PART 3Pricing of contracts

Determination of allowable costs19

1

The Secretary of State may not make an application under section 20(5) for a determination of the extent to which a particular cost is an allowable cost unless—

a

the Secretary of State has sent the primary contractor a written notice requiring the primary contractor to show that the requirements set out in section 20(2)(a) to (c) are met in relation to that cost;

b

at least 20 working days have elapsed since the date of that notice; and

c

no response, or no response which the Secretary of State considers to be satisfactory, has been received.

2

An application must be made within two years after the contract completion date.

3

In making a determination, the SSRO must have regard to—

a

the information that was available to each party at the time of agreement;

b

the statutory guidance in place at the time of agreement;

c

in the case of a contract which contains provision of the kind described in regulation 15 (TCIF adjustment), those provisions;

d

whether the parties disclosed, in a timely manner, the facts and assumptions they used to determine the allowable costs or the contract profit rate.