§ 22.4 Appeal File [Rule 4].

(a) Duties of the Contracting Officer.

(1) Within 30 days after receipt of the complaint, or within such other period of time as may be established by the Board, the contracting officer shall assemble and transmit to the Board an appeal file consisting of all documents pertinent to the appeal, including:

(i) The decision from which the appeal is taken;

(ii) The contract, including relevant specifications, amendments, plans, and drawings;

(iii) All correspondence between the parties relevant to the appeal, including the letter or letters of claim in response to which the decision was issued;

(iv) All documents and other tangible things on which the contracting officer relied in making the decision, and any correspondence relating thereto;

(v) Transcripts of any testimony taken during the course of proceedings, and affidavits or statements of any witnesses on the matter in dispute made prior to the filing of the notice of appeal with the Board; and

(vi) Any additional information or evidence considered relevant to the appeal.

(2) Within the same time specified above, the contracting officer shall furnish the appellant a copy of each document he or she transmits to the Board, except those in paragraph (a)(1)(ii) of this section [Rule 4(a)(1)(ii)]. As to the latter, a list furnished to the appellant indicating specific contractual documents transmitted will suffice. Documents filed under this rule, and any supplements, shall be organized and filed in accordance with paragraph (d) of this section [Rule 4(d)].

(b) Duties of the appellant. Within 30 days after receipt of a copy of the appeal file provided pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section [Rule 4(a)], or within such other period of time as may be established by the Board, the appellant shall transmit to the Board for inclusion in the appeal file any documents not contained therein which the appellant considers to be relevant to the appeal. Within the same period of time, the appellant shall furnish a copy of such documents to the contracting officer or counsel for the government. Documents filed under this rule shall be organized and filed in accordance with paragraph (d) of this section [Rule 4(d)].

(c) Continuing duty to supplement the record. All parties have a continuing duty to supplement the record with relevant documents and tangible things, and the appeal file may be supplemented by any party at any time before the closing of the record. In cases where a hearing is requested, these supplements shall be provided well in advance of the pre-hearing conference so that objections to admissibility may be heard and resolved, to the maximum extent possible, in advance of the hearing. All supplements to the appeal file shall be organized and filed in accordance with paragraph (d) of this section [Rule 4(d)].

(d) Organization of appeal file. Only relevant documents and tangible things should be provided as part of the appeal file. Appeal file documents may be originals or true, legible, and complete copies or facsimiles. The appeal file shall be arranged in chronological order with the earliest documents first; bound in a 3-ring binder (or binders) or similar loose-leaf binder(s) no larger than 4 inches in width, except where size or shape makes such binding impracticable; numbered; tabbed; and indexed. Numbering of pages shall be consecutive and continuous from one page to the next (i.e., “Bates” numbered), so that the complete file, including any supplements, will consist of one set of consecutively numbered pages. Preceding each Bates number shall be a designation “A” for appellant or “R” for respondent, indicating which party provided the document. Multiple binders shall be consecutively numbered and include references on the outside cover and binding that state the range of tab numbers and Bates numbers contained therein. Within each binder, tabs shall separate each document; multiple documents shall not be placed behind a single tab, unless each document is separated by a divider. The appeal file shall include an index identifying each document included in the appeal file by date, brief description of the document, and the tab and Bates numbers where the document can be located in the appeal file. The Board may, in its discretion or upon request of a party, order an alternative organization of the appeal file. If an alternative organization of the appeal file is permitted, such as by document type or topic, documents within that grouping must be presented in chronological order to the extent possible. The Board may impose special requirements on the production of electronic documents and, if any portion of the § 22.4 [Rule 4] file or supplement contains electronic documents, the party submitting such documents shall contact the Board before submission for guidance.

(e) Submissions on order of the Board. The Board may, at any time during the pendency of the appeal, require any party to file documents or tangible things as additional exhibits. The Board may also require a party to file printed versions of electronic records or, conversely, may require electronic versions of printed documents.

(f) Status of documents in the record. Documents contained in the appeal file are considered, without further action by the parties, as part of the record upon which the Board will render its decision. However, a party may object to consideration of a particular document or documents by filing a written objection. Such objections shall be raised by motion pursuant to § 22.6 of this part [Rule 6] and shall be filed as early as necessary to allow the Board, to the maximum extent possible, to resolve the objection in advance of a scheduled hearing, or before the record is closed if no hearing is held.