FSH 6309.32 - FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION WO SUPPLEMENT 6309.32-2000-1 EFFECTIVE 02/112000 FOREST SERVICE ACQUISITION REGULATION PART 4G32--CONTRACT FINANCING TABLE OF CONTENTS Sec. Subpart 4G32.6--Contract Debts 4G32.605 Responsibilities and cooperation among Government officials. Subpart 4G32.7--Contract Funding 4G32.702 Policy. 4G32.702-70 Availability and use of appropriations and the bona fide needs rule. 4G32.702-71 Principles of Federal Appropriations Law. Subpart 4G32.8--Assignment of Claims 4G32.805 Procedure. Subpart 4G32.11--Electronic Funds Transfer 4G32.1101-70 Information available on the Internet. PART 4G32 - CONTRACT FINANCING   Subpart 4G32.6--Contract Debts 4G32.605 Responsibilities and cooperation among Government officials.     (b) Contracting officers have the initial responsibility for determining if a claim for the Government exists and collecting such debts arising under a contract, that is, claims for the Government under the authority of the Contract Disputes Act. Once a debt has been determined, withhold funds otherwise payable to the contractor from the contract to satisfy the debt. The contracting officer's decision to withhold funds shall consider the detrimental effects such withholding may have on the contractor's performance to complete the contract. If funds are not available under the contract to satisfy the debt, the contracting officer should work closely with unit fiscal officers to assure that bills for collection are issued in a timely fashion and to monitor subsequent payments. See the Service-wide Claims Management Handbook, FSH 6509.11h, section 22, for applicability of the administrative offset provisions of the Debt Collection Act of 1982.   Subpart 4G32.7--Contract Funding 4G32.702 Policy.     (a) Receipt by a contracting officer of a completed and properly signed Request for Contract Action, Form FS-6300-4, or Procurement Request, Form AD-700, from an agency official authorized to approve such documents, is acceptable assurance that adequate funds are available as required by section 32.702.   4G32.702-70 Availability and use of funds and the bona fide needs rule. Forest Service appropriations are generally available for obligation or expenditure from such time as funds are appropriated until they are expended (that is, no-year appropriations). Specific direction on the purposes for which individual appropriations may be used are listed in FSH 6509.11g, Service-wide Appropriation Use Handbook. No-year appropriations may be obligated in the current year for work to be completed under a contract in subsequent fiscal years in that the bona fide needs rule does not apply to no-year funds, 43 Comp. Gen. 657, 661 (1964).   4G32.702-71 Principles of Federal Appropriations Law. The Principles of Federal Appropriation Law prepared by the General Accounting Office (GAO) should be reviewed for further guidance on the nature and use of Congressional appropriations. It is available in three volumes on the World Wide Web (WWW, Internet) at the GAO homepage as a special publication. (See Appendix A, Acquisition Information Available Electronically annotated by FAR reference for the URL address.)   Subpart 4G32.8--Assignment of Claims 4G32.805 Procedure.     (c) Contracting officers have the responsibility to acknowledge receipt of assignments of moneys due, or to become due, a contractor under a contract. Contracting officers should work closely with unit fiscal officers to ensure timely processing of assignment of claims. Additional direction for processing an assignment of moneys due, or to become due, under a purchase order is set forth in the USDA, NFC Voucher and Invoice Payment Manual, Purchase Order System (PRCH).   Subpart 4G32.11--Electronic Funds Transfer 4G32.1101-70 Information available on the Internet.     (a) Electronic funds transfer (EFT) payment information is available on the World Wide Web (WWW, Internet) at the USDA National Finance Center homepage. See the USDA National Finance Center Bulletin 98-1, Changes in VEXP (Vendor Express) Processing (Title II, Voucher and Invoice Payments Manual, Chapter 1, Section 2) for direction on EFT enrollment and the enrollment packages which are also available from the NFC homepage.     (b) Department of the Treasury information on EFT is available on the Internet at the Department of the Treasury homepage.     (c) Related USDA financial direction is available at the USDA Office of the Chief Financial Officer homepage on the Internet and the Forest Service Chief Financial Officer homepage on the Forest Service Web (FSWeb, Intranet).     (d) See FSAR Appendix A, Acquisition Information Available Electronically (annotated by FAR reference), for the URL addresses for these Internet and Intranet sites.