52.241-6 Service Provisions
Source: FAR 52.241-6 on acquisition.gov
In utility service contracts, accurate metering, documented testing, and prompt billing adjustments for meter errors or extended outages are essential to keeping Government payments fair and contract performance defensible.
Overview
- FAR 52.241-6, Service Provisions, establishes the baseline service, metering, testing, notice, and continuity terms used in utility service contracts.
- Its purpose is to ensure the Government is billed from reliable meter data, receives notice-based coordination for changing service needs, and has a mechanism for invoice adjustment when metering errors or extended service interruptions occur.
Key Rules
- Measurement of service
- The contractor must furnish, install, maintain, repair, calibrate, and read standard metering equipment at its own expense. If a meter fails or reads incorrectly, the parties must agree on the malfunction period and delivered quantity, and the next invoice must be adjusted accordingly. Multiple meters at one location may be billed conjunctively when appropriate.
- Meter reading and testing
- Meters must be read about every 30 days, or under the applicable regulatory body’s policy or bylaws, and short-period bills must be prorated. The contractor must periodically inspect and test contractor-installed meters within the contract’s stated interval, while the Government may witness tests and request additional tests.
- Change in service needs and continuity
- The Contracting Officer must give reasonable notice of material changes in service volume or characteristics. The contractor must use reasonable diligence to provide uninterrupted service, but is excused from liability for outages beyond its control; if interruptions exceed the stated hours in a billing period, an equitable billing adjustment is required.
Responsibilities
- Contracting Officers: provide notice of material service changes, request additional meter tests in writing when needed, and coordinate invoice adjustments for meter errors or extended outages.
- Contractors: provide and maintain compliant meters, read and test them on schedule, support Government observation of tests, prorate short billing periods, and adjust invoices for metering errors.
- Agencies: monitor service continuity, validate billing accuracy, and document outage duration and meter-test results.
Practical Implications
- This clause exists to protect both parties in utility service contracts by tying payment to verifiable measurement and by allocating risk for outages and meter inaccuracies.
- In practice, contractors should maintain strong meter calibration and outage records, while agencies should track service interruptions and written test requests.
- Common pitfalls include undocumented meter malfunctions, failure to prorate short billing cycles, and weak support for equitable adjustments after prolonged service disruptions.
As prescribed in 41.501(c)(5), insert a clause substantially the same as the following:
Service Provisions (Feb 1995)
(a) Measurement of service.
(1) All service furnished by the Contractor shall be measured by suitable metering equipment of standard manufacture, to be furnished, installed, maintained, repaired, calibrated, and read by the Contractor at its expense. When more than a single meter is installed at a service location, the readings thereof may be billed conjunctively, if appropriate. In the event any meter fails to register (or registers incorrectly) the service furnished, the parties shall agree upon the length of time of meter malfunction and the quantity of service delivered during such period of time. An appropriate adjustment shall be made to the next invoice for the purpose of correcting such errors. However, any meter which registers not more than ___ percent slow or fast shall be deemed correct.
(2) The Contractor shall read all meters at periodic intervals of approximately 30 days or in accordance with the policy of the cognizant regulatory body or applicable bylaws. All billings based on meter readings of less than ___ days shall be prorated accordingly.
(b) Meter test.
(1) The Contractor, at its expense, shall periodically inspect and test Contractor-installed meters at intervals not exceeding _____ year(s). The Government has the right to have representation during the inspection and test.
(2) At the written request of the Contracting Officer, the Contractor shall make additional tests of any or all such meters in the presence of Government representatives. The cost of such additional tests shall be borne by the Government if the percentage of errors is found to be not more than ___ percent slow or fast.
(3) No meter shall be placed in service or allowed to remain in service which has an error in registration in excess of ___ percent under normal operating conditions.
(c) Change in volume or character. Reasonable notice shall be given by the Contracting Officer to the Contractor regarding any material changes anticipated in the volume or characteristics of the utility service required at each location.
(d) Continuity of service and consumption. The Contractor shall use reasonable diligence to provide a regular and uninterrupted supply of service at each service location, but shall not be liable for damages, breach of contract or otherwise, to the Government for failure, suspension, diminution, or other variations of service occasioned by or in consequence of any cause beyond the control of the Contractor, including but not limited to acts of God or of the public enemy, fires, floods, earthquakes, or other catastrophe, strikes, or failure or breakdown of transmission or other facilities. If any such failure, suspension, diminution, or other variation of service shall aggregate more than _______ hour(s) during any billing period hereunder, an equitable adjustment shall be made in the monthly billing specified in this contract (including the minimum monthly charge).
(End of clause)