§ 1206.704 - Advance payments.

(a) NASA will not require a requester to make an advance payment, i.e., payment before work is commenced or continued on a request, unless:

(1) NASA estimates or determines that the allowable charges are likely to exceed $250. NASA will notify the requester of the likely cost and obtain satisfactory assurance of full payment where the requester has a history of prompt payment of FOIA fees, or require an advance payment of an amount up to the full estimated charges in the case of requesters with no history of payment; or

(2) A requester has previously failed to pay a fee in a timely fashion (within 30 days of billing), then NASA may require the requester to pay the full amount owed plus any applicable interest as provided below (see §1206.706(a)), or demonstrate that he/she has, in fact, paid the fee, and to make an advance payment of the full amount of the estimated fee before the Agency begins to process a new request or a pending request from that requester.

(b) When NASA acts under paragraphs (a)(1) and (2) of this section, the administrative time limits will begin only after NASA has received the fee payments described in paragraph (a) of this section.