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124 to be developed and the approximate quantity required. The department concerned shall furnish to each applicant identical detailed information as to the conditions of the competition and the features and characteristics to be developed in the design, listing specifically the measures of merit, expressed in percentages, that are to be applied in determining the merits of the design. These measures of merit apply throughout the competition. (d) Each d e s i ^ submitted under subsection (b) shall be referred to a board appointed by the Secretary of the military department concerned. The board shall appraise each design as soon as practicable and report the winners to the Secretary. If uie Secretary approves the board^s report, he shall fix the time and place of a public announcement of the results and notify each competitor. If the Secretary does not approve it, the papers may be returned to the board for revision, or he may choose the winners, as he elects. The decision of the Secretary is final and conclusive. The announcement of the results of the competition shall state the percentages awarded to each feature or characteristic of each of the designs submitted and the price named for each design and each feature thereof, if separable. (e) If, within 10 days after the announcement of the results of a competition under subsection (d), a competitor makes a reasonable showing in writing to the Secretary of the military department concerned that an error was made in determining the merits of designs submitted and that he was thereby deprived of an award, the Secretary shall at once refer the matter to a board of arbitration for determination. The board of arbitration shall be composed of three skilled aeronautical engineers, one of whom shall be selected by the Secretary, one by the claimant, and the third by the other members. No person may be a member of a board of arbitration if lie served on the board of appraisal that judged the competition out of which the arbitration arose. The findings of the board are conclusive if approved by the Secretary. I n a competition, three competitors, or less, who have the highest figures of merit may be selected as winners. §2272.
Design competitions: rejection or purchase of designs; contracts; conditions (a) If the Secretary of the military department concerned determines that a winner of a design competition under section 2271 of this title is, or can become within a reasonable time, able and equipped to furnish or construct all or part of any designed item, he may contract with that winner for furnishing or constructing it at a reasonable price, but not more than the price submitted with the design, on terms that he considers most advantageous to the United States. However, if the Secretary determines that the winner will not be able to furnish all or part of any designed item, he may buy the design, or a separable part of it, at a fair and reasonable price, but not more than the price submitted with the design. (b) I f the Secretary of the military department concerned determines that none of the designs submitted in a competition is of sufficient merit to justify procurement of a designed item, he need not accept or pay for them. (c) If the Secretary of the military department concerned determines that the designs submitted by two or more competitors are of
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