Federal contracting officers will no longer be required to withhold 10% of fees for architectural and engineering services, following a four-year effort of industry lobbying.

Published in March by the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council, the new rule says retainage is discretionary. If contracting officers choose to require retainage, it can be set below 10%.

新规则还阐明了“保留的任何金额不应超出令人满意的完成”。以前，可以保留直到完成。

Small businesses applaud the change. “This is a big win at a time when there is a lot of federal government work coming out, especially for smaller firms that can’t afford to have money held back for months or years,” says Paul Mendelsohn, vice president of government and community relations at the American Institute of Architects, which spearheaded the effort. The American Council of Engineering Cos. and the National Society of Professional Engineers also backed AIA.

佛罗里达州圣彼得堡的Renker Eich Parks Architects的负责人Paul Renker警告了AIA。Renker, a former president of AIA’s Tampa Bay chapter, learned about the rule in 2006 when his firm was selected to design a new, 166,000-sq-ft, $30.5-million Job Corps Center in St. Petersburg for the U.S. Dept. of Labor.

收费谈判开始后220天，该公司首次获得服务付款；但是，保留在合同通知之前约500天举行。

The new rule took effect on April 19. Mendelsohn says the process of getting it changed was “lightning fast” by Washington standards.