§ 556.32 - Notice of sale.

(a) Upon approval of the Secretary, the Director shall publish the notice of lease sale in the  Federal Register  as the official publication, and may publish the notice in other publications. The publication in the  Federal Register  shall be at least 30 days prior to the date of the sale. The notice shall state the place and time at which bids shall be filed, and the place, date and hour at which bids shall be opened. The notice shall contain or reference a description of the areas to be offered for lease and any stipulations, terms and conditions of the sale.

(b) Tracts shall be offered for lease by competitive sealed bidding under conditions specified in the notice of lease sale and in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations. A suggested format for bidder submissions appears in the appendix to this part.

(c) The notice of lease sale shall contain a reference to the OCS lease form which shall be issued to successful bidders.

(d) With the approval of the Secretary, the Director may defer any part of the payment of the cash bonus according to a schedule announced at the time of the notice of lease sale. Payment shall be made no later than 5 years after the date of the lease sale. The schedule shall contain provisions for guaranteed payment of a deferred bonus.

(e) In order to obtain statistical information to determine which bidding alternatives best accomplish the purposes and policies of the Act, the Director may, until September 18, 1983, require each bidder to submit bids for any OCS area in accordance with more than one of the bidding systems described in section 8(a)(1) of the Act. No more than 10 percent of the tracts offered each year shall contain such a requirement. Leases may be awarded using a bidding alternative selected at random for statistical purposes, if it is otherwise consistent with the purposes and policies of the Act.