The U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) acquisition portfolio includes expired awards (i.e., purchase orders, contracts, task orders, delivery orders, Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPA’s) and BPA calls) that are long past the period of performance or final delivery date of these awards, and the timeframe prescribed in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 4.8 for closing out the files for those awards has elapsed. To clear that backlog, NIST is implementing a limited-use case procedure that will enable closeout of the files for those awards in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Those awards are identified in the attached spreadsheet.

The backlog reflected in the attached spreadsheet presents not only a significant burden to legacy acquisition and financial systems, but also impedes NIST’s efforts to appropriately archive expired awards and to prepare for transition and migration to modernized financial and procurement systems. By using the process described in this notice, NIST hopes to significantly reduce the backlog of expired awards and enable NIST to expeditiously complete closeout of the associated files.

To facilitate the closeout of the files for the awards identified in the attached spreadsheet, NIST requests that contractors for those awards, within 30 days of publication of this notice, submit a proper invoice to invoice@nist.gov for any outstanding requests for payment for accepted products or services for those awards.

The principles that NIST used to develop the list of expired, but not yet closed, awards in the attached spreadsheet include the following criteria: i) the contract type for the award is firm-fixed-price, labor-hour and/or time-and-materials with fully burdened hourly labor rates with either no or fixed indirect rates on materials; ii) the award expired, there are no known active warranty issues and the additional time allowed for file closeout under FAR Subpart 4.8 has elapsed; and iii) NIST is not aware of any known outstanding invoices. Accordingly, for any outstanding funding on the awards, NIST contracting officers may elect to unilaterally deobligate those funds starting at 45 days after the date this notice is published.

Notwithstanding NIST’s intention to expeditiously closeout the award files for the actions identified in the attached spreadsheet, contractor rights are protected under 41 U.S.C. chapter 71 Contract Disputes (commonly known as the Contract Disputes Act of 1978), which establishes procedures for filing claims against Federal Government contracts. Normal FAR Subpart 4.8 contract file retention requirements will apply after the awards are closed.