112 STAT. 2384 PUBLIC LAW 105-270—OCT. 19, 1998 Deadline. (d) INITIAL DECISION. — Within 28 days after an executive agency receives a challenge, an official designated by the head of the executive agency shall— (1) decide the challenge; and (2) transmit to the party submitting the challenge a written notification of the decision together with a discussion of the rationale for the decision and an explanation of the party's right to appeal under subsection (e). (e) APPEAL.— Deadlines. (1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPEAL,—An interested party may appeal an adverse decision of the official to the head of the executive agency within 10 days after receiving a notification of the decision under subsection (d). (2) DECISION ON APPEAL.— Within 10 days after the head of an executive agency receives an appeal of a decision under paragraph (1), the head of the executive agency shall decide the appeal and transmit to the party submitting the appeal a written notification of the decision together with a discussion of the rationale for the decision. SEC. 4. APPLICABILITY. (a) EXECUTIVE AGENCIES COVERED. —Except as provided in subsection (b), this Act applies to the following executive agencies: (1) EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. —An executive department named in section 101 of title 5, United States Code. (2) MILITARY DEPARTMENT.— ^A military department named in section 102 of title 5, United States Code. (3) INDEPENDENT ESTABLISHMENT. —An independent establishment, as defined in section 104 of title 5, United States Code. (b) EXCEPTIONS. —This Act does not apply to or with respect to the following: (1) GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE. —The General Accounting Office. (2) GOVERNMENT CORPORATION.—^A Government corporation or a Government controlled corporation, as those terms are defined in section 103 of title 5, United States Code. (3) NONAPPROPRIATED FUNDS INSTRUMENTALITY. — A part of a department or agency if all of the employees of that part of the department or agency are employees referred to in section 2105(c) of title 5, United States Code. (4) CERTAIN DEPOT-LEVEL MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR.— Depot-level maintenance and repair of the Department of Defense (as defined in section 2460 of title 10, United States Code). SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. In this Act: (1) FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SOURCE. — The term "Federal Government source", with respect to performance of an activity, means any organization within an executive agency that uses Federal Government employees to perform the activity. (2) INHERENTLY GOVERNMENTAL FUNCTION.— (A) DEFINITION. —The term "inherently governmental function" means a function that is so intimately related to the public interest as to require performance by Federal Government employees.
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