Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 108 Part 4.djvu/686

 108 STAT. 3320 PUBLIC LAW 103-355 —OCT. 13, 1994 in any case in which the contracting officer determines that the objectives of the audit can reasonably be met by accepting the results of an audit conducted by any other department or agency of the Federal Government within one year preceding the date of the contracting officer's determination. "(e) LIMITATION. —The authority of an executive agency under subsection (a), and the authority of the Comptroller General under subsection (c), with respect to a contract or subcontract shall expire three years after final payment under such contract or subcontract. "(f) INAPPLICABILITY TO CERTAIN CONTRACTS. —T his section does not apply to the following contracts: "(1) Contracts for utility services at rates not exceeding those established to apply uniformly to the public, plus any applicable reasonable connection charge. "(g) FORM OF ORIGINAL RECORD STORAGE. —Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude a contractor from duplicating or storing original records in electronic form. "(h) USE OF IMAGES OF ORIGINAL RECORDS. —An executive agency shall not require a contractor or subcontractor to provide original records in an audit carried out pursuant to this section if the contractor or subcontractor provides photographic or electronic images of the origineJ records and meets the following requirements: "(1) The contractor or subcontractor has established procedures to ensure that the imaging process preserves the integrity, reliability, and security of the original records. "(2) The contractor or subcontractor maintains an effective indexing system to permit timely and convenient access to the imaged records. "(3) The contractor or subcontractor retains the original records for a minimum of one year after imaging to permit periodic validation of the imaging systems. (i) RECORDS DEFINED. — In this section, the term 'records' includes books, documents, accounting procedures and practices, and other data, regardless of type and regardless of whether such items are in written form, in the form of computer data, or in any other form.". (b) REPEAL OF SUPERSEDED PROVISION. — Section 304 of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (41 U.S.C. 254) is amended by striking out subsection (c). Subtitle D—Claims and Disputes PART I—ARMED SERVICES ACQUISITIONS SEC. 2301. CERTIFICATION OF CONTRACT CLAIMS. (a) IN GENERAL. —Chapter 141 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 2409a the following new section 2410: certification "(a) CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.— ^A request for equitable adjustment to contract terms or request for relief under Public Law 85-804 (50 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.) that exceeds the simplified acquisition threshold may not be paid unless a person authorized to certify the request on behalf oi the contractor certifies, at the time the request is submitted, that—
 * §2410. Requests for equitable adjustment or other relief:

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