Rule 4.  Preparation, Content, Organization, Forwarding, and Status of Appeal File

(a)  Duties of Contracting Officer-Within 30 days of receipt of an appeal, or notice that an appeal has been filed, the contracting officer shall assemble and transmit to the Board an appeal file consisting of all documents pertinent to the appeal, including:

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

(2)  The contract, including pertinent specifications, amendments, plans, and drawings;

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

(4)  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

(5)  Any additional information considered relevant to the appeal.

Within the same time specified in paragraph (a) of this Rule, the contracting officer shall furnish the appellant a copy of each document the contracting officer transmits to the Board, except those in subparagraph (a)(2)of this Rule.  As to the latter, a list furnished the appellant indicating specific contractual documents transmitted will suffice.

(b)  Duties of the Appellant-Within 30 days after receipt of a copy of the appeal file assembled by the contracting officer, the appellant shall transmit to the Board any documents not contained therein which the appellant considers relevant to the appeal, and furnish two copies of such documents to the Government trial attorney.

(c)  Organization of Appeal File-Documents in the appeal file may be originals or legible facsimiles or authenticated copies, and shall be arranged in chronological order where practicable, numbered sequentially, tabbed, and indexed to identify the contents of the file.

(d)  Lengthy Documents-Upon request by either party, the Board may waive the requirement to furnish to the other party copies of bulky, lengthy, or out-of-size documents in the appeal file when inclusion would be burdensome.  At the time a party files with the Board a document for which such a waiver has been granted, the party shall notify the other party that the document or a copy is available for inspection at the offices of the Board or of the filing party.

(e)  Status of Documents in Appeal File-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, for reasons stated, to consideration of a particular document or documents reasonably in advance of hearing or, if there is no hearing, of settling the record.  If such objection is made, the Board shall remove the document or documents from the appeal file and permit the party offering the document to move its admission as evidence in accordance with Rules 13 and 20.

(f)  Notwithstanding the foregoing, the filing of the Rule 4(a) and (b) documents may be dispensed with by the Board either upon request of the appellant in its notice of appeal or thereafter upon stipulation of the parties.