-left\" style=\"margin:0;\">Contracted Neutral Services<\/h2><span class=\"awb-title-spacer\"><\/span><div class=\"title-sep-container\"><div class=\"title-sep sep-double sep-solid\" style=\"border-color:#e0dede;\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/adr.gov\/guidance\/adrguide-home\/24-definition\/\">broad definitions of neutral<\/a>, along with other parts of the FAR and ADRA of 1996, ensure that parties can use a neutral of their choice, whether from an established forum, other agencies, other levels of government (state, local, and tribal), and the private sector. \u00a0The FAR and ADRA of 1996 address two common concerns that agency contracting personnel may have when obtaining the services of a neutral:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><u><strong><em>Unauthorized Augmentation of an Appropriation<\/em><\/strong><\/u>. \u00a0Sometimes a violation of the Anti-deficiency Act (31 USC 1342) occurs when an agency accepts donations, goods, services, etc. that it would otherwise purchase.\u00a0 This is called an unauthorized augmentation of an appropriation because it increases the resources available to the agency beyond that authorized by Congress in an appropriations act. \u00a0Fortunately, the ADRA of 1996 expressly allows agencies to accept “voluntary and uncompensated services for purposes of this subchapter without regard to the provisions of section 1342 of title 31.” \u00a05 USC\u00a0583.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em><u>Competition Requirements<\/u>.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Where the agency wants to purchase neutral services using a contract, the agency is not required to use competitive acquisition techniques. \u00a0Section 7 of the ADRA of 1996 specifically amended the Competition in Contracting Act to recognize this exception. \u00a0<em>See also<\/em> FAR 6.302-3(b)(3)(ii). \u00a0A sole source justification, however, must be supported in writing and approved. \u00a0<em>Id<\/em>. at 6.302-3(c).<\/li>\n<li><u><strong><em>Price<\/em><\/strong><\/u>. \u00a0The ADRA of 1996 states, “The parties in a dispute resolution proceeding shall agree on compensation for the neutral that is fair and reasonable to the Government.” \u00a05 USC 573(e).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Beyond these points, the authorities do not prescribe or limit the contracting procedures needed for the acquisition of neutral services. \u00a0Contracting specialists obtaining such services, therefore, should follow the business-as-usual practices of their agency regardless of whether the selected vehicle is a purchase order, a time and materials contract, an Economy Act order, etc.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":27194,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27467"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27467\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}