4. On future reprints of Standard Form No. 1034-Revised the Public Printer has been requested to revise the vendor's certificate to conform to the certificate as set forth above. The Public Printer has also been authorized to completely exhaust the present supply of the voucher form prior to the issuance of the new forms. 5. To avoid unnecessary delay and confusion in the payment of vouchers otherwise properly prepared, it appears desirable that until such time as vendors and contractors have had ample opportunity to become acquainted with the aboveprescribed certificate the various Government agencies and this office accept certifications that have heretofore been approved. However, if desired, the above certificate may be printed, stamped, typed, or written on the present supply of voucher forms on hand. 6. The prescribed certificate may be printed, stamped, typed, or written on vendor's bill of sale or invoice and must be signed (in original only) by the vendor or its duly authorized representative. 7. Under no conditions should the certificate on Government vouchers or on invoice forms to be attached to such vouchers be signed in blank or at any time prior to the submission of the voucher or invoice but only after delivery or performance by the claimant. To do so may result in the submission of a false claim against the Government for which the person signing the certificate may be held liable under the law. 8. Requests by the Federal Government for bids and the purchase orders issuing subsequent thereto should specify the applicable laws with which the prospective successful bidders will be required to comply. However, care must be exercised not to include citation to any law which is not applicable as such citation may tend to result in higher bids. LINDSAY C. WARREN, Comptroller General of the United States. CERTIFICATE BY CONTRACTORS AND SUBCONTRACTORS IN SUPPORT OF INVOICES OR PUBLIC VOUCHERS UNDER "COST-PLUS-A-FIXEDFEE" CONTRACTS To the Heads of Departments, Independent Estab'ishments, and Others Concerned: 1. Circular letter of this office dated August 15 1941, 21 Comp. Gen. 1160, prescribed that the following general certificate be used by contractors and vendors in support of invoices or public vouchers covering purchases and services other than personal: "I certify that the above bill is correct and just; that payment therefor has not been received; that all statutory requirements as to American production and labor standards, and all conditions of purchase applicable to the transactions have been complied with; and that State or local sales taxes are not included in the amounts billed." 2. In view of recent decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, wherein it was held that cost-plus-a-fixed-fee contractors, contracting with the United States, were not entitled to exemption from State taxation as agents of the United States, the following procedure is hereby prescribed for the certification of invoices and vouchers of contractors and their subcontractors under contract with the United States on a cost-plus-a-fixed fee basis: (a) The general certificate prescribed August 15, 1941, and quoted in paragraph 1 above, will be used on "cost-plus-a-fixed-fee" contractors' and subcontractors' invoices and vouchers covering material or equipment which is exempt from taxation by the laws of States or ordinances of municipalities in which the material or equipment was procured. (b) For "cost-plus-a-fixed-fee" contractors' and subcontractors' invoices or vouchers covering transactions in States or municipalities which do not exempt the United States from taxation, the general certificate quoted in paragraph 1 will be used with the deletion, or noninclusion, of the statement "that State or local sales taxes are not included in the amounts billed." LINDSAY C. WARREN, Comptroller General of the United States. CERTIFICATION BY VENDORS AND CONTRACTORS OF MAXIMUM PRICES ON INVOICES OR PUBLIC VOUCHERS FOR PURCHASES AND SERVICES OTHER THAN PERSONAL, STANDARD FORM NO. 1034REVISED [A-51607, A-49009] JUNE 3, 1942. To the Heads of Departments, Independent Establishments, and Others Concerned: 1. Circular letters of this office, dated August 15, 1941, and February 9, 1942, 21 Comp. Gen. 1160; 1161, prescribed that the following certificate be used in lieu of all others by vendors and contractors in support of invoices or public vouchers covering purchases and services other than personal: "I certify that the above bill is correct and just; that payment therefor has not been received; that all statutory requirements as to American production and labor standards, and all conditions of purchase applicable to the transactions have been complied with; and that State or local sales taxes are not included in the amounts billed." 2. It is the view of this office that the words "the above bill is correct and just" and "all conditions of purchase applicable to the transactions have been complied with" constitute a proper and sufficient warranty by the vendors and contractors that the prices billed are correctly within the applicable price ceilings established by the Office of Price Administration and do not exceed the maximum prices where such are involved. Accordingly, no additional certificate or statement by the vendors and contractors with respect to maximum prices should be required in support of invoices or public vouchers covering purchases or services other than personal, since such additional certificates or statements would not furnish any conclusive evidence as to compliance with current regulations on ceiling prices. 3. It must be understood, however, that authorized certifying officers are not relieved of the responsibility to ascertain to their satisfaction that the prices billed are not in excess of maximum prices established in accordance with applicable price regulations and supplements thereto issued by the Office of Price Administration and available to all concerned. LINDSAY C. WARREN, Comptroller General of the United States. GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE BULLETIN NO. 1, MODIFIED AND AMENDED To the Heads of All Departments and Establishments: JULY 10, 1941. Pursuant to the provisions of section 309 of the Budget and Accounting Act, approved June 10, 1921, 42 Stat. 25, there was prescribed by the Comptroller General of the United States Bulletin No. 1 containing a "Classification of Objects of Expenditure" for use in the several departments and establishments of the Government of the United States for the purpose of obtaining uniformity in administrative appropriation and fund accounting and in the analysis of governmental expenditures for the information of the President, the Congress, and such agencies of the Government as are required to deal with governmental expenditures. In Regulation No. 1, dated June 28, 1941, relating to apportionments and reports on status of appropriations, under Executive Order No. 8512 of August 13, 1940, the Acting Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of the Bureau of the Budget hav prescribed a "Classification of Obligations According to Objects," which is to be utilized in submitting estimates to the Bureau of the Budget and in reporting data under Executive Order No. 8512 whenever analyses by objects are required. Accordingly, the Classification of Objects of Expenditure, as set forth in General Accounting Office Bulletin No. 1 hereinabove referred to, will be discontinued concurrently with the adoption of the "Classification of Obligations According to Objects," as set forth in Part V of the said Regulation No. 1, for classifying expenditures in support of estimates and other budgetary reports and in allotting appropriations. Whenever practicable, the agencies should maintain their records so that the data required by the Bureau of the Budget may be obtate directly therefrom. However, in those instances where the information taken directly from the allotment (ledger) accounts, then the source of postings to such accounts, should be so segregated as to furnish the required data. For example, on the documents from which are posted obligations incurred for personal services, rental contracts, travel orders, etc., which are required to be recorded to the allotment accounts for the full period for which the allotments are made, there can be readily shown the segregation of the amounts for each month. Since the term "encumbrances," heretofore used in appropriation accounting, has been interpreted by some of the Federal agencies as permitting (or inviting) the inclusion of reservations for special purposes, functions, or projects to be subsequently undertaken, it is deemed necessary to substitute therefor the term "obligations" which is more generally understood as being those transactions for which the appropriations (allotments) are definitely committed by the action of an administrative officer in the employment of persons, the directing of travel, the transportation of things, the entering into rental and service contracts, the issuance of purchase orders, etc. It is believed that much confusion will be avoided if the term "obligations" is used exclusively with the allotment accounts. As the obligations accrue they would, of course, become "liabilities" or "expenditures" in the proprietary group of accounts. Accordingly, the Public Printer has been requested in letter of even date to revise the applicable columnar headings of the several standard forms of allotment ledgers, copies, and registers on the next reprints to "Obligations Incurred" and "Unobligated Balance of Allotment." The present supply of such forms with corrections made thereon by pen, rubber stamp, or otherwise, should be exhausted before requisitioning the revised forms. LINDSAY C. WARREN, Comptroller General of the United States. NOTICE OF BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS OF DEBTORS OF THE UNITED STATES [B-21514, B-23585, B-23686] APRIL 27, 1942. To the Heads of Departments, Independent Establishments, and Other Government Agencies: Section 57 (a) of the Bankruptcy Act, as amended, 52 Stat. 867 (11 U. S. C. A. 93 (n)), provides: "Except as otherwise provided in this title, all claims provable under this title, including all claims of the United States and of any State or subdivision thereof, shall be proved and filed in the manner provided in this section. Claims which are not filed within six months after the first date set for the first meeting of creditors shall not be allowed: Provided, however, That the court may, upon application before the expiration of such period and for cause shown, grant a reasonable fixed extension of time for the filing of claims by the United States * "" [Italics supplied.] With respect to debtors of the United States of record in the General Account ing Office, it has been noticed that in some instances certain administrative offices of the Government, after receipt of notice of pending bankruptcy proceedings of such debtors, have delayed transmittal of that information to the General Accounting Office to such an extent as to preclude the preparation and filing of proofs of claims in the proceedings within the six months' period provided in the above-cited statute. This has operated to deprive the Government of its rights in the matter with the resultant loss to the United States of considerable amounts of money which otherwise might have been recovered. With a view to reducing such losses to the minimum, it is requested that, immediately upon receipt of notice of bankruptcy proceedings of a debtor of the United States, the General Accounting Office be advised thereof in order that appropriate steps may be taken to protect the Government's interests. In the event the claim of the United States against the bankrupt has not been referred here for collection, the usual report with respect thereto should be forwarded promptly to this office for the necessary development, etc. Should the status of the claim be such as to preclude a determination of the exact amount due, the notice of bankruptcy proceedings should be accompanied by a preliminary report sufficient to permit of an approximation of the amount of the indebtedness in order that there may be prepared a contingent proof of claim for filing in the proceedings, or that such representations may be made to the court to secure an extension of time for filing a proof of claim therein. LINDSAY C. WARREN, Comptroller General of the United States. INDEX DIGEST ABSENCES: See Leaves of Absence; Pay, absences. Appropriation accounts. See Appropria- Definition of-word "accounts," as used in Status as executive agency-neither Admin- Statutory requirements as to purchases: Advertising for bids requirements of sec. ADVERTISING: Page ADVERTISING-Continued. 489 105 105 105 Necessity or non-necessity-Continued. Sales-in disposing by outright sale-as Purpose of statutory advertising require- Incompetency of dependent where as- Page |