Pub. L. 91-121, tit. IV, sec. 408

Sec. 408. (a) Comptroller General of the United States (here study by inafter in this section referred to as the “Comptroller General”) is authorized and directed, as soon as practicable after the date of enactment of this section, to conduct a study and review on a selective, representative basis of the profits made by contractors and subcontractors on contracts on which there is no formally advertised competitive bidding entered into by the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Air Force, the Coast Guard, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the authority of chapter 137 of title 10, United States Code, and on contracts entered into by the Atomic Energy Commission to meet requirements of the Department of Defense. The results of such study and review shall be Submitted to the Congress as soon as practicable, but in no event later than December 31, 1970. (b) Any contractor or subcontractor referred to in subsection (a) of this section shall, upon the request of the Comptroller General, prepare and submit to the General Accounting Office such information maintained in the normal course of business by such contractor as the Comptroller General determines necessary or appropriate in conducting any study and review authorized by subsection (a) of this section. Information required under this subsection shall be submitted by a contractor or subcontractor in response to a written request made by the Comptroller General and shall be submitted in such form and detail as the Comptroller General may prescribe and shall be submitted within a reasonable period of time. (c) In order to determine the costs, including all types of direct and indirect costs, of performing any contract or subcontract referred to in subsection (a) of this section, and to determine the profit, if any, realized under any such contract or subcontract, either on a percentage of the cost basis, percentage of sales basis, or a return on private capital employed basis, the Comptroller General and authorized representatives of the General Accounting Office are authorized to audit and inspect and to make copies of any books, accounts, or other records of any such contractor or subcontractor. (d) Upon the request of the Comptroller General, or any officer or employee designated by him, the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives or the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate may sign and issue subpenas requiring the production of such books, accounts, or other records as may be material to the study and review carried out by the Comptroller General under this section. (e) disobedience to a subpena issued by the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives or the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate to carry out the provisions of this section shall be punishable as provided in section 102 of the Revised Statutes. (f) No book, account, or other record, or copy of any book, account, 83 Stat. 209or record, of any contractor or subcontractor obtained by or for the Comptroller General under authority of this section which is not necessary for determining the profitability on any contract, as defined in subsection (a) of this section, between such contractor or subcontractor and the Department of Defense shall be available for examination, without the consent of such contractor or subcontractor, by any individual other than a duly authorized officer or employee of the General Accounting Office; and no officer or employee of the General Accounting Office shall disclose, to any person not authorized by the Comptroller General to receive such information, any information obtained under authority of this section relating to cost, expense, or profitability on any nondefense business transaction of any contractor or subcontractor. (g) The Comptroller General shall not disclose in any report made by him to the Congress or to either Committee on Armed Services under authority of this section any confidential information relating to the cost, expense, or profit of any contractor or subcontractor on any non-defense business transaction of such contractor or subcontractor.