§ 405.1821 Prehearing discovery and other proceedings prior to the contractor hearing.

(a) Discovery rule: Time limits. (1) Limited prehearing discovery may be permitted by the contractor hearing officer(s) upon request of a party, provided the request is timely and the hearing officer(s) makes a preliminary finding of its jurisdiction over the matters at issue in accordance with § 405.1814(a) of this subpart.

(2) A prehearing discovery request is timely if the request by a party is served no later than 120 days before the initially scheduled starting date of the contractor hearing, unless the contractor hearing officer(s) extends the time for requesting discovery.

(3) In the absence of a specific schedule for responses set by the contractor hearing officer(s), responses to interrogatories and requests for production of documents are due according to the schedule agreed upon by the party serving discovery and the party to which the discovery is directed. Responses by a party to interrogatories or requests for production of documents must be served no later than 45 days before the initially scheduled start of the contractor hearing, unless the contractor hearing officer(s) orders otherwise. Responses by a nonparty to requests for production of documents must be served no later than 75 days after the date the requests were served on the nonparty, unless the party requesting the documents and the nonparty to which the requests are directed agree on a different time for responding, or unless the contractor hearing officer(s) extends the time for responding.

(4) Before ruling on a request to extend the time for requesting discovery or for responding to discovery, the hearing officer(s) must give the other parties to the appeal and any nonparty subject to a discovery request a reasonable period to respond to the extension request.