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B-182706 1 (1975-06-23)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadchd0001 and id is 1 raw text is:                               THE  COfVIPTRE     -[= GENERAL
                       DE!3   OF   THE ULITED STATES
                              VWASHINGTON. D.C. 20548




 FILE: B-182706                     DATE:  June 23,1975

 MATTER   OF:   Boyertown Auto Body Works


 DIGEST:

     Request by subcontractor for remission of liquidated
     damages assessed by agency against its prime con-
     tractor is denied, since contracting agency's rec-
     ommendation against remission precludes GAO, under
     41 U.S.C. 256a (1970), from remitting all or any part
     of such damages.

     Boyertown Auto Body Works (Boyertown) requests that
this Office remit liquidated damages in the amount of
$134,035.20 which Boyertown paid to AM General Corporation
(AM).under the latter's prime contract with the General
Services Administration (GSA) (Contract No. GS-OOS-08684)
for production of one-half ton trucks.

     The liquidated damages assessment was imposed by GSA
on AM for its failure to meet the delivery schedule. In
turn, AM withheld portions of payments, as indemnification,
from Boyertown for its delinquency in performance, pursuant
to the Purchase Order Agreement between them. On the basis
of the record before it, GSA has recommended to this Office
against remission of the liquidated damages. In this re-
gard, we note that by letter of June 6, 1974, GSA denied
a request by AM to recommend remission.

     The authority of this Office to remit liquidated
damages rests solely upon 41 U.S.C. § 256a (1970), which
provides that upon the recommendation of the head of an
agency, the Comptroller General may remit all or part,
as he considers just and equitable, of any liquidated
damages assessed for delay in performing a contract made
by the agency. As  is apparent from the statute, and as
has consistently been our view, an agency's favorable
recommendation for remission is a prerequisite to any action
by this Office. B-175180, May 11, 1972; B-180174, July 24,
1974; B-180566, Augupst 19, 1974.

     Accordingly, we must decline to grant the relief requested.



                      Acting Compt rolle?6e era j  .
                             of the United States


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