[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 41, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 41CFR105-60.305-12]

[Page 446-447]
 
           TITLE 41--PUBLIC CONTRACTS AND PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
 
              CHAPTER 105--GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
 
PART 105-60_PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF AGENCY RECORDS AND INFORMATIONAL 
MATERIALS--Table of Contents
 
      Subpart 105-60.3_Availability of Opinions, Orders, Policies, 
               Interpretations, Manuals, and Instructions
 
Sec. 105-60.305-12  Administrative actions to improve assessment and 
collection of fees.

    (a) Charging interest. GSA may charge requesters who fail to pay 
fees interest on the amount billed starting on the 31st day following 
the day on which the billing was sent. Interest will be at the rate 
prescribed in 31 U.S.C. 3717.
    (b) Effect of the Debt Collection Act of 1982. GSA will take any 
action authorized by the Debt Collection Act of 1982 (Pub. L. 97-365, 96 
Stat. 1749), including disclosure to consumer reporting agencies, use of 
collection agencies, and assessment of penalties and administrative 
costs, where appropriate, to encourage payment.
    (c) Aggregating requests. When GSA reasonably believes that a 
requester, or group of requesters acting in concert, is attempting to 
break down a request into a series of requests related to the same 
subject for the purpose of evading the assessment of fees, GSA will 
combine any such requests and charge accordingly, including fees for 
previous requests where charges were not assessed. GSA will presume that 
multiple requests of this type within a 30-day period are made to avoid 
fees.
    (d) Advanced payments. Whenever a requester is delinquent in paying 
the fee for a previous request (i.e., within 30 days of the date of the 
billing), GSA

[[Page 447]]

will require the requester to pay the full amount owed plus any 
applicable interest penalties and administrative costs as provided in 
paragraph (a) of this section or to demonstrate that he or she has, in 
fact, paid the fee. In such cases, GSA will also require advance payment 
of the full amount of the estimated fee before the agency begins to 
process a new request or a pending request from that requester. When 
advance payment is required under this selection, the administrative 
time limits in subsection (a)(6) of the FOIA (i.e., 10 working days from 
receipt of appeals from initial denial plus permissible time extensions) 
will begin only after GSA has received the fee payments described in 
Sec. 105-60.305-8.