A23 - HR001125R0003 - Attachment 2 - DARPA Payment Waiver - DRAFT.pdf

This document is a Memorandum for Record from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) regarding alternative payment instructions for contract awards. The memorandum outlines DARPA's legislative authority to use alternative operating methods under Section 233 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, specifically establishing a new contractor payment approach. The key change involves using "oldest fiscal year funds first" when paying contractors, which differs from previous methods and requires an advance agreement between the contracting activity, contract administration office, and payment office. DARPA found that the previous payment approach was inefficient and could slow down contracting processes without clear offsetting benefits, prompting this procedural modification to improve administrative efficiency in managing program funding and contractual expenditures.